Sleeping a lot isn't necessarily a bad thing since sleep is important. Not getting enough sleep puts you at risk for health problems, from heart disease to obesity to diabetes. However, it's possible to fall on the opposite side of the recommended adult sleep duration and sleep too much, also known as oversleeping.
You might be oversleeping for reasons like being sick, taking certain medications, or not getting enough quality sleep at night. Here's what you should know about sleeping too much, how it can affect your health, and what you can do to treat it.
Oversleeping is sleeping for more than nine hours within a 24-hour timespan. Other than long sleep duration, oversleeping symptoms usually include:
- Feeling extremely sleepy during the day
- Having headaches
- Needing to nap throughout the day
Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is the technical name for people who feel really sleepy when it's daytime for at least three months. People with EDS find it hard to stay awake and may fall asleep without meaning to or when they're not supposed to.
Some people may also be diagnosed with hypersomnia or hypersomnolence. With hypersomnia, individuals are excessively sleepy but also tend to sleep for longer periods.
What Causes Oversleeping?
A person may experience oversleeping for a few reasons. Causes can range from problems with sleep quality or quantity to medications.
Drug and Alcohol Use
Stopping the use of some illicit or illegal drugs can result in excessive sleepiness. These effects may typically occur with stimulating drugs like amphetamine or cocaine. Alcohol use is also a cause of EDS. It has sedating effects, meaning it can make you drowsy and sleepy.
Environmental Factors
Some lifestyle factors can play a role in oversleeping because they may contribute to someone not getting enough sleep beyond their waking hours. Those factors can include:
- Doing shift work that goes against the typical sleep-wake body cycle, or circadian rhythm
- Having limited time for sleep due to the nature of certain jobs (e.g., being a caregiver)
- Not leaving adequate time in schedules to sleep
Illnesses
When you're feeling sick, it's normal to sleep longer than you're used to sleeping. For example, research found that people with respiratory infections—like the flu, a cold, or COVID—slept for longer periods. However, the caveat was that the sleep was not necessarily restful.
Lack of Sleep
In some cases, oversleeping can initially be a result of sleep deficits. As a result, you may sleep too much within one or more 24-hour periods to make up for any of the sleep you lost because of a hectic day, week, or month—called sleep debt.
Medications
Some medications may be why you're sleeping so much. They could make you sleep longer than normal because of their ability to cause sedating effects or drowsiness. Examples of medications that can make you sleepy include:
- Antihistamines
- Certain types of painkillers
- Some medications that treat mental health disorders
- Sleeping pills
- Tranquilizers
Physical and Mental Health Conditions
Conditions affecting your mental and physical health may be the cause for oversleeping. Health conditions like chronic pain, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and hypothyroidism may make it hard for you to stay awake for longer. Additionally, prolonged sleep might be due to depression and anxiety, which can contribute to sleepiness.
Sleep Disorders
Oversleeping could be the result of sleep disorders. Some sleep disorders that can involve extreme sleepiness include:
- Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders: Disorders related to misalignments between sleep-wake cycles and light-darkness cycles
- Hypersomnolence disorder or hypersomnia
- Narcolepsy: A sleep disorder where a person feels the need to sleep or falls asleep throughout the day
- Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA): A sleep-related condition where people experience interruptions in their breathing while they're asleep, causing issues like snoring or breathing pauses
- Restless leg syndrome (RLS): A disorder that causes an individual to feel like they need to move their legs as they experience tingling, creeping, burning, or other sensations in the legs
Oversleeping can set the stage for many health problems. For example, the risk of diabetes increases if you get less than seven or more than eight hours of sleep a night.
C-reactive protein (CRP), an indication of inflammation in the body, was higher in individuals who slept less than six hours or more than seven hours—and high levels of CRP are related to increased heart attack risk.
A higher risk of death from any cause has also been linked to oversleeping. For example, one meta-analysis indicated that the risk of dying from heart disease and stroke increased with longer sleep times. The same meta-analysis found that the risk of death increased with each extra hour of sleep as follows:
- Sleeping nine hours was associated with a 14% increased risk of dying
- 10 hours with a 30% higher risk
- 11 hours with a 47% higher risk
However, none of these studies prove that sleeping longer causes health problems or death. Instead, they only indicate associations and links.
Treatment
If you think the reason why you're sleeping so much could be a clue that something else is wrong with your health, you can consult a healthcare provider. Figuring it out and treating it could help you start logging a healthier amount of sleep.
Treatments will be based on what's causing you to oversleep. For example, taking care of cold and flu symptoms may allow you to get back to a regular sleep schedule when the symptoms resolve. A healthcare provider might need to prescribe a stimulant or sodium oxybate to help with wakefulness if excessive daytime sleepiness is your issue.
Self-Help Strategies
There's no need to stress about sleeping in on a weekend. You want to look out for more acute changes—like normally sleeping for 8 hours and then suddenly sleeping for 11 hours every night.
A sleep diary can help log how long you sleep and how you feel after waking up. It can also help log any factors that may impact your sleep, like medications or food. You could also use a fitness tracker with sleep-tracking capabilities to monitor aspects of sleep like deep sleep or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Oversleeping means sleeping more than nine hours in 24 hours. It's associated with a higher risk of several conditions, including heart disease, stroke, and heart failure—but it doesn't mean it causes those conditions.
Instead, oversleeping may be a symptom of other underlying conditions. If you find yourself sleeping too much too often, especially compared to how you usually sleep, check with a healthcare provider to rule out other medical conditions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I be worried about sleeping too much?
Yes—but only if you find you're sleeping more than what's normal for you on a routine basis. Everyone's sleep needs are different.
Is it okay to sleep all day once in a while?
Occasionally sleeping for a while can be OK. However, regular rather than episodic sleep is best.
Which vitamin deficiency causes too much sleep?
A lack of vitamin B12 has the potential to lead to too much sleep. Signs of vitamin B12 deficiency include fatigue and low energy.
