excessive daytime sleepiness
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness
Is excessive daytime sleepiness just a sigh of fatigue or could it be indicative of something more deep-rooted and complex? Let's find out.
- Sleep disorders such as parasomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, etc., are some of the major reasons behind EDS. These conditions don't allow you to get sound, undisturbed sleep, no matter how many hours you spend in the sack, and your body tries to compensate for the lost opportunity to refresh and rejuvenate itself by attempting to go on stand-by mode during the daytime. That is when you suddenly start feeling all groggy, finding it difficult to concentrate on the activity at hand or pay any amount of attention to details.
- A disruption of the circadian rhythm, what is colloquially known as the biological clock, can lead to a distorted sense of feeding and sleeping times. This can be caused as a result of jet lag, shift in time zones, shift in work timings, unhealthy habits such as staying up till late at night, etc.
- Psychological conditions such as depression, anxiety, etc., can lead to insomnia and loss of sleep at night, sometimes leading to a sedated state during the daytime due to sense of moral despair or hopelessness. This can cause the subject to feel physically and mentally inactive, to the extent of appearing limp and resigned.
- Abnormalities in the endocrine functions, especially those having to do with the thyroid gland and related hormonal imbalances, can lead to EDS.
- Physical conditions such as anemia, diseases of the vital organs such as the heart, kidney, etc., can leave the subject feeling weak and dispirited. Coupled with the side effects of medications taken for these conditions, a general feeling of drowsiness throughout the day is not uncommon.
- Head injuries or any kind of damage to or malignant growths in and around the brain or central nervous system can also lead to EDS, which is more like a kind of partial loss of consciousness and awareness of one's surroundings, than mere drowsiness.
- Other causes include unnecessary use of narcotics and abusing psychoactive drugs over long periods can lead to a distorted sleep-wake pattern. Also, the EDS condition can be genetic or hereditary too.