Want to sleep like Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi? Here's what one expert suggests

You've probably heard that adults need eight hours of sleep a night. It turns out some elite athletes are getting a lot more than that. 

On Sept. 19, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi took himself out of a game against the New York Yankees — all because he hadn't slept enough the night before. 

Kikuchi got a cramp involving a muscle that is critical to the left-handed pitcher's delivery. He said he only got 11 hours of sleep the night before, instead of the usual 13 to 14 hours he sleeps before a game when he is the starting pitcher. 

If you're not sleeping nearly that much, fear not. Chances are you don't need the kind of rest Kikuchi needs to pitch baseball after baseball. 

So how much sleep do you need, and how can you improve your sleep? Dr. Michael Mak, a staff psychiatrist and sleep medicine specialist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, spoke to Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC's The Dose, to answer those questions. 

Here's part of their conversation. 

So what did you make of this story about Kikuchi?

Mr. Kikuchi does sleep a lot, but it doesn't surprise me. Elite, professional athletes tend to require more sleep, on average, compared to other folks, for the reason they're really exerting themselves and for body recovery to occur adequately for them. A lot of them do sleep [more than] the general population.

For those of us adults who aren't pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays, how much sleep do we need?

For the average adult, the recommendation is to sleep seven to eight hours a night. 

Does napping affect the seven to eight hours of sleep? Or are we talking about an aggregate including naps?

As a general rule, it's probably best to avoid napping if you're an adult. So if you nap