Let’s be honest; there is nothing better than dragging yourself into bed after a long, hard day of work (okay, a long day), slapping your head onto a cool pillow, and curling yourself into a ball before falling into a deep slumber. Because sleep rocks, right? If you’re the kind of person that struggles to sleep, you might not know what we’re talking about (sorry), but if you’re the kind of person who presses the snooze button on your alarm ten times each morning, you definitely do. Unfortunately, we have some bad news for you guys. Here are the 6 signs you’re sleeping too much, because it’s not good for you.
You’re not feeling your normal, happy self
Unfortunately, waking up after a 10-hour sleep isn’t exactly how they portray it in the movies. While we’d love to glide out of bed with a huge smile on our faces and allow the squirrels and birds to dress us and do our hair – it just doesn’t work like that. If you do sleep a lot and just can’t shake the feeling that you don’t feel like your normal, happy self, it may be because sleeping too much can cause you to feel emotionally low. In fact, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine states that sleeping too much can activate feelings of depression. So check yourself before you wreck yourself, y’all!
You often wake up with headaches
Have you ever woken up with a banging headache, even after you’ve just had a banging sleep? No, this doesn’t count if you had one (or four) too many tequilas the night before, but if you have slept for too long and wake up with a headache – it wouldn’t be a surprise. According to Reader’s Digest, waking up with a headache is a common sign that you have slept too long the night before.
You still feel tired ALL THE TIME
So, you’ve just had a blissful 12-hour sleep – but why do you still feel tired all the time?! Surely that doesn’t make sense?! Well, we hate to break it to you, but it does. Although sleeping for half a day may seem like a good idea at the time, this actually means that you are inactive for half of the day, which can cause fatigue and lethargy. Rather than sleeping more in an attempt to feel less tired, why not go for a run? Y’know, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Your whole body aches
If you sleep in a *little* too much, you might find that your body still feels like a limp fillet of fish. Of course, this isn’t how your body is supposed to feel (boom, science) so you should automatically be able to tell that something is wrong. Unfortunately for you lovers of sleep, what’s going wrong is that too much sleep can cause body inflammation, which can cause painful limbs and achy body parts. Not cool.
Your memory is slowly going
What were we saying again? Oh, yeah. Another sign that you’re sleeping too much is if you start forgetting things – as if you have a fog passing over your brain. Although it may seem pretty backward, too much sleep can actually cause you to have lower cognitive function and less ability to think clearly, which can alter your memory and your brain function.
You never wake up when you’re supposed to
We all know the kinds of people that press snooze on their alarm every day, but have you ever met someone who sleeps through their alarm completely? Is that you? Well, it’s not great. If you sleep for long durations every single night and still can’t seem to wake up in the morning, there may be something more sinister going on (sorry), so you should probably consult your doctor.
Although we all love sleep, there have to be limits when it comes to how long we sleep each night – and it’s not 12 hours! Instead, experts suggest that the average human (or alien) needs around 7 hours of sleep each night to achieve the best in terms of cognitive and physical functions. How many hours are you getting?