HYPERSOMNIA

YOUR SLEEP IS OUR ART

WHAT IS HYPERSOMNIA ?

Sleepig over 12 hours a night is considered as hypersomnia. Hypersomnia is a sleep period that is too long, beyond the socially-accepted standards.

We say that hypersomnia and drowsiness are consequences of an illness, while it is insomnia that will trigger the diseases.

Thus, when a patient does not sleep enough or gets drowsy during the day, it is important to always look for the cause of the problem – which lies particularly in his sleep.

If the patient experiences bad sleep, he will sleep longer to try to recover.

The main pathologies causing drowsiness or hypersomnia are sleep-related. The various types of sleep apnea are one of the main causes of hypersomnia and drowsiness but some causes are neurological, such as the restless leg syndrome that makes falling asleep difficult or disrupts sleep.

Some rare but very important diseases such as narcolepsy, idiopathic hypersomnia, Kleine-Levin syndrome are also sleep-related disorders. Let’s also not forget neurological diseases such as neuro-degenerative disorders – Parkinson’s for example, in which disrupted sleep makes the patient drowsy during the day.

WRONG SLEEPING TIMES?

Our teenagers’ biological clock tells them to sleep quite late, which will lead to problems waking up in the morning, going to class and remaining awake during lectures. Do these teenagers suffer from hypersomnia? They are indeed hyper-drowsy but only because their sleep pattern is off.

Trans-meridian travellers are also faced with the notorious jet lag, which may cause sleep pattern regulation troubles.

Finally, in our services society, almost one third of shift-workers suffer from sleep pattern regulation and may experience drowsiness during the day and health problems.