Excessive Sleep
Hypersomnia or excessive sleep is the condition in which a person gets more than 10 hours of sleep at night consecutively for two weeks or more, and yet experiences day time drowsiness, lack of concentration and other symptoms of sleep disorder.
The sleep requirement of a normal adult to reinvigorate the body and mind is estimated to be seven to eight hours per day. If a person sleeps too much during the night, he could experience problems in focusing on his tasks.
Look out for the symptoms of hypersomnia, which are, chronic fatigue, apathy, difficulty in thinking or concentrating, and frequent urges to nap.
Hypersomnia is often caused by lifestyle habits and can be treated by altering them. In some cases, jet lag, work schedules,trouble falling asleep or a change in sleeping environment may cause brief periods of excessive sleep, in which case changes in schedules can help solve the problem.
Another reason for this condition may be the use of certain medications, and can be cured by administering alternate medicines. It is important to diagnose the reason for the disorder accurately so that it can be corrected.
Narcolepsy: This isa disorder in which the person does not get restorative sleep and, as a result, feels tired though the duration of sleep seems satisfactory.
The reason for this is that during the REM sleep phase, the person experiences disrupted sleep, and so does not get the rest that his body and mind requires. As a result, the person feels excessive daytime sleepiness. A common symptom of narcolepsy is cataplexy, a muscular disorder accompanied by slurry speech and blurred vision.
A person suffering from narcolepsy may also be unable to have proper control over his behavior. He may also experience hypnogogic hallucinations, wherein he would be able to feel, hear and see things that do not really exist. Sleep paralysis is another symptom in which the patient may have difficulty in moving after waking from sleep.
Narcolepsy is not limited to any age group or gender. Though majority of the cases have been observed to start in childhood, there have also been cases where adults between 35 and 50 years of age have started developing narcolepsy.
A study has revealed that only less than 25 percent of the people in the U.S. suffering from narcolepsy have been properly diagnosed for it. The symptoms shown by the others have been wrongly attributed to depression, epilepsy or side-effects of medication.
Depression: Depression is a condition of emotional dejection and withdrawal; sadness more prolonged than that warranted by any objective reason. Studies reveal that about seven percent of the population in the U.S suffers from depression; however, only about 20 percent of them attempt to get the treatment they need.
Those suffering from depression are likely to experience sleep disorders like insomnia and, in some cases, even hypersomnia. Depression patients normally have lengthier REM cycles often accompanied by very emotional dreams than a healthy person with normal sleep patterns.
Since some cases of depression result in hypersomnia, it is essential to properly diagnose and provide a complete treatment cycle with therapies and anti-depressant medication to correct this kind of hypersomnia.