Usually, when people hear “sleep disorders”, the first thing that would come up to their minds is difficulty in falling asleep and staying asleep or insomnia. They do not know that there are a lot of different kinds of sleep disorders that thousands or even millions of people from all over the world that are suffering. It is also a common and wrong mindset of people to think that getting more than the required number of sleeping hours is good for the body, in fact oversleeping every night can cause several negative side effects to the overall health of a person.

What is Oversleeping or Hypersomnia ?

According to Mayo Clinic website, an adult person should get at least 7 hours of sleep up to 9 hours of sleep every single day. However, for people who are suffering from sleep disorders will find it hard to obtain the required sleeping hours every day. In the case of oversleeping, some people spend more than 12 hours sleeping every night and still feel unrefreshed and tired in the morning. According to The National Sleep Foundation, oversleeping or sleeping more than enough of the required sleeping hours can put you at higher risk for morbidity or even mortality. Oversleeping can in fact be a symptom by an underlying medical condition.

Causes of Oversleeping or Hypersomnia

Oversleeping or hypersomnia may be a symptom of an underlying medical condition. There are several different causes why a person suffers from hypersomnia, which include:

• Sleep Apnea – sleep apnea is one of the most life-threatening sleep disorders. It is characterized by episodes of breathing cessation, which can happen more than a hundred times in one night. This type of sleep disorder can cause fragmented and disturbed sleep every night and it can lead to an increased drowsiness the next day, which causes a person to oversleep.
• Depression – people who are depressed feel tired and low all the time. Depressed people tend to sleep way too much, since they feel that they do not have any energy to do anything but sleep.
• Medications – some medications can cause hypersomnia or oversleeping, which can lead to development of sleep disorders. If you are suffering from hypersomnia and think that your current medication is the cause, talk to your doctor about it.
• Sleep Deprivation – If a person is sleep deprived, the amount of sleeping hours would increase.

Effects of Oversleeping or Hypersomnia

Oversleeping or hypersomnia can cause several negative side effects to the body and can put a person at higher risks for several medical conditions.

• Headaches – People who oversleep tend to have headaches more than people who sleep normally.
• Obesity – Getting too much sleep can cause obesity or overweight, since metabolism slows down when a person is not doing anything.
• Diabetes – people who sleep more than 9 hours every night or people with hypersomnia are at a higher risk for developing diabetes.