Every 6 hours is four times a day; every 8 hours is three. Those two are easy because 6 and 8 go into 24 exactly. Every 5, 7 or 10 hours does not, and then the honest answer is “it depends which 24 hours you count” — plus your dose times move a little later every day. This works out both.
Every N hours, how many times a day?
Every N hours ↔ times a day
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The quick table
| Label says | Times a day | Doses a week |
|---|---|---|
| Every 2 hours | 12 | 84 |
| Every 3 hours | 8 | 56 |
| Every 4 hours | 6 | 42 |
| Every 6 hours | 4 | 28 |
| Every 8 hours | 3 | 21 |
| Every 12 hours | 2 | 14 |
| Every 24 hours | 1 | 7 |
These are the intervals that divide 24 exactly, so the same clock times come round every day. For the clock times themselves, use the dose interval calculator.
When the gap does not divide 24
Every 5 hours from 08:00 gives 08:00, 13:00, 18:00 and 23:00, and the fifth dose is at 04:00 — still inside the first 24 hours. The sixth is at 09:00 the next morning, an hour later than the day before. Count from one dose to the same time tomorrow and you get five doses; average it over a week and it is 4.8 a day. Neither number is wrong. What matters is that the schedule creeps an hour a day, so “the 1pm dose” does not stay at 1pm. The full walk-through is in every 5, 7 or 10 hours.
Times a day is usually not the same instruction
“Three times a day” on a label usually means three doses while you are awake, not every 8 hours around the clock. The times-a-day schedule spaces doses inside your waking day, and what BID, TID and QID mean covers the shorthand. When the label gives a strict interval, keep to it, and ask the pharmacist before moving a dose.
Common questions
Every 6 hours is how many times a day?
Four times a day. 24 divided by 6 is 4, so every 6 hours means four doses in each 24 hours, or 28 in a week.
Every 5 hours is how many times a day?
4.8 times a day on average. Starting with a dose, the first 24 hours hold 5 doses, at 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 hours. The sixth dose is 25 hours after the first, so each day's doses land an hour later than the day before.
5 times a day is how many hours apart?
Strictly around the clock, every 4 hours 48 minutes, because 24 hours divided by 5 is 4.8 hours. A label that says 5 times a day usually means five doses while you are awake, which puts them closer together than that.
Is every 12 hours the same as twice a day?
Every 12 hours is exactly two doses a day. Twice a day on a label is often looser, such as with breakfast and with dinner, so the two can end up a little different on the clock.
One thing this cannot do
This is an arithmetic tool, not medical advice. It works out numbers from what you type in — it does not know your medication, your prescription, or what you should do if something goes wrong. Anything about changing a dose, spacing doses differently, or handling a missed dose is a question for your doctor or pharmacist.