Slept through your alarm? Decided to sleep for 5 minutes more but when you woke up next, it was 10 am? Snoozed your alarm for 5 minutes and then overslept? If these situations resonate with you, you are familiar with oversleeping! Oversleeping is a problem that can affect a lot of people. If it becomes a habit, it has many consequences.
Table of Contents
What are the causes of oversleeping?
Lack of sleep
If you don’t get enough sleep at night, which varies from person to person, you’ll find it difficult, if not impossible, to get out of bed in the morning. Sleep deprivation can be caused by a lack of quality sleep, not obtaining enough hours of sleep, or having an excessive desire for sleep.
Having a disrupted sleep routine
A consistent sleep routine is essential for falling asleep and getting up in the morning. It awakens your body from its deep sleep, making you feel bright, alert, and ready to face the day.
If your internal body clock is in sync, you will automatically wake up in the morning without the use of an alarm clock. When it gets off course, you have little chance unless you have a really loud buzzing clock and a lot of determination!
A poor state of mind
Anything that makes you desire to stay in bed rather than get out of bed. This is a common consequence of winter. You must offer yourself a compelling reason to leave your warm bed and venture out into the cold!
A poor outlook can be caused by:
- Depression
- Motivational deficiency
- Fear \Anxiety
- Boredom
How does oversleeping effect you ?
- Oversleeping can cause weight gain
- Cause headaches
- Give you a back pain
- Effect your mental health
Oversleeping can cause weight gain
Because your body can’t utilize the energy from meals while you’re sleeping, it’s forced to store it as fat. The more you sleep, the less energy you will require. This might be exacerbated if you have a large meal late in the evening. If you don’t allow your body to burn it off, it will be compelled to store it as fat.
Cause headaches
Quite frequent! It’s thought to be caused by the effects of too much REM sleep on neurotransmitters in the brain. REM is more prevalent in the final phases of sleep, immediately before you wake up. As a result, the more you sleep, the more REM sleep you’ll have. Dehydration can also have a role.
Give you a back pain
Unless you have one of those cool memory foam mattresses, lying in bed for an extended period of time will eventually result in back discomfort. Furthermore, persons who are prone to back discomfort are recommended to be active, which you obviously aren’t doing if you’re in bed!
Effect your mental health
Oversleeping has a number of detrimental psychological consequences in addition to the physical.
When you oversleep, there’s no denying you’re squandering time on something that’s genuinely harmful to your health. So when you wake up and realize how much time you’ve squandered, it’s difficult not to feel fairly crappy. The fact that you know you’ll have trouble sleeping that night doesn’t help matters. It’s especially aggravating if you’re trying to maintain a consistent sleep schedule.
The side effects of oversleeping include a hurried start to the day, low energy levels, disjointed sleep cycles and a low quality sleep. So how can you correct your sleep if you’re suffering from oversleeping?
How to overcome the problem of oversleeping
- Sleep at the same time every night
- Follow a sleep routine
- Optimal sleeping conditions
- Avoid stimulation at night
- Set a loud alarm
Sleep at the same time
It’s in the name, really. Sleep and wake up at the same time every night and morning. It’ll fine tune your sleeping habit and sleep cycle. As a result, your body will know when it’s time to switch off for the day and wake up. This will help reduce oversleeping, sleepless nights and it’s good for your system.
Sleep routine
Following a good sleep routine will help you reduce oversleeping. Rather than staying up late, your body and mind will switch off properly and prepare for better sleep. If you sleep on time and rest properly, you will automatically wake up at the right time and not risk oversleeping.
Optimal sleep conditions
Oversleeping usually occurs because you do not get enough through the night, so you end up sleeping more. Optimal sleep conditions in your room ensure that does not happen. A good temperature, dim lights or switched off totally and a comfortable mattress and blanket are key. They will help you rest better and improve the quality of your sleep. If you are relaxed and comfortable at night, you’ll be able to enjoy better sleep and avoid oversleeping.
Avoid stimulation at night
Stay away from TV late at night. Binge-watching content late at night stimulates your brain and the blue light emission keeps you awake and alert. As a result, your body and mind does not switch off but stays up. By avoiding TV and watching content at night, you allow yourself to wind down for the night without a worry and enjoy deep sleep. If you get enough quality sleep, you won’t end up oversleeping!
Wake up when you wake up
If for some reason, you wake up 15-20 minutes before your alarm or when you were to wake up, don’t go back to sleep. Try getting up at that time itself. You probably woke up because your sleep cycle came to an end. If you go back to sleep, your sleep cycle will start all over again. As a result, you may end up oversleeping for another hour as your sleep cycle needs to complete. Or you may wake up in the middle of your cycle, feeling disoriented, leading to a poor start to the day.
Set a loud alarm
You probably already have an alarm. It’s a tune from your default sounds or a sound you enjoy. Instead, set an alarm that is very loud and will wake you up no matter what. That quick stimulation will wake up your brain and prevent you from oversleeping. While it isn’t an ideal way to start your day, it’ll definitely solve this oversleeping problem.
Oversleeping is a common problem that many face due to bad sleep habits or even due to sleep orders. These are just some of the ways oversleeping can be overcome and you can correct your sleep. Follow a sleep routine that works for you and live a healthy lifestyle. Even try sleep meditation for better and faster sleep!
Here’s a simple explainer on YouTube to sleep fast in 5 minutes.
Evolve helps you sleep better and faster with a variety of joyful guided audios! It ensures you get enough good quality sleep, reducing the risk of oversleeping. The Evolve app is now live globally on Android & Apple, click here to try for free!
Co-founder and brains at LeapX by C32 Media Labs
Mail at sarah@c32.media to connect with her.