What You Need to Know about Hypersomnia

Oversleeping may not be seen as too harmful but it is still considered as a sleeping disorder. Oversleeping is medically termed as hypersomnia. Most of the time people who have it may not be able to realize it immediately. Usually, people with hypersomnia would tend to oversleep at night and at the same time having a long sleep during the day. Taking a nap in the afternoon is not necessarily a sign of hypersomnia because people with hypersomnia would often sleep unusually even during at work or while doing something.

Narcolepsy is common among people with hypersomnia. Narcolepsy can cause a problem and danger because sleeping may occur while doing things like cooking and even during driving. If sleeping occurs while doing things that require alertness, then the person might meet an accident and get injured. Often times, you will witness people with hypersomnia to just sleep even during having conversations with other people and would then wake up as if nothing happened. Taking a short sleep during the day can’t resolve the symptoms associated with hypersomnia. The problem of hypersomnia does not stop from there because patients with hypersomnia may also experience other manifestations such as anxiety, exhaustion or fatigue, disorientation, hallucinations, low energy, restlessness, loss of appetite, memory problems, and speech problems.

People who are suffering from hypersomnia may have poor social interactions because they appear too restless to mingle with other people. Establishing good relationships may also be poor in these patients.

Hypersomnia is often associated to other sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea and narcolepsy. These sleep disorders can be caused by consumption of too much alcohol and substance abuse; thus, affecting the autonomic nervous system. Underlying neurologic conditions brought about by nerve injuries, head traumas, and presence of tumors can also trigger the symptoms of hypersomnia. Taking prescription medications and abruptly stopping it can also cause symptoms of hypersomnia. Some medical conditions such as epilepsy, depression, multiple sclerosis, encephalitis, and obesity may also cause hypersomnia.

Experts have linked genetic problems with hypersomnia, although sometimes the cause remains to be unknown. The problem of hypersomnia is commonly found in people ages 20 years to 30 years. The website of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders will provide you all the information that you need to know about this disorder. Through learning hypersomnia, you will be able to understand the disease process itself so that you will be able to know when to seek treatment from a medical professional.

Once you feel that you are experiencing symptoms related to sleeping disorders, it would be best to consult your doctor immediately so that adequate treatment would be immediately provided. Early treatment is very much advisable because if a condition is not treated immediately, it might result to other conditions. For patients who are obese, it would be necessary for them to lose weight. However, it will be a little problem because decreasing the length of sleep would affect the metabolic rate. It can also trigger hunger; thus, losing weight will be a little difficult.

Because of this, people who are overweight or obese will tend to eat more than their usual diet because of the disrupted sleep-wake cycle that will increase their hunger. In general, obese patients who need to lose weight would definitely have a hard time to achieve their goal because they would feel restless which could lead to eating more.

Related posts:

1. Narcolepsy and Hypersomnia
2. Narcolepsy and Hypersomnia (Lung Biology in Health and Disease)
3. Is There Such A Thing As Oversleeping
4. Q&A: can narcolepsy be considered a disability?
5. What You Should Know About Sleep Disorders