Am I Sleeping Too Much? 7 Causes of Oversleeping

Am I Sleeping Too Much? 7 Causes of Oversleeping

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You might be sleeping too much—also known as oversleeping—due to causes like being sick, taking certain medications, or not getting enough quality sleep at night. Oversleeping is sleeping for nine or more hours within a 24-hour timespan.1

Other than a long sleep duration, oversleeping can cause different symptoms. You might feel very sleepy during the day, have headaches, and need daytime naps.2

Waliszewska-Prosół M, Nowakowska-Kotas M, Chojdak-Łukasiewicz J, Budrewicz S. Migraine and sleep-an unexplained association?. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(11):5539. doi:10.3390/ijms22115539

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1. Drug and Alcohol Use

Stopping the use of some illicit or illegal drugs can result in excessive sleepiness. These effects may occur with stimulating drugs like amphetamine or copyright.3 Alcohol has sedating effects, so it can make you drowsy and sleepy.3 Alcohol use is also a cause of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). This condition makes it hard to stay awake. You may fall asleep without meaning to or when you are not supposed to.4

2. Environmental Factors

Some lifestyle factors can play a role in oversleeping because they cause you to not get enough sleep beyond your waking hours. These factors can include:5

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. How much sleep is enough?

Limited time for sleep due to the nature of certain jobs (e.g., being a caregiver)

Not leaving adequate time in schedules to sleep

Shift work that goes against the typical circadian rhythm, or sleep-wake body cycle

3. Illnesses

When you are feeling sick, it's common to sleep longer than usual. People with respiratory infections—like the flu, a cold, or COVID-19—have been shown to sleep for longer periods. The caveat, however, is that the sleep is not necessarily restful.6

4. Lack of Sleep

Oversleeping can initially be a result of sleep deficits. You may sleep too much within one or more 24-hour periods to make up for the sleep you lost because of a hectic day, week, or month—called sleep debt.7

5. Medications

Some medications may be why you are sleeping so much. They can make you sleep longer than normal because of sedating effects or drowsiness. Examples of medications that can make you sleepy include:8

Antihistamines

Certain types of painkillers

Some medications that treat mental health disorders

Sleeping pills

Tranquilizers

6. Physical and Mental Health Conditions

Conditions that affect your mental and physical health may cause oversleeping. Chronic pain, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and hypothyroidism may make it hard for you to stay awake for longer.8 Prolonged sleep might also be due to depression and anxiety. Both mental health conditions can contribute to sleepiness.9

7. Sleep Disorders

Oversleeping could be the result of sleep disorders, such as:1011

Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders: These disorders are related to misalignments between sleep-wake cycles and light-darkness cycles.

Hypersomnolence disorder or hypersomnia: With hypersomnia, people are excessively sleepy but also tend to sleep for longer periods.4

Narcolepsy: A person feels the need to sleep or falls asleep throughout the day with this disorder.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA): This condition causes interruptions in breathing while you are asleep. OSA can lead to complications like snoring or breathing pauses.

Restless leg syndrome (RLS): This sleep disorder causes you to feel like you need to move your legs because of tingling, creeping, burning, or other sensations in your legs.

How Much Sleep Do You Need?

How much sleep you need depends on several factors, including your age. In general, people need the following amounts of sleep:12

Age Number of Hours of Sleep

4 months to 1 year 12-16

1-2 years 11-14

3-5 years 10-13

6-12 9-12

13-18 8-10

18 years and older 7-8

Effects of Oversleeping

Oversleeping does not cause conditions like diabetes and heart disease, but it may increase your risk.13 One study found that C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation in the body, was higher in people who slept less than six hours or more than seven hours. High levels of CRP were related to an increased heart attack risk.1415

A higher risk of death from any cause has also been linked to oversleeping. One meta-analysis found that the risk of dying from heart disease and stroke increased with longer sleep times. The risk of death increased with each extra hour of sleep as follows:16

Nine hours with a 14% higher risk

10 hours with a 30% higher risk

11 hours with a 47% higher risk

Treatment

You can consult a healthcare provider if you think the reason you are sleeping so much could indicate an underlying condition. Figuring it out and treating it could help you start logging a healthier amount of sleep.

Treatment will depend on what's causing you to oversleep. Treating cold and flu symptoms may allow you to return to a regular sleep schedule when symptoms resolve. A healthcare provider might need to prescribe a stimulant or sodium oxybate to help with wakefulness if EDS is the cause.17

Self-Help Strategies

There's no need to stress about sleeping in on a weekend. Look out for more acute changes, like normally sleeping for eight hours, then suddenly sleeping for 11 hours a night. A sleep diary can help log how long you sleep and how you feel after waking up. It can also help log any factors that may impact your sleep, like medications or food.18 You could also use a fitness tracker with sleep-tracking capabilities to monitor aspects of sleep like deep or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

A Quick Review

Sleeping more than nine hours in 24 hours is known as oversleeping. A longer sleep time may be a symptom of other underlying conditions, like depression, illness, or a sleep disorder. Environmental factors like shift work cause also cause you to sleep too much,

Oversleeping can increase the risk of conditions like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and heart failure, but it here does not mean it causes these conditions. Check with a healthcare provider to rule out other conditions if you find yourself sleeping too much too often, especially compared to how you usually sleep.

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