Causes of Excessive Sleep

Also known as hypersomnia, excessive sleep is a condition in which a person sleeps too much during the night, causing him to experience daytime drowsiness and difficulty focusing. Clinically speaking, hypersomnia is present if a person sleeps for 10 or more hours each night for at least two consecutive weeks and still experiences feelings of tiredness during the day. Learn about the causes and effects of excessive sleep with this Free Guide

Some of the common symptoms associated with hypersomnia include:

apathy
chronic fatigue
frequent urges to nap
problems thinking, concentrating and/or learning.

In general, lifestyle habits are the main causes of hypersomnia. For example, while some may experience brief episodes of excessive sleep due to jet lag, a change in work schedule or a change in sleeping environment, others may have the same condition due to the use of certain medications.

As a result, identifying the cause of excessive sleep is important to properly treating the condition. In most cases, altering a person’s habits, medications or schedule is enough to correct hypersomnia.

In this section, we will discuss various types of hypersomnia. Our articles include information on the causes, symptoms and treatments for different forms of excessive sleep.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that causes a person to experience disrupted sleep, particularly in the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep phase, that causes him to suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). Because a narcoleptic has unsatisfactory REM sleep, he never gets restorative sleep and, therefore, always feels tired.

Other common symptoms of narcolepsy include:

automatic behavior, any behavior that happens without control or awareness
cataplexy, a general muscular weakness accompanied by slurred speech and blurry vision
hypnogogic hallucinations, vivid sensations that include auditory, visual and/or tactile dimensions that have no physical manifestation in reality
sleep paralysis, the brief inability to move upon waking.

Both men and women can develop narcolepsy at any age. Although most cases start in childhood, it is also common of adults between the ages of 35 to 50 years old to start suffering from narcolepsy.

While an estimated 200,000 people in the United States suffer from narcolepsy, less than 25 percent of them (about 50,000) are officially diagnosed. Statistically, narcolepsy is as common as multiple sclerosis. Unfortunately, many cases of narcolepsy are misdiagnosed as medication side effects, depression and/or epilepsy. Keep reading to learn more about the causes of and treatments for narcolepsy.

Depression

Depression is a mood disorder in which a person suffers from feelings of despondency, inadequacy and pessimism for at least two weeks. Statistics show that about seven percent of the U.S. population suffers from depression. Unfortunately, only 20 percent of these people seek out and get the treatment they need.

While those suffering from depression may suffer from insomnia or otherwise abnormal sleep habits, they may also experience excessive sleep. Regardless of the type of sleep disorder (if any) depression patients have, in general, they tend to experience long REM cycles and more intensely emotional dreams than those with healthy sleeping patterns.

Because depression is the underlying cause of some cases of hypersomnia, treating the depression through a combination of therapy and antidepressant medication is key to correcting the sleep disorder. Read on to learn more about the relationship between sleep and depression.

Resources

Better Sleep Channel (2007). Hypersomnia. Retrieved July 3, 2007 from Better Sleep Channel Web site: http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/BHCV2/bhcarticles.nsf/

pages/Hypersomnia?OpenDocument.

MedTV (2007). Statistics on Narcolepsy. Retrieved July 3, 2007 from MedTV Web site: http://sleep.emedtv.com/narcolepsy/statistics-on-narcolepsy.html.