It is normal for us to feel sleepy sometimes, particularly after a long day. However, excessive sleepiness all day long can be disruptive and make it difficult for a person to go about their daily activities. We all feel tired sometimes, but roughly twenty percent of the population is said to be having Excessive Sleepiness, and it is a sleep disorder.

Excessive sleepiness is the leading complaint of patients who visit sleep doctors. People who have excessive sleepiness feel drowsy and sluggish most days and these symptoms often interfere with work, school, activities, or relationships. 

What is Excessive Sleepiness?

Excessive sleepiness isn't a serious disorder in itself- it may be a severe symptom that will have many alternative causes as well. If you're feeling excessively sleepy, you and your doctor should investigate it further. The common causes are poor bedroom routine, like a reduced opportunity for sleep or irregular sleep schedule, side effects from certain medications, and other underlying medical conditions.

Once you and your doctor have determined the reason for excessive daytime sleepiness, you'll go for a treatment plan together. For many people, that involves changing bedtime routines and improving behaviors and elements of the sleep environment. For others, further medical tests or sleep studies could also be indicated along with medications. 

Why do you need to take care of it?

If you're frequently tired, work less productively, make mistakes, have lapses in judgment or wakefulness, or feel unable to enjoy or fully participate in life’s activities, don’t just push through. It may seem normal to you if you're used to feeling exhausted, but poor sleep and the resulting sleep deprivation can have drastic, long-term effects on your health, for example, reduced sleep is tied to cardiovascular problems and weight gain, depression, etc.

Not only that, once you lead your day overtired, you place yourself in danger, since motorcar accidents and other dangerous errors are often caused by sleepiness. If you’re feeling the symptom of excessive sleepiness, visit your doctor so that the two of you will be able to take a better look at your sleep habits and take steps to enhance your health, and ultimately get you on the road to sleeping peacefully on your mattress and feeling better.

What causes excessive sleepiness?

Any condition that keeps you from getting good quality sleep at midnight can cause excessive sleepiness during the day. Daytime sleepiness is the sole symptom you notice. Other signs, like snoring or kicking, could also be occurring while you’re asleep and can lead to daytime sleepiness. 

For many people with sleep disorders, it’s a bed partner who observes other key symptoms. No matter the cause, it’s important to get your sleep condition evaluated if daytime sleepiness is keeping you from getting the best out of your day, every day. The most common reasons behind sleep apnea are:

Sleep apnea

Sleep apnea could be a potentially serious condition in which you repeatedly stop and begin breathing throughout the night. It can leave you feeling sleepy during the day. Sleep apnea also has several other symptoms. a number of them include- loud snoring and gasping for air while sleeping, waking with a raw throat and a headache, attention problems, irritability, etc. Sleep apnea can even contribute to high pressure and other heart problems, Type-2 diabetes, and obesity.

Sleep apnea can be treated

The treatment usually provided for it is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). This therapy employs a tiny low bedside machine that pumps air through a versatile hose to a mask worn over your nose and mouth. Newer versions of CPAP machines have smaller, easier masks. Some people complain that CPAP is just too loud or uncomfortable, but it remains the foremost effective OSA treatment available. It’s typically the primary treatment a doctor will suggest for CSA.

Restless legs syndrome

The main symptom of Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is an irresistible and uncomfortable urge to move your legs. You will be lying down peacefully after you start to feel a throbbing or itching sensation in your legs that only gets better once you get up and walk. RLS makes it difficult to go to sleep, leading to excessive sleepiness the following day. It’s not clear what causes RLS, though it affects around ten percent of the population. There is also a genetic component. 

RLS treatment

RLS can sometimes be controlled with lifestyle changes and a strict bedroom routine. Getting your legs massaged or taking a warm bath before sleeping may help. Exercising early within the day may help with RLS  together with your ability to go to sleep. Your doctor may also recommend iron supplements if it appears your iron levels are low. You can also visit a doctor who will prescribe anti-seizure drugs to regulate the symptoms.

If you share the same bed with a person with RLS, you should not only get that person treated as quickly, you should also take care of yourself. Sleeping on a memory foam mattress reduces motion transfer- when your partner under treatment is still moving their legs and tossing and turning, you can sleep peacefully. Livpure’s Ortho-x mattress is made of pure memory foam, with a cooling gel layer to keep both of you cool. Now you can sleep peacefully as well! 

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is an often-misunderstood sleep problem. Like RLS, it’s a nervous disorder. Narcolepsy makes it so that the brain cannot regulate its sleep-wake cycle properly. You will sleep fine through the night if you have got narcolepsy. But periodically throughout the day, you will feel excessive sleepiness. You'll even go to sleep in the middle of a conversation or during a meal without a trigger or warning.

Narcolepsy treatments

Narcolepsy symptoms are also treated with some lifestyle adjustments and improved bedtime routines. Brief, scheduled naps may help. Sticking to an everyday sleep-wake schedule nightly and morning is additionally recommended. Other tips include the basics- getting daily exercise, avoiding caffeine or alcohol before bedtime, quitting smoking, relaxing before bed with yoga or meditation, etc. All of those things can facilitate your go to sleep and stay asleep better at nighttime. This routine will eventually cure daytime sleepiness. 

Depression

A noticeable change in your sleep schedule is one among the more common symptoms of depression. You will sleep way more or much less if you've got depression. If you aren’t sleeping well at the hours of darkness, you’re likely to experience excessive sleepiness during the day. Sometimes sleep changes are an early sign of depression. For others, changes in your sleeping habits occur after other signs appear.

How to control depression?

Treating depression is all about a mix of therapy, medications, and lifestyle changes. Antidepressant drugs aren’t always necessary. If your doctor recommends them, they'll be needed temporarily. You may be ready to overcome depression through talk therapy and making healthier lifestyle changes and bedroom habits, like exercising more, drinking less alcohol, following a healthy diet, and learning the way to manage stress before you hit the bed for the night. 

The bottom line

Getting enough sleep is crucial to your physiological and psychological conditions. If you'll be able to identify the reason for your excessive sleepiness and get treated quickly, you will end up feeling more energetic and with a much better ability to concentrate during the day. Do not be shy to make some lifestyle changes and visit the doctor.