Signs of Too Much Sleep
Getting too much sleep might not seem like such a bad thing, but in reality, the average person only needs eight to 10 hours of sleep each night. Sleeping too much condition is called hypersomnia and it can negatively affect your body's natural ability to maintain a proper sleep cycle and metabolism.
What is Hypersomnia?
Hypersomnia is a condition in which people sleep or want to sleep excessively throughout the day even after a full night's rest. This condition does not include people who have interrupted sleep and feel drowsy in the morning, since this is a normal reaction to not getting a good night of sleep. There are four distinct classifications of the condition, including recurrent hypersomnia, idiopathic hypersomnia, normal hypersomnia and post-traumatic hypersomnia.
Types of Hypersomnia
Recurrent hypersomnia is a condition in which the person will sleep healthily (eight to 10 hours each night) for an extended period of time but will also sleep too much during other periods of time. This is caused by a dysfunction of the hypothalamus. Idiopathic means unexplained or unwarranted, meaning that the exact cause of the hypersomnia is unknown. Post-traumatic hypersomnia is a result of emotional trauma or damage to the central nervous system. Normal hypersomnia is this extended sleep pattern passed on genetically.
What are some of the symptoms?
There are a number of symptoms that are sure signs of a sleep condition, most especially, the inability to operate without sporadic naps throughout the day. Other symptoms include having a hard time waking up, anxiety in social situations, irritability throughout the day and extreme fatigue. In more dire situations, symptoms can include both audio and visual hallucinations, loss of appetite from inactivity, memory loss and improper sense perception.
Treatment
Luckily, there a number of lifestyle and diet changes that can be made to help improve existing conditions of hypersomnia that are easy to implement. First of all, eliminating any drugs or alcohol, even caffeine, can significantly improve your sleep schedule. Some medications have been known to have a negative impact on sleep cycles. If you are on any medications, check with your physician to see if the medications are interfering with sleep patterns.
Lifestyle changes that can be made
Exercising for at least 30 minutes a day will help rebuild your metabolism and it will also allow your body to get the necessary amount of vitamin D from the sun. Altering your work or social life, especially if it revolves around nighttime, can help break daytime sleep cycles. Physicians offer a number of medications for treatment, including amphetamines, methylphenidate, clonidine, levodopa, bromocriptine, antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Changing your mattress or eliminating loud noises during nighttime can also be beneficial in allowing your body to enter into the deeper, more restful stages of sleep.
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