Also called excessive daytime sleepiness, hypersomnia makes a person sleep more than usual. As a result, you not only feel more tired than usual, but even after sleeping a lot, you don't feel refreshed enough to focus on your work with complete concentration. If this continues for a long time, then it can significantly impact your overall quality of life. So, here is an overview of the causes of hypersomnia, its diagnosis, symptoms and the ways to treat hypersomnia naturally:
Do you know:
- Among all the people who have sleep-related issues, at least 15% to 30% suffer from the symptoms of hypersomnia syndromes.
- Accordingly, almost 4% to 6% of the general population has hypersomnia, with the highest prevalence rates being shown in men. 1
- Apart from this, a recent 2023 report has concluded that in comparison to idiopathic hypersomnia, the prevalence of narcolepsy type I is 82% and narcolepsy type 2 is 13%. In comparison to these numbers, the prevalence of idiopathic hypersomnia is only 5%. 2
What Is Hypersomnia (Excessive Daytime Sleepiness)?
Hypersomnia is excessive daytime sleepiness that results in a lack of productivity and can degrade the overall quality of your life if you do not get timely hypersomnia treatment. This is because when you have hypersomnia symptoms, you might fall asleep multiple times during the day. Other similar characteristic features of hypersomnia symptoms include—
- Falling asleep at any time during the day
- Regular daytime napping (quite a few times)
- Feeling sleepy at night even after sleeping a lot during the day
However, remember that excessive daytime sleepiness or hypersomnia is not the same as feeling tired most of the time. 3
Types of Hypersomnia
Hypersomnia is classified into 2 types based on the causes of hypersomnia—
1. Primary Hypersomnia
Primary hypersomnia occurs when your hypersomnia symptoms are not caused by some underlying medical condition. This includes the following 4 types of conditions:
1.1. Narcolepsy Type 1
The main cause of hypersomnia in the case of narcolepsy type 1 is decreased levels of a chemical called hypocretin in your brain and its fluid. As a result, your brain loses control over when you sleep and when you wake up, ultimately resulting in hypersomnia symptoms.
1. 2. Narcolepsy Type 2
In narcolepsy type 2, the amount of hypocretin is normal. Therefore, this type produces only mild hypersomnia symptoms when compared with narcolepsy type 1.
1. 3. Idiopathic Hypersomnia
Doctors cannot identify the actual cause of idiopathic hypersomnia. In fact, the word idiopathic itself translates to 'no known cause.'
1. 4. Kleine-Levin Syndrome
Kleine-Levin syndrome requires timely hypersomnia treatment because the person having it can sleep for as much as 20 hours per day. This is the rarest type of hypersomnia in which symptoms are mostly observed only in teenage boys.
2. Secondary Hypersomnia
Secondary hypersomnia occurs when your hypersomnia symptoms are caused by the presence of another medical condition. Examples of the possible causes of this type of hypersomnia include—
Diseases and disorders such as—
- Hypothyroidism
- Parkinson's disease
- Epilepsy
- Depression, etc.
Drugs and other substances such as—
- Antipsychotic drugs
- Sedatives
- Alcohol etc.
We have described more about the other potential causes of hypersomnia in the later sections of this article. 4
Hypersomnia Vs Narcolepsy: What Is the Difference?
Many people get confused between hypersomnia and narcolepsy, thinking that they are both the same things. However, while they might appear to be similar, they are very different from each other.
Likewise, while narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that results in instant sleep attacks, hypersomnia, on the other hand, is simply a symptom in which a person feels excessive daytime sleepiness. Putting into simpler words, narcolepsy is a serious sleep disorder, while hypersomnia is a more generalised condition. 5
Symptoms of Hypersomnia
While the symptoms of hypersomnia can be different for different people based on their causes of hypersomnia, generally, the following symptoms are observed:
- Feeling dizzy and confused right after you wake up
- Having trouble concentrating on your work and remembering things
- Slowed speech
- Needing to nap again and again during the daytime
- Not feeling refreshed even after you wake up from a deep sleep or a long nap
- Feeling tired (more than normal) throughout the day 6
7 Possible Causes of Hypersomnia
As already mentioned before, the causes of hypersomnia can vary depending on the type of excessive daytime sleepiness you have. The general causes include—
- Certain medical conditions
- Mental health disorders
- Intake of specific types of drugs and other addictive substances
- Genetic disorders
- Undergoing an injury
1. Medical Conditions
Here is a list of the health conditions, diseases and disorders that cause hypersomnia—
- Obstructive sleep apnoea
- Migraines
- Peptic ulcers
- Vitamin deficiencies
- Obesity
- Mood disorders (for example, depression)
- Parkinson's disease
- Hypothyroidism
- Epilepsy
- Encephalitis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Multiple system atrophy
- Myotonic dystrophy
- Genetic disorders
2. Medications
Here is a list of drugs that can cause hypersomnia—
- Antipsychotic drugs
- Medicines used to treat abnormal blood pressure
- Anti-epileptic drugs
- Medications used in Parkinson's disease
- Skeletal muscle relaxants
- Sedatives such as—
- Benzodiazepines
- Barbiturates
- Melatonin
- Other types of sleeping aids
- Tranquillisers
- Antihistamines
3. Addictive Substances
If a person is taking certain substances that have the potential to cause addiction, then their chances of developing hypersomnia symptoms increase significantly.
So, some of the substances which can cause hypersomnia include the following:
- Alcohol
- Opiates such as hydrocodone and oxycodone
- Cannabis (marijuana)
4. Insufficient Sleep Syndrome
Not getting enough proper, undisturbed sleep every night due to your voluntarily chosen lifestyle habits is called insufficient sleep syndrome. It can become a cause of hypersomnia when you—
- Don't practice healthy habits like exercising regularly
- Have caffeine a few hours before sleeping
5. Drug Withdrawal
If you were taking some medicines, especially stimulant drugs (for example, medicines that are used to treat ADHD), and you have recently stopped taking those drugs, your body starts showing withdrawal symptoms, which can result in hypersomnia.
6. Environmental Factors
To sleep peacefully, you need a disturbance-free environment. That is why one of the most common causes of hypersomnia is having an environment that does not facilitate consistent sleep.
Some examples of situations that can disrupt your sleeping environment include the following:
- Sleeping beside someone who has a habit of snoring loudly
- Noisy neighbours
- Uncomfortable temperature conditions where you sleep
- Having a newborn baby
7. Sleeping Disorders
Examples of sleeping disorders that can cause hypersomnia include—
- Sleep apnoea
- Restless legs syndrome
- Sleepwalking
- Narcolepsy
- Idiopathic hypersomnia
- Insomnia
Hypersomnia Diagnosis
A hypersomnia diagnosis includes the analysis of your medical history, hypersomnia symptoms, and sleeping patterns and habits to understand the main cause of hypersomnia in your particular case.
1. Analysis Of Your Medical History and Sleeping Patterns
To do this, your healthcare provider will ask you several questions about your sleep. Accordingly, the first step in this process of hypersomnia diagnosis is asking you to keep a sleep diary and record the quality and quantity of sleep you are getting every day for several days.
Following this, your healthcare provider can ask you questions such as—
- How much sleep do you get on average on a per-day basis?
- Do you feel refreshed or not after waking up from your sleep?
- How are your sleeping patterns affecting your everyday life?
After this, you might be recommended the following tests for hypersomnia diagnosis—
1. Polysomnogram
Also called PSG, this test records the following when you're asleep:
- The activities of your brain and muscles
- Eye movement
- Breathing patterns
The test also helps detect other possible causes of hypersomnia or excessive daytime sleepiness, including sleep apnoea.
2. Multiple Sleep Latency Test
This test is used to examine your daytime sleepiness. Multiple sleep latency tests are taken on the day after you have undergone a PSG. The test requirements include taking 5 short naps (the naps are taken after uniform intervals of 2 hours). At the end of the test, if it is concluded that a person can fall asleep within 8 minutes, then it indicates that they could have excessive daytime sleepiness.
Treatment Options for Hypersomnia
Hypersomnia treatment includes using a combination of natural remedies for hypersomnia along with medications and certain lifestyle changes.
Here is an overview of what are these and how they work:
1. Hypersomnia Medications
The medications which are generally recommended for hypersomnia treatment include the following:
1.1. Stimulants
Stimulants work by increasing your brain activity and stimulating it to keep you awake throughout the day. They come in the form of prescription-based oral medicines, which you must take in the morning.
Examples include—
- Armodafinil (Nuvigil)
- Modafinil (Alertec, Provigil).
- Psychostimulants (ADHD drugs like amphetamines, dextroamphetamines, methylphenidate etc.)
However, it is important to note that ADHD drugs come with an added possibility of dependence and can have several side effects. That is why they are not the first choice of drugs that your doctor will probably suggest to you.
1.2. Antidepressants
These drugs are given to those people whose cause of hypersomnia is specifically depression. Moreover, antidepressants do not work for people with Kleine-Levin syndrome.
1.3. Newer FDA-Approved Drugs
Recently, some new drugs have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for hypersomnia treatment. Here is a list of these:
- Sodium oxybate (Xywav)
- Xyrem
- Pitolisant (Wakix). This is a recently developed antihistamine-containing hypersomnia treatment to eliminate excessive daytime sleepiness.
How To Treat Hypersomnia Naturally?
In situations where your symptoms are not extreme, adopting some natural remedies for hypersomnia treatment can also help in the elimination of excessive daytime sleepiness.
So, here is a list of some natural remedies for hypersomnia—
- Sleep at the same time every day to maintain your circadian rhythm. This will help your body know what time it needs to sleep, thereby inducing natural sleep during that particular time.
- Avoid taking naps during the day. Even if you feel sleepy and have the urge to nap, try and avoid it as much as possible.
- Practise everyday rituals that can encourage healthy sleep. These can include turning off your electrical devices or practising a relaxing hobby.
- Have a well-balanced diet throughout the day.
- Avoid performing rigorous exercise right before going to bed. 7
Managing Life with Hypersomnia
The management strategies to deal with hypersomnia symptoms with ongoing hypersomnia treatment are similar to the methods that are used to treat hypersomnia naturally.
Here are a few examples:
- Before going to bed, avoid substances that can stimulate your brain. These include alcohol, caffeinated drinks and cigarettes.
- Make sure you get enough nutrients from your diet to avoid vitamin deficiencies, as they can directly cause hypersomnia.
- Perform regular physical activity and achieve normal weight goals as per the BMI (Body Mass Index)
- Whether you have idiopathic hypersomnia or some other type of it, exercising regularly during the early hours of the day can help induce better and timely sleep during the night.
- Get yourself a comfortable mattress, and maintain your bedroom's temperature to something that feels comfortable (that is not too hot and not too cold). This promotes better, more undisturbed sleep throughout the night.
Conclusion
All in all, in many cases, hypersomnia symptoms can be treated by adopting certain natural remedies and changing your daily lifestyle habits. However, in cases where these changes do not bring about the expected results, hypersomnia medications might become necessary. Moreover, if your symptoms stay for a prolonged duration, it is best to consider a medical expert and get a hypersomnia diagnosis to improve your overall sleep quality.
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