We’ve all been there… Our week is a bit long, we’ve pushed ourselves a bit too hard and we suddenly find ourselves with a night where we get back home and all one wants to do is crash and hit the pillow. I had just such a night recently. I got home from work and was utterly exhausted. I muddled my way through supper and did my usual dishes and chores before flopping down on the couch and wishing for death. not literally, mind you. But the thought of just closing my eyes and drifting off seemed pretty blissful in that moment. Luckily, we were able to get the boys down for bed relatively early and I ended up crashing myself. I slept for roughly twelve hours, despite repeated alerts from my pump and my reservoir hitting zero units.
I woke up the next morning to a quiet house and made a move towards the first caffeine of the day. I couldn’t help but notice that I still felt utterly exhausted, which may be an issue in and of itself. That might be something that I need to look into, at some point but considering I slept several HOURS beyond what I usually would, it got me to thinking about all the times I chose to nap on the weekends and how it always made me feel more tired than when I first fell asleep. It raises an important question; can one sleep TOO much? The easy answer would obviously be yes, but how far does that answer go?
According to an online article posted by the Sleep Foundation, “Oversleeping, or long sleeping, is defined as sleeping more than nine hours in a 24-hour period.” By that definition, what I did last week certainly falls under this definition as I slept for three hours beyond that threshold. The article goes on to explain that even though there are valid reasons one might oversleep, such as fighting off an illness, but sleeping more than seven to nine hours in any given night can have some negative effects on one’s health, as well.
According to WebMD, oversleeping can lead to a number of conditions including but not limited to obesity, headaches, back pain, depression and heart disease. The article also suggests that oversleeping can leave one open to the risk of developing Diabetes. Although I assume they’re referring to Type-2, it’s kind of nice to read an article where something may cause Diabetes instead of Diabetes BEING the cause. The article also suggests that people who consistently oversleep have a higher death rate than those who do not.
Ultimately, if you find yourself consistently oversleeping, you may want to consider talking to a doctor about it. There may be outlying conditions that cause you to oversleep. Obviously, there are inherent problems with oversleeping if you have Type-1 Diabetes. You may miss a meal, forget to test your blood sugar or like me, have your pump run on empty while you’re still slumbering, causing an increased spike in your blood sugars. Like everything else, it’s important keep a tight control on one’s Diabetes, even during the hours you sleep. ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 