Oversleeping Side Effects

Everybody likes sleeping. There is nothing better after a long day’s work than to crawl into a comfy bed and take a nap. It is also something that we all do. Everyone needs sleep. It is good for us. That is what we have been told all of our lives. A lack of sleep can cause a lot of problems for a person. You hear that everywhere. That is why there are plenty of treatments, medications and home remedies to deal with issues like insomnia.

But what about the opposite? What happens if you sleep too much? Can it be a problem? In fact, yes it can. Oversleeping can cause certain issues. Unfortunately, since it is not publicized as much as insomnia, most people are not aware that oversleeping can be a problem that can cause the body some nasty side effects.

The Causes of Oversleeping

Most people think of someone that sleeps a lot as just being lazy. They do not realize that, in fact, oversleeping can be caused by a medical condition. Hypersomnia is one medical disorder that causes people to feel tired and sleepy throughout the day regardless of how much time they have rested the night before. The condition also causes sufferers to sleep for long periods of time at night. This need for sleep will cause some problems to the person like feelings of anxiety, low energy levels and memory problems.

There is another condition named sleep apnea, which is a breathing problem that causes people to stop breathing for short periods of time when they are sleeping. This in turn brings them out of their deep sleep cycle for several times throughout the course of a night which leads to an increased need for sleep.

However, not everyone that oversleeps suffers from a medical condition. There are plenty of people that do this irregularly and most of the times it is because they slept too little the previous night. If you are not fully rested and do not get the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night you will wake up feeling very tired and will continue to feel this way throughout the day. That means that you will have to make up for it the next night by sleeping a few extra hours.

Of course, there are some psychological factors that can have an impact on the way you sleep. Feelings of anxiety, depression or lack of motivation can cause people to oversleep. Even the weather can affect your sleeping patterns. Rainy days just suck all the energy out of you and leave you tired without the willingness to do anything. In the winter we all know how difficult it is to get out of our comfy, warm bed and out into the cold. And, of course, let’s not forget that there is a good portion of people that oversleep because they are just plain lazy.

Physical Side Effects of Oversleeping

Unfortunately, oversleeping can indeed cause a host of nasty side effects for those that do it for a long period of time:

• There have been some studies conducted by American scientists that show a correlation between oversleeping and diabetes. People that sleep more than nine hours or less than five hours per night have shown to be 50% more likely to suffer from diabetes. Mind you, oversleeping is not shown to cause diabetes. However, it can be a symptom of underlying medical problems which can also lead to diabetes.

• Although this is a problem more common with people with insomnia, depression was proven to be present in people who oversleep. In fact, 15% of all people that suffer from depression also sleep more than nine hours per night.

• By sleeping more you are being less active. This gives the body less time to burn off its energy which otherwise gets stored as fat. Eventually this will lead to obesity, which by itself can cause a lot of other medical problems.

• One of the most common and most unpleasant side effects that most people who oversleep experience is headaches. This is caused by the effect that oversleeping has on the neurotransmitters of the brain.

• The relationship between back pain and oversleeping is a tricky one. Unless you sleep on a special, expensive mattress you will eventually get back pain from oversleeping. At the same time, people that already have pain in their lower back should try to be as active as possible which, obviously is not the case if you are lying in bed all day.

• There is a disturbing connection between oversleeping and heart disease. Studies conducted on people have shown that those that oversleep have a 38% increased chance of suffering from coronary heart disease.

• Even though it is not fully understood why yet, there is concern that people who sleep over 9 hours every night have a higher death rate than those that sleep for 7-8 hours.

Psychological Side Effects of Oversleeping

As if the physical side effects were not bad enough, oversleeping can also cause people some serious psychological side effects as well. When you wake up and see that it is 11 or 12 o’clock, you realized that you wasted your time doing something that was bad for your health. This can really make you feel bad and can cause you to start the day in a foul mood.

We all know that the way you feel when you get up in the morning is pretty much going to dictate your mood throughout the rest of the day. Oversleep and you will feel tired and angry. It can cause even more problems to your mind if you are currently trying to correct this problem by establishing better sleeping patterns. The worst problem is that you know that since you are tired today then you will probably oversleep tomorrow as well. It is quite shocking how sleeping more hours than you should will actually leave you feeling as tired as when you sleep just 3 or 4 hours.

Of course, feeling this way for a longer period of time will eventually lead to depression. It is no wonder that a study has shown that 15% of all people that suffer from depression also have issues with oversleeping. However, there is some sort of good news after all. Apparently, studies have shown that a good way to deal with depression is with sleep deprivation. By using this method you will not only get rid of your feelings of depression, but with a little luck you will also get rid of your oversleeping problems as well as have some extra time in the day to spend on yourself.

Oversleeping can be a nasty habit, but it can be controlled. First of all, if you know that you sleep regularly over 9 hours per night then you have to realize that what you are doing is wrong. Stop idealizing sleep and see it for what it is: a function of the body required in order to survive. Treat it as such. Take this matter more seriously and plan a strict sleeping schedule and stick to it. This way you will avoid future health problems, as well as ensure that you will wake up every day in a sunny disposition ready to take on the world.

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  1. I would like to see your sources for these claims. Where did you find out how long people slept before they died? I have never heard of anyone giving this information out in a government survey, so how did you find this? What was your sample size? What was the significance level used?

    Please list the number of people documented who have become depressed, diabetic, overweight and all of these other LUDICROUS claims you are making. There are government agencies that document all of this.

  2. I'd just like to point out the extreme overreaction in the comment above mine. Over half of the points in this article are proven in my own life. And why would you want to trust government agencies anyway? They don't list half the things that are bad for us and list tons of things as good for us that are not.

    I have anxiety disorder. So things happen faster for me like depression. I read this article today because I have become depressed over the last three days. Sure enough, I have overslept the last 3 days. Been dead tired all day, angry and depressed. I don't feel this way when I sleep less.

    Thanks for this article. It was a big help!

  3. Good article. Thanks for the tough love.

    I was living off 6 or less hours for four years (nasty commute to work).

    I "rebounded" solidly when I quit the job – but eventually felt horrible on 10 or so hours of sleep. Woke up wretched and irritable. And I have a mate who let me sleep and greeted me with love when I did get up. Geez. I was snappy and mean. Now I understand why I did it but stopping has been a challenge.

    Best advice? Get up, get dressed, go for a walk, eat breakfast, have a cup of coffee or tea but get going ASAP.

    You'll feel better (ps I love the escape and comfort of sleep so I understand)

  4. This entire article has shown me what is known with my girlfriends mum and completely sums her up with every one of the points excluding the heart problem and death but she is heading that way. If you want evidence for all of this look at her because she has been oversleeping for 8 years for at least 17 hours per day now and as she has not been working now for 4 years up until a couple of weeks ago she has had time for this with nothing else to do but sleep, leaving my girlfriend to look after her son all day from getting up until bed time. 5 months ago she had a stroke that should have killed her and she has fully recovered and not changed her ways at all. She believes that there is no such thing as oversleeping. She won't change and I really think she needs help.

  5. It's hard to swallow the rest of your article after seeing depression in your list of things that oversleeping can cause. Confusing cause and correlation when giving health advice is a red flag. Depression can cause a person to oversleep, so of course there's a connection, but oversleeping has never been proven to cause depression. Moreover it's often helpful for people with depression – like me – to take a nap and reset our brains.

  6. I liked the article. It ties together all the different reasons why oversleeping is not good. I feel like crap when I oversleep and yes it has caused arguments. People think they are doing you a favour by letting you sleep. I set my alarm because I don't want to oversleep. Sources would be nice but I can look it up. I thought it was common knowledge that sleeping too much is a sign of depression and diabetes. But the other illnesses I would like more info on.

  7. Poor old Stuart he has not got a clue, probably been oversleeping. My partner suffers depression and oversleeping is definitely a part of the depression.

  8. Wanted Dead or Alive: A set of Reasons why people sleep exceedingly long.

    Not just side-effects. And no moral hectoring. Please.

  9. I agree with the first comment, without proper sourcing or citations, how are we to know that this is fact instead of assumed knowledge or rumors?

  10. For the first commentator – GO READ! Or Google your queries. Each and every point in the article has strong underlying evidence. I am saying this because I have been conducting research on the topic since 2 weeks now. The author has listed the inferences. Not everything needs to be columned or row-wise (statistical). Some of us would like to know the honest feelings of our fellow brothers on topics rather than parroting the scientists or the capitalist rulers. So, if you don't like the content, move on, dude.

    Either ways, amazing inferences. I truly loved reading it. Keep adding your personal inferences in the research too. It makes the topic clear to the audience. Thank you for writing, all the same.

  11. I deal with a form of hypersomnia that is actually quite intense, as I also experience chronic fatigue. I sleep generally 10-14 hours a day. When I'm awake (If I have slept naturally and allowed my body to go through my full sleep cycle naturally), I have a fair period of energy and wakefulness. If I sleep anything less than 8 hours a day, I generally become, well, a zombie. No energy, no motivation, a constant state of tiredness, that sort of thing. But it's not just common sleepiness. I am so fatigued that I can barely perform basic at-home chores and whatnot. There are four other people living with me, and I have one task, one task, assigned – doing the dishes at least once a day. I barely keep up with that task for half of the week if I'm lucky. I work an 8 hour day when I'm not home or asleep. And I only keep my job because my roommates wake me before I have to go to work – I don't wake up to alarms, I've, in the last 5 years that I've learned somewhat of what I have to deal with, never been able to keep myself on a sleep schedule. I deal with stress, anxiety, depression, an assortment of related mental health issues.

    I would just like to make it clear, the statement made at the end of this article:

    "Apparently, studies have shown that a good way to deal with depression is with sleep deprivation. By using this method you will not only get rid of your feelings of depression, but with a little luck you will also get rid of your oversleeping problems as well as have some extra time in the day to spend on yourself. Oversleeping can be a nasty habit, but it can be controlled. First of all, if you know that you sleep regularly over 9 hours per night then you have to realize that what you are doing is wrong. Stop idealizing sleep and see it for what it is: a function of the body required in order to survive. Treat it as such. Take this matter more seriously and plan a strict sleeping schedule and stick to it. This way you will avoid future health problems, as well as ensure that you will wake up every day in a sunny disposition ready to take on the world."

    The above statements are generalized. It's not fair to cause such an assumption or to make someone with issues like mine, feel as though they should be able to beat this thing that we have no control over. Yes, medications, therapy, a mix of things can help. But they don't always do so, and every person has a different situation. I would suggest that you adjust your statement, because it is not made of fact, but general speculation and theory. That approach may work for some people, but not all. And it's unfair to others to make them believe it should work for all people experiencing these or related issues.

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