Watch Your Sleep! - You Could Be A Hypersomniac

You could be suffering from hypersomnia and might not even know about it. Better watch out your sleep patterns.

In very simple terms, hypersomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS). In most of the cases it is a lifelong problem.

Hypersomnia is different from feeling fatigued due to lack of sleep at night. A person affected with this disorder is forced to sleep repeatedly during the day. Worse, this does not relieve tiredness at all.

Hypersomnia can be divided into two categories. First is ‘primary hypersomnia’ or ‘idiopathic hypersomnia’. The second is ‘recurrent hypersomnia’ or ‘recurrent primary hypersomnia’.

A person suffering from primary hypersomnia sleeps excessively during the day over a long period of time.

Recurrent hypersomnia constitutes of periods of extreme day time sleepiness. This can go on from one to several days. Also, this cycle can get repeated over a period of one year.

Another form could be Kleine-Levin syndrome. It is characterized by long episodes of hypersomnia. This is a rare sleep disorder. The symptoms include need for excessive sleep, excessive food and uncontrolled sexual behaviour.

Hypersomnia can develop because of improper functioning of the nervous system. Another reason can be excessive alcohol intake. Sometimes a head injury can also become the reason for the same.

Apart from excessive daytime sleeping, hypersomnia is characterized by restlessness, irritable behaviour, loss of appetite, hallucinations, memory loss etc.

The treatment for hypersomnia can be done at a personal as well as a professional level.Doctors prescribe various stimulants, anti depressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors for treatment.

But one can go in for self treatment also. Small changes in one’s lifestyle can go a long way in curing hypersomnia. Here are a few tips:

1.Avoid alcohol and coffee
2.Exercise regularly
3.Avoid smoking
4.Fix your time of sleeping and waking up

Only if self-treatment does not work should you see a doctor. This is so because the prescribed drugs can lead to hypertension and cause other side-effects.