Sleeping too much

Hello everyone,
I was just curious if anyone else has trouble sleeping too much? I see a lot of people here suffer from insomnia, but I'm the complete opposite. I love sleeping so much, and its so hard being anxious and depressed to motivate myself to get out of bed... Does anyone here have any success stories about shedding the evil demon that is sleeping way more than necessary? The only days I'm really successful are the days I get breakfast with a couple of my friends, but I can't rely on them all the time... Any tips are greatly appreciated!

Ro

Have you ever been screened for depression? Over sleeping is a classic symptom-I used to do it before I got diagnosed w/bipolar disorder in 2000during my down cycles. It was very hard to get out of bed, get dressed, eat,etc. You might want to check w/a doc.

Hi there, when I'm depressed I like sleeping too. However with me, I find it hard to make myself go to bed at night, and so when I do sleep its early morning and then I stay in bed till gine mid-day. Then it becomes a cycle of not needing sleep till later that night, so going to bed late again, and sleeping till gone noon... etc. Actually when I'm depressed this is what I feel comfortable doing, because then I don't have to socialise. However this isn't constructive with getting better, and into a healthier routine for sleeping.

One way you could help yourself maybe is to set a loud alarm clock for whatever time - say 7/8 a.m. etc... but place it in a corner of your room farthest away from your bed, so that you have to get up to switch it off. You may be more inclined to stay up then. Another is to get a light timer, or thinner curtains in your bedroom, so that you can have more light in your room in the morning to encourage you to wake naturally, earlier. You could set yourself tasks for the mornings, say to go to the library... so you have something planned.

I hope these ideas help for you.

I sleep wayyy too much for my liking. I have a depressive disorder, as well, but it's being managed quite well. I even have a medication to help me stay awake during my waking hours. It's still not perfect because I end up sleeping for 12 hours, sometimes. I wish I could sleep for 7-8 hours like normal. I used to sleep almost 24/7 when my depression was so bad.

You're not alone in having hypersomnia. Of course, the dreams are way cool. Quite vivid, too. Hehe.

I see that everyone has mentioned depressive disorders, but have you considered seeing your doctor because it could be a medical condition
and not a drepressive disorder. You may have a condition called hypersomnia (oversleeping is actual a medical condition). So check it out with a medical doctor first. GOOD LUCK!!!!

I bounce back and forth from insomnia to hypersomnia. I'll be unable to sleep even with the help of medication. The longest i've gone without any sleep was 6 days (not fun). On the other hand the longest i've slept was 72 hours.. any way around it im usually still just laying in bed. I rarely even see the sun anymore.. no windows and i stay in a basement.

hi all-
Neat thread ... I too suffer from sleeping too much. For me it is similar to a post in this thread. I can't seem to get to sleep at night. My mind gets really wound up, processing the day, current worries and anxieties. I almost never feel tired before midnight. So I end up feeling unrefreshed in the morning. I want to sleep in; 10am, noon, then its 2pm, then 4 or 5pm. Its been so bad I've actually started to miss the sunshine. I remember having sleep issues my whole life, even as a kid. I'm bipolar II with a possible soon dx for bpd also. Well that's the sundae so far, I don't know if someones going to call for whipped cream too. My current med I don't think is helping, I'm on depakote as a mood stabilizer. I hadn't been keeping a med journal and forgot I had taken depakote before so I agreed to try it (again) with my current pdoc. Problem is I remember before when I took the depakote, even a small starter dose really made me goofy, mellow, slow thinking, even a bit woozy for balance. Higher doses and I just couldn't function. Couldn't drive a car, couldn't stay awake in the afternoon. I felt I was patient, I tried to "ride out" the meds to see if I would stabilize, I just felt worse. I've always been hard to medicate. It's like I break down or metabolize medicine differently. When I was young I had my tonsils removed, woke up in the middle of the operation. Same thing happened during a different operation I had. My parents said they gave me enough sedative to put down two adults when my tonsils were removed, don't know how accurate that is. I have to admit when I get up, take a shower, get going with a routine I feel better. If I get up early then I'm more tired at night and then the cycle starts again. I stay awake longer and longer until I won't or can't get up again. Frustrating...

Funny story everyone.. So after I posted this thread, my sleep cycle COMPLETELY reversed itself. I'm falling asleep around 7 every night and waking up at 6 every morning. I'm not gunna lie, I perfer it so much more -- I'm making it to classes and whatnot. But I just wonder how long I can keep it up, and if it will survive the weekends...

Good luck to everyone!


Ro

I too have problems sleeping. Anxiety makes me scared to sleep and when I finally manage to sleep I don't want to wake up and face the day. Lately I've been sleeping around 12 hours every night (or day). I also struggle because my husband works day then night shift every 2 to 6 weeks. Even when I have a pattern though I still get scared to sleep. In college I would average 4 hours per night (had to get up for classes so not the option of staying in bed) and then I'd practically sleep through the weekend. If anyone does have any things that help them I would love to know.

I would LOVE to not sleep so much. I wish I could live on 4 hours of sleep per night or day and feel totally refreshed. Seriously. I have stuff to do. LOL!

Whenever I say that to people, WickedWings, thy're always like 'No you dont! Why would you want that! Blah blah blah!" yeah well, let me tell you, sleeping forever and a day ain't no party!

<hugs to all!>