13 Steps on How to Get Rid of Over Sleeping
Do you have a habit of over sleeping lately? Sleeping beyond the ideal time, 7 – 9 hours per day, can be a sign of a health problem. Especially after a long sleep, you even feel tired quickly.
Causes
There are several causes of oversleeping. Among others are :
- Excessive Alcohol Consumption: Alcohol that enters the body will suppress the central nervous system. In small amounts, alcohol can produce a calming effect. In excessive amounts, these substances can have an intoxicating effect and result in loss of consciousness. Drinking can also be the cause of panic attack. You need to know how to get rid of panic attack after drinking.
- Taking Certain Medication: Some drugs have side effects that cause drowsiness, such as cough and cold medicines. This description is always written on the packaging.
- Depression: Depression makes you feel sad, hopeless, worthless, and helpless. Sleeping gives your mind a break from feeling sad.
- Narcolepsy: Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that affects certain parts of the brain that regulate sleep. The narcolepsy patient fails to distinguish between sleep and waking hours so that he/she can fall asleep anywhere and anytime.
- Unhealthy Diet: Eating foods with excess carbohydrate content such as junk food can cause drowsiness. A full stomach after lunch raises the urge to take a nap.
Effects
As the old saying goes too much of something is bad enough. Over sleeping can pose a health risk. Among others are :
- Diabetes: Research in the US involving thousands of participants showed a link between sleep and diabetes risk. People who sleep more than nine hours per night are 50 percent more likely to develop diabetes than those who sleep seven hours each night.
- Obesity: A particular study showed that people who slept for 9 – 10 hours had a risk of about 20% higher for obesity than those who slept 7 – 8 hours.
- Headache: Too much sleep can affect the chemistry in the brain that can cause headaches in the morning. Headaches can mean many things. There are many types of headaches that are annoying, one of which is tension headache. Fortunately, there are several ways on how to relieve chronic tension headaches you can try.
- Back Pain: There are times when doctors advise you to lie down in bed when you have a sore back. But the study also shows the importance of exercising regularly and having active lifestyle to maintain flexibility of the bones.
- Heart Disease: Nurses’ Health Research involving 72,000 women showed women who slept 9 – 11 hours each night had a risk of about 38% higher for developing coronary heart disease than those who slept eight hours.
How to
Are there any methods on how to get rid of over sleeping? Let’s look at the steps below.
1. Setting a Sleep Schedule
Making a sleep schedule means we have to sleep and wake up at the same time each day. 7-9 hours is the most normal time to sleep even though everyone’s need for sleep is usually different from each other.
Teenagers in general require a long sleep time than adults so that the growth period can also run smoothly. In adults, some people feel enough to sleep six hours each night. The point is there are many ways on how to get sleep schedule back on track .
2. Setting Alarm
There are some people who decide to delay to sleep because of fun chatting or doing activities with gadgets. Setting an alarm is useful as a reminder that it’s time for you to sleep.
3. Put Alarm in Living Room
It is preferable to put your alarm in the living room. Its location which is beyond the reach of your hand will prevent you to turn it off easily and end up sleeping again. If you are already out of bed, you will be reluctant to go back to sleep.
4. No Snooze Button
When the alarm sounds in the morning, we are usually tempted to press the snooze button and continue sleeping. Because of this, we become much more tired. When the snooze button is pressed, the brain is allowed to enter the sleep cycle. A few more times pressing the button will only make the body quickly tired and swayed. So it’s better to wake up soon.
5. Stretching Body at Wake Time
When it’s morning and the alarm goes off, be sure to stretch your body first and get up. Open the curtains to let the sunlight into the room. This will help you deal with the day in a positive spirit.
6. Washing Your Face and Taking a Shower
After turning off the alarm and stretching, immediately wash your face and take a shower. It will refresh the body more than sleep longer. It is even advisable to switch between cold and hot water every 20 seconds to ward off sleepiness.
7. Turning off Electronic Devices
Turning off cell phones, computers, televisions, and all the gadgets commonly used a few hours before bedtime is one way to sleep well. This is an important element in the method of how to get rid of over sleeping. The production of melatonin, a hormone that helps us relax and sleep, is depressed by light.
8. Doing Relaxing Activities before Sleep
Get used yourself to sleep with the ideal duration. Before going to bed you should do a number of relaxing activities, such as reading books, taking a warm bath and listening slow music. These activities are known to help the body and mind at ease. That way, the brain will come relaxed so you will feel sleepy and sleep faster and soundly. You can also try various ways on how to relieve tension in your body to make you more relax.
9. Avoiding Sleep in the Afternoon
A good night’s sleep is better than an afternoon nap. If you want to take a nap, it’s preferably around 1 pm or 2 pm and no later than 3 pm. Napping after 3 pm will affect the quality of night’s sleep. It is advisable to take a 30-minute nap. This will restore the freshness of the body without disturbing the night’s sleep.
10. Avoiding Heavy Meals in the Daytime
Although it is okay to nap for 30 minutes, it would be nice if you can avoid napping so that your night’s sleep quality is maintained. The trick is not to eat heavy meals at lunch time. A salad menu with 3-4 ounces of protein will keep you energized throughout the day.
11. No Work Out before Sleep
When your work out time is too close to bedtime, the body and mind will be stimulated to become more active so that you can not sleep at night. Work out can be done earlier and not 3 hours before bedtime.
12. Not consuming Caffeine before Sleep
Caffeine can keep you up all night. Lack of sleep at night can be a cause of over sleeping the next morning. When you should be able to wake up with a fresh body, you are tempted to sleep longer. So, avoid caffeine before bed.
13. Wake Up Without Alarm
Regular and consistent sleep patterns need to be maintained. When you get yourself used to the correct sleep schedule and can wake up without alarm, you will be far from over sleeping.
If the method of how to get rid of over sleeping is not working and your body is still tired and sleepy constantly, consult a doctor. It could be a symptom of hypersomnia. Various symptoms of sleep disorders can occur, so be aware of them.