This is how much sleep you actually need

By Sean Dowling, Buzz60

We've all heard that adults should get a recommended eight hours of sleep, but how much sleep do we actually need?

The answer really depends on how well you want your brain to work.

Your brain basically won't work at all without catching some Zzzz's.

Experts say one sleepless night is like being legally drunk.

Study after study shows we should get no less than eight hours of sleep each night, no exceptions.

Even if you think seven hours is enough, you're wrong, sleep researchers at the Walter Reed Army Research Institute tell Popular Science.

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People in a study who got seven hours of sleep were dozing off a lot and didn't ace easy mental tests like response speed and understanding written passages compared to those sleeping eight hours.

But the thing is, they thought they did well on the tests.

Scientists say you can be sleep deprived and not even know it.

If you can't get eight solid hours, can you make up for lost time and sleep in on weekends to average eight hours? No.

It takes longer than a weekend to recover, but no one knows how long that takes.

Tired of all of these questions and medical jargon? Take a nap!

Although scientists don't really have a consensus on whether naps are good for you.

If they need volunteers for a new study, I'm in!