Oversleeping – Harm to Health
Sleep is something that is interlinked with our mental and physical well being. We come across a lot of talks about the optimal sleep time and the ill effects of less sleep and so on. But as the saying goes “Too much of anything is good for nothing” too much sleep regularly can be hazardous.
The optimal sleep hours are:-
Adults: 5 – 7 hours
Teenagers: 7 – 9 hours
Sometimes we tend to sleep more that is not bad. Once in awhile, we need to rest. But if it becomes a habit we are inviting several health conditions.
Our sleep needs may also be affected by pregnancy, ageing, sleep deprivation, and sleep quality.
Sleeping too much can make us completely inactive. Excessive sleepiness can be a sign of several different medical issues. And getting too much sleep can even lead to health risks.
Reasons
There are a lot of reasons for oversleeping.
The reasons can be both due to underlying diseases in the body or just due to some environmental or social reasons.
Causes of oversleeping (due to the diseases in the body) :-
- Thyroid issues.
- Heart disease.
- Sleep apnoea.
- Narcolepsy.
- Certain medications.
Even the weather can cause oversleeping. If the climate is quite chilly we intend to sleep more and feel cosier in our bed.
Not only can oversleeping be due to diseases or the environment around but it can also be due to over intake of food and not exercising enough. This can cause serious problems.
This oversleeping is not a particular disease by itself rather it is a symptom for other diseases or mental and physical illnesses.
Even depression can be the cause of oversleeping. It is the condition formed when we take mental stress of something personal and professional; it causes mental changes and results in oversleeping.
Even constipation can cause sleepiness and oversleep. The storage of waste can make you inactive and dull, making us lethargic.
Some people keep sleeping as the only recreation. in that case we should develop more hobbies and play outside more. ( Even older people can play outside, it is not limited to younger ones only age and physical exercise don’t go hand in hand. ).
The Side effects of oversleeping
There are many side effects of oversleeping which can be hazardous to our health.
It can cause:-
- Loss of interests in things we do.
- We tend to develop sluggishness.
- Decreases the cognitive capacity (i.e. memory strength).
- Increased back pain.
- Obesity rates increases.
- It increases the risks of diabetes.
- It increases the risks of stroke
- We will lack alertness.
To put it in a nutshell it increases the risks of early mortality. Now that is why we are told to wake early in the morning.
If we are gaining weight suddenly, then we should reconsider our sleeping pattern along with our diet.
Not only this, when we sleep late and wake late the bile content in our body gets disrupted and thus this causes our body to lose its regularity. Thus our biological clock gets disturbed, we start eating more and at abnormal times and start developing acne and other complications.
How to stop oversleeping
The best thing to do is to stop this oversleeping as soon as possible. There are many ways in which we can work to achieve it.
Few of which are:-
- Be early to bed and wake early in the morning.
- Reduce your caffeine intake, take more fresh juices.
- Have fruits, vegetables, milk, or anything light for dinner.
- Stop overeating this makes us more obese and sluggish
- Exercise a lot this will keep us alive and going no matter what.
- Refrain from taking long snoozes in the afternoon. ( 30 minutes will be the maximum limit)
These are ways how we can get rid of this habit of oversleeping. Taking an adequate amount of sleep between 7-9 hours is best for us physically as well as mentally. We should maintain this balance to avoid any medical condition. We should get a proper amount of sleep not less, not more.
Following this, we can see changes in our health conditions. Nowadays due to the pandemic situations, we have more time at our disposal let us use it wisely to make changes in our lifestyle for the betterment of our health, and live long and safe.