Oversleeping
Since most people are staying at home during the implementation of movement control order, they tend to sleep too much to fill up the extra free time. We all know that lack of sleep is bad, but how about too much of sleep? How much of sleep is considered too much? The amount of sleep needed varies over the course of one’s lifetime. Oversleeping causes people to suffer from extreme sleepiness throughout the day that cannot be resolved by taking naps. They will show symptoms like anxiety, fatigue and memory problem because they constantly feeling the need for sleep. Factors affecting amount of sleep needed are age, activity level, general health and lifestyle. Elderly sleeps less and infants sleep more for development and growth. You may need more sleep if you exercise a lot or being too tired from heavy workload. When you are stressed or feeling ill, you will have increased need for sleep. Adults are recommended to sleep seven to nine hours per night. If you averagely sleep more than seven to eight hours, you should consult a doctor.
There exist people who simply want to sleep a lot but oversleeping can sometimes refers to sleeping disorder, hypersomnia that may be linked to medical problems and mental problems like depression. Researchers found that low socioeconomic status and depression are highly associated with oversleeping. People with lower socioeconomic status has lower exposure to healthcare and often may have undiagnosed illness like heart diseases or other medical problems associated with oversleeping.
Insomnia is more often linked to depression than oversleeping but fifteen percent of depressed people sleep too much which makes their condition worse because regular sleeping habits are important for the recovery process.
Among medical problems linked to oversleeping ate diabetes, back pain, obesity, heart diseases and headache. Both sleeping too much or too little increase the risk of diabetes and weight gain. Study shows that people that sleep nine to ten hours every night are twenty-one percent more likely to become obese than those sleep seven to eight hours per night. Sleeping for longer period of time during weekend or holidays may cause headache due to the effect of oversleeping on neurotransmitters like serotonin in brain. Besides, people that sleep too much during the day may have headache the next morning because the night time sleep is disrupted. Sleeping too much may also cause back pain. The Nurses’ Health Study involving 72.000 women showed that women that sleep nine to eleven hours per night are thirty-eight percent more likely to have coronary heart diseases than those sleep eight hours per night. In addition, studies show that the death rate is higher in people sleeping nine to more hours per night comparing to people sleeping seven to eight hours per night. If your oversleeping is caused by medical problems, treating the medical problems will resolve the sleeping disorder.
Oversleeping can also be caused by the intake of certain substances like certain prescribed medications and alcohols. Cutting down alcohol intake will help but never stop using prescribed medication unless instructed by doctors.
In conclusion, it is important to keep the same bedtime and wake time every day. Intake of alcohol and caffeine close to bedtime should be avoided. Regular exercise and comfortable sleeping environment will also help.