From dealing with insomnia– the inability to sleep, to dealing with oversleep. One would ask; “Is there anything like too much sleep or oversleep?”
A friend once argued that there was nothing as oversleep. But my point remained that anything that can be very little or minimal can be very excess too. I jokingly waved the argument off by giving him examples of “underfeeding” and “overfeeding“.
Now let’s really have a look at this. Is there really a thing as oversleep? And how harmful is it to our health?
A sound sleep is very important for your health, but when gotten excessively can be harmful.
The human body is subjected to sleep for 7-8 hours daily. Our body clock eventually wakes up on its own after that, so if you sleep after these eight hours of sleep and your body clock is not waking you up, trust me, something is wrong.
After sleeping for over 10 hours, I could say you’ve overslept. Though once in a while this could be accepted as a result of stress and earlier inability to sleep (as nature cannot be cheated) but when it becomes an habit, then you really have to look into it.
Causes
- Sleep Apnea is a condition where the brain and the rest of the body lacks enough oxygen and so causing a person’s breathing to be interrupted during sleep.
- Hypersomnia is a condition in which a person has trouble staying awake during the day, they have the tendency to fall sleep at any time.
Effects
Due to oversleeping, certain neurotransmitters in the brain get affected and could result in the feeling of a heavy head and also lead to headache.
Having excess sleep daily, you are at a higher risk to getting obese. During sleep, less physical activities are being done and fats are being accumulated.
Oversleep increases your risks to having diabetes. Excess glucose is being stored and not in use during this period and this can increase your sugar level.
You could also increase the risk of having cardiovascular diseases by oversleeping.
Back pain can also come as a result of excess sleep. Too much pressure is being put on your back during this period.
Try as much as possible to take your sleep cycle very serious and avoid playing with your body clock. Get a sleep routine that your body could easily adapt to.
You could also consult your doctor if you notice you can’t control your sleeping habit.
Summary
You must have heard that too much of everything is bad. Excess sleeping too is bad and can affect your health.
