The clearest and most obvious symptom of EDS is drowsiness during daylight hours. Some people need nine hours every night in order to feel their best while others feel great with just seven. Obstructive sleep apnea is one common cause of excessive daytime sleepiness. The MSLT is a full-day test that consists of five scheduled naps separated by 2-hour breaks. Some of the most common components of treatment are described in the following sections. The main consequences of excessive daytime sleepiness come from how it can impact a person’s ability to meet the responsibilities of their day-to-day life. Sleep hygiene is the term used to encompass a person’s sleep-related habits and environment. According to Dr. Kapur, the top cause of excessive daytime sleepiness isn’t an underlying disorder or condition but rather lack of adequate sleep duration.
During each nap, you will lie quietly in bed and try to go to sleep. 5. Excessive sleepiness is a sign that your sleep is being disrupted, and if you don’t address this problem, it can lead to serious health problems.”. Each of us has a specific sleep requirement. Lack of sleep typically takes the blame for exhaustion, and if you’re logging less than seven hours of shut-eye each night, achieving the recommended seven…, For people juggling family, work, and a personal life, feeling exhausted may seem like it’s just par for the course. (This is why people with obstructive sleep apnea often snore loudly and gasp or choke throughout the night.) Excessive daytime sleepiness is a sign of an underlying (and potentially serious) health issue, such as sleep apnea or narcolepsy.
But it’s a serious condition, and excessive daytime sleepiness is the number-one symptom, Kapur notes.
Sleep specialists use these tests to diagnose sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, insomnia, and REM sleep behavior disorder, and nighttime behaviors like sleepwalking. Here’s what to look for and what could be causing it. More tips for optimizing the setting and routines for sleep can be found in our list of 15 Tips for Better Sleep Hygiene.
These tests typically measure heart rate, blood oxygen level, and breathing patterns. November 1, 2019. Not getting enough sleep -- sometimes by choice -- is the most common cause of excessive sleepiness. Being constantly tired can mean that you’re more likely to make mistakes or be less productive, and it can impair your ability to enjoy or fully take part in the things you normally like to do, according to the NSF. Because sleep disruptions can occur as a consequence of many conditions, the potential causes of EDS are numerous. You need to pay attention, but you just can’t keep your eyes open. Adults, he says, should try to sleep 7 to 9 hours per night, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35 percent of American adults average less than 7 hours. A questionnaire may be used to evaluate the patient’s symptoms on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. If you find yourself tossing and turning at night, worrying about things that happened during the day, talk to your doctor about steps you can take to reduce or better manage your stress. “Then we have to find out why. Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) is defined by having an increased pressure to fall asleep during typical wake hours. Some of the most common causes related to EDS include: This list offers only an introduction to the range of issues that can be related to EDS. 2. People suffering from frequent drowsiness often have reduced productivity at work or decreased academic performance in school. © 2020 OneCare Media, LLC. Excessive daytime sleepiness is one of the most common sleep-related patient symptoms, and it affects an estimated 20 percent of the population. Impact of obstructive sleep apnea. In these cases, improving sleep hygiene can go a long way to resolving daytime sleepiness.
Daytime sleepiness isn’t a disorder itself but a symptom of conditions that can have serious health effects, such as obstructive sleep apnea or narcolepsy, or a side effect of certain medications or poor sleep habits. Sign up for our Healthy Living Newsletter! This may involve additional testing including blood tests, urine analysis, and/or imaging tests (like computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)). According to the NSF, many people who work at night and sleep during the day — when it’s light out and often noisier — experience sleep problems. Here’s what you need to know about excessive daytime sleepiness — and why it’s important to talk to your doctor if you’re experiencing it. If your sleep specialist suspects, based on a sleep study, that narcolepsy is causing your excessive sleepiness, they may recommend the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT). Sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), or more rarely, narcolepsy According to an article published in August 2017 in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews, 10 to 40 percent of North American adults have obstructive sleep apnea, a condition in which your airway becomes obstructed, causing disruptions to breathing during sleep. By subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. It occurs when the muscles in the back of the throat collapse and fail to keep the airway open, which causes a person to wake up briefly to reopen the airway. How is Excessive Daytime Sleepiness Treated? Excessive sleepiness can be difficult to quantify, as it may mean different things to different people. Excessive daytime sleepiness is diagnosed by a doctor who is also directly involved in trying to determine its underlying cause. A study published in May 2017 in the journal Scientific Reports found that rates of excessive daytime sleepiness were higher in adults who: Others who are at increased risk for excessive daytime sleepiness include: Excessive daytime sleepiness can be difficult to diagnose, because it can be confused with other health conditions, including fatigue, which the NSF defines as feelings of low energy and the need to rest but not necessarily sleep. “No matter how it shows up, it can be a sign of a serious problem, and it needs to be addressed.”. As treatment progresses, the patient can continue to check in with their doctor about their level of daytime drowsiness and whether they are seeing an improvement with regard to EDS. How is Excessive Daytime Sleepiness Diagnosed?
To treat sleep apnea, your first stop can be your primary care doctor, says Kapur, but you may need an evaluation from a sleep specialist to properly identify the root cause and to discuss treatment options. (Apnea means absence of breathing for at least 10 seconds.) Feeling drowsy and sluggish once in a while isn’t unusual, but if these symptoms occur frequently (for example, over a period of several months or more than 2 days per week) and interfere with your work, school, activities, or relationships, you may be dealing with excessive daytime sleepiness.
commonly reflects bodily weakness, pain, or disability, comprehensive guide about sleep deprivation, Creating a set routine for the lead-up to bedtime, Eliminating any activities in bed that are not either sleep or sex, Stopping the use of mobile phones or other electronic devices for an hour or more before going to bed. They will also look for complications associated with sleep apnea, including high blood pressure, problems with attention or concentration, heart disease, or metabolic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, says Kannan Ramar, MD, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. It explains what EDS is as well as its symptoms, health consequences, and causes. The condition has been linked with on-the-job accidents and falling asleep behind the wheel, among other safety concerns. By subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Airway therapy, such as CPAP, is important for treating the airway obstruction, but it may not completely relieve the symptom of excessive daytime sleepiness. A sleep study is a noninvasive, overnight exam that allows doctors to monitor you in detail while you sleep (keeping track of things such as your stage of sleep, your airflow, oxygen levels, heart rhythm, and limb movements). Tests done overnight in a sleep lab can also measure these factors, along with metrics such as brain wave patterns, sleep time, and leg movements. It tends to strike older adults and is more common in men than women. Besides getting diagnosed and treated for an underlying condition that may be causing your excessive daytime sleepiness, such as sleep apnea, you can make some changes to your daily sleep habits. This is called shift work disorder, and it can lead to excessive sleepiness.
One common cause of excessive daytime sleepiness is sleep apnea. When every day is a struggle to stay awake, finding a treatment that works can be a top priority. But imagine getting ten or… Exact matches only . According to the Cleveland Clinic, alcohol, a sedative, can help you fall asleep, but it can also work to keep you awake later in the night as its effects wear off. A study published in August 2019 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found people with sleep apnea who were excessively sleepy also had a higher risk of cardiovascular problems than people who weren’t as tired. This symptom extremely rarely occurs in children, whereas adolescents and adults (especially shift workers and older persons) are at a higher risk of experiencing it.
Most people have experienced this situation every once in awhile, but for some, estimated at around 20% of adults, this becomes a persistent problem known as excessive daytime sleepiness or EDS.
It is a common complaint of many adults and children.