How much sleep is appropriate for your body's health daily?

It's well known that sleep has amazing health benefits, but how much sleep is too much?

The answer isn't that simple, says Dr. Chris Winter, a neurologist and sleep medicine specialist, who tells Fox News: "This is a question that's kind of impossible to answer."

As with food and other lifestyle factors, Winter explained that the ideal amount of sleep is not set in stone.

"For example, what might be too much for me might be an astonishingly insufficient amount for an Olympic swimmer," he continued.

For the average adult, sleep durations of more than 11 to 12 hours are “too much,” and will start to “raise questions about sleep quality and consistency,” Winter said.

While getting too little sleep can have many negative effects, sleeping too much can pose risks such as sleep inertia, the feeling of being sluggish that occurs after sleeping too long. “For many people, it’s not about ‘too much sleep,’ it’s more about catch-up sleep,” he said.

“In other words, you didn’t get enough sleep during the week, and you’re trying to make up for the lost sleep on the weekend,” Winter added.

Winter continued that sleeping too much on a regular basis is a reflection of “insufficient sleep quality” in general.

However, the expert recommends making up for sleep when a person does not get enough sleep, saying: “While it should not be a ‘Plan A’, making up for lost sleep by napping or sleeping in late, when possible, can be a good backup plan.”

Although some studies have suggested negative health outcomes from insufficient and excessive sleep, Winter stressed that it is better to get too much sleep than not to get enough.

“Trying to create consistency in sleep is also important,” he said. “Sleeping for a different seven hours every night is not as healthy as sticking to the same seven hours night after night.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep each night.

(The Middle East)