The golden rule of an 8-hour sleep does not work for everyone: someone needs at least 9 hours to feel normal, while 6-7 is enough for others. At the same time, getting too much sleep is no less harmful than its absence. Let us tell you how to understand that you sleep a lot and why it happens.
4 Signs That You’re Sleeping Too Much
1. You wake up with a headache
Some experts believe that prolonged sleep can affect the neurotransmitters of the brain, leading to a decrease in serotonin levels and headaches or even migraines. Another cause of headache after waking up is laying down for a long time. The muscles of the neck are in tension for a long time, because of which appear neck and shoulder pain appear.
Pain in the back and other parts of the body is also often caused by sleeping too long, but if you know that you have slept little, but you feel bad, it's probably an uncomfortable mattress or pillow.
2. You feel discomfort all day
If, after waking up, you spend another half day on recovering your senses, something is clearly wrong with your sleep. The body begins to get confused in circadian rhythms, especially if you completely deprive yourself of sources of natural light while you sleep and the body cannot receive signals about the change of day and night.
As a result, lethargy, apathy, inability to concentrate on a task all occur. Try to reduce the amount of sleep by at least an hour. Even if waking up is not easy, you will quickly find vigor.
3. You have problems with memory
It’s normal to feel this when you only sleep four hours a day, but 10 hours of sleep can give the same sensations. Recent studies by American scientists claim that sleeping more than 9 hours a day affects a person as negatively as rest for less than 5 hours.
Employees of the University of California tested the memory of about 400 thousand people. People who slept 7 hours a day performed the best. For those who sleep more than 9 hours or less than 5 hours, the results are about the same.
Scientists believe that those who sleep longer - get less quality sleep, which interferes with the normal communication between areas of the brain and disrupts cognitive abilities.
4. You wake up tired
A normal night's sleep should give strength and refresh you in the morning, and not make you feel that you are rising from the dead. Sleeping too long does not benefit as well as intoxication. Your body has to make a lot of effort to adapt to its 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. As a result, you feel overworked and, having slept for 10 hours, you only want one thing - to take a short nap.
The reasons why you sleep too long, maybe several, and not all of them are your fault. That's why people find it difficult to control their sleep.
Downed sleep
The most obvious cause of sleep problems is the lack of a regimen. Constant lack of sleep during the week and the desire to properly sleep off on weekends is not good for you. Having taught your body to go to bed and get up at the same time, you will sleep better and wake up easier, of course, if sleep does not last more than 9 hours. Try to adhere to a regime, even on vacation or on weekends.
Your body fights inflammation
Sometimes constant drowsiness can be the first symptom of a disease. During sleep, the level of cytokines rises - cells that the immune system produces to fight inflammation. The body needs extra rest to help the immune system attack the virus or infection. In this case, a long sleep will benefit. The more time you spend at rest, the faster your body will cope with the disease.
You're depressed
Drowsiness is a common symptom of depression. In this state, a person feels apathy, wakes up feeling sluggish, even if you sleep for a long time, you lose interest in everything that happens. According to a study published in the journal Psychology Today, more than 40% of adults under the age of 30 who suffer from depression experience hypersomnia.
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