What Is Hypersomnia?
The term hypersomnia means sleeping too much or being overly sleepy. People with hypersomnia usually are excessively sleepy during the day. This symptom is called excessive daytime sleepiness or EDS.
Hypersomnia generally is caused by lack of sleep during the night. The body needs a certain amount of sleep every 24 hours. For most people, that means about 8 hours of sleep. When that sleep is not obtained at night, your body tries to catch up on the sleep during the day.
The bigger question becomes, why is your body not getting enough sleep at night? Are you sleep deprived because you are going to bed too late and getting up too early? Are you sleepy during the day because of problems with insomnia at night?
Sleep may be disturbed by specific sleep disorders such as sleep-disordered breathing, periodic limb movements in sleep, or narcolepsy. Medical illness or psychiatric illness can also cause daytime sleepiness. Certain medications (such as tranquilizers) also have the side effect of causing day time sleepiness or hypersomnia. Withdrawal from other medications (such as caffeine) also can cause sleepiness.
Hypersomnia can cause difficulties with memory and concentration, thus affecting overall performance. This can become especially dangerous when poor performance resulting from sleepiness leads to accidents.
Fatigue also has been cited as the most frequent cause of fatal accidents in truck drivers. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that about 200,000 traffic accidents each year are most likely a result of sleep problems and that of all drivers in the United States, 20% have dozed off at least once while driving.
It has been estimated that about 4% to 5% of the population suffers from excessive daytime sleepiness. However, the true number is difficult to determine since many people believe it is normal to be sleepy during the day (and to take regular naps) and therefore do not report the EDS as a disorder.
To treat hypersomnia, you must first determine what is causing the sleepiness. If the sleepiness is caused by medication, then your doctor may adjust the dose and time of day the medication is taken. If the layperson is caused by sleep deprivation (that is, not getting enough sleep at night), the treatment may be as simple as sleeping more hours at night. If the hypersomnia is caused by illness (such as sleep apnea), then that illness must be addressed by your doctor.