Why Am I So Sleepy During The Day?
Sometimes you sleep so much during the day that it is difficult to perform your usual tasks effectively. Usually, this is due to common reasons such as lack of restful sleep at night. However, it could also indicate a more serious problem.
There are many people in the world who are so sleepy during the day that they cannot go about their normal activities. However, it is estimated that 90% of those who have this problem are not aware of it. They just let it go, without paying attention.
The problem is worrying, because when a person is too tired, they tend to make mistakes and have accidents. In addition, this continued drowsiness makes you more vulnerable to deteriorating mood, psychosocial issues, and reduced cognitive ability.
Keep in mind that sometimes a person is tired just because they haven’t slept well or because they are overworked. These are transitory cases. However, in other cases, drowsiness is present all the time and it can be due to significant health issues.
Excessive drowsiness
We talk about excessive sleepiness when a person feels the need to sleep during their usual activities or, in fact, falls asleep unintentionally during the day. Likewise, when 8 hours of nighttime sleep is not enough and you want to sleep longer.
This condition is known as hypersomnia and is characterized by a state of drowsiness during the day. It is very important to identify the reasons why you feel so drowsy, especially when this condition is constant and cannot be overcome even with rest.
We talk about mild hypersomnia when someone feels drowsy while doing monotonous or boring activities. It is quite normal for this to happen. There is moderate hypersomnia when sleep occurs in activities that require concentration.
Hypersomnia is severe if a person feels like sleeping in almost any situation, and also experiences so much sleepiness that they unwittingly fall asleep. Normally, an adult person feels fully awake after sleeping until nine o’clock.
Why do you feel so drowsy?
Hypersomnias are classified into two groups: primary and secondary. Primary cases are those in which excess sleep is the basic symptom. The secondaries correspond to cases in which it results from other disorders, drugs or sleep disturbances. These are the most frequent cases.
In primary hypersomnias we find the following:
- Narcolepsy. It is a complex neurological disorder in which the person experiences uncontrollable sleep episodes. You can literally fall asleep even on your feet. This mostly happens in situations that cause strong emotions.
- Idiopathic hypersomnia. It happens when people get more than 11 hours of sleep and still don’t get a good night’s sleep. The reason why this occurs remains unknown.
- Kleine-Levin syndrome. It occurs in adolescence, mainly in men. Affected people have stages in which they sleep up to 18 hours at a time and when awake they are irritable and confused.
Secondary hypersomnias
Secondary hypersomnia is much more common than primary hypersomnia. There are many conditions that can be included in this list ; however, the most common are:
- Sleep apnea. This happens when nighttime sleep is interrupted, as breathing becomes very shallow or stops. This is one of the main reasons why many people get so much sleep during the day.
- Interrupted sleep and insomnia. In either case, there is no restful sleep at night and this leads to drowsiness during the day.
- Other. One of the symptoms of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease is excessive daytime sleepiness. Likewise, it can be the effect of depression or the consumption of a drug that generates this side effect.
Are there other causes?
Some research has indicated that there is a relationship between excessive sleepiness and smoking, alcoholism, and a sedentary lifestyle. They also indicate that it is a common symptom in those with cardiovascular problems or inflammatory diseases.
Sometimes a person dozes off during the day just for reasons that can be easily remedied. Not drinking enough water causes symptoms of dehydration to appear and one of them is drowsiness. For this reason, it is important to stay hydrated.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and when the right amount of nutrients are not ingested, drowsiness can occur. Excess stress, along with high intake of sugars and fats and obesity, also makes you want to sleep more frequently.
