Why sleepiness during the day? What is daytime sleepiness and how to overcome it? Dizziness, weakness and drowsiness as symptoms of vegetative-vascular dystonia

When you want to sleep, even if you have already slept enough, it begins to infuriate you and prevents you from living a normal and full life. Such a desire is determined by physiological and psychological factors, but sometimes it is a sign of serious disturbances in the functioning of the body. Find out the causes of doubt and begin treatment if necessary.

Doubtfulness is drowsiness, characterized by a strong desire to get enough sleep, which is extremely difficult to overcome. The condition is caused by physiological processes and is a response of the brain to a decrease in energy reserves or exposure to negative factors. The organ transmits a signal to the human body about the need for rest: as a result, inhibitory mechanisms affect the central nervous system, suppress its functioning, slow down the transmission of nerve impulses, dull the perception of stimuli, block the senses and gradually transfer the cerebral cortex into a dormant mode. But sometimes drowsiness is a pathology and accompanies diseases or malfunctions of the body.

Symptoms of doubt:

• lethargy, apathy, broken state, weakness, laziness, desire to lie down and do nothing;
• depressed mood, melancholy, boredom;
• decreased concentration, slow reaction;
• feeling of fatigue, decreased performance, loss of strength and energy, chronic fatigue;
• deterioration of memory, memorization and assimilation of information;
• absent-mindedness, inability to focus;
• frequent desire to yawn;
• dizziness;
• reluctance to get up in the morning;
• dulled perception of situations and the environment;
• slowing pulse, decreasing heart rate;
• decreased secretion of the exocrine glands, accompanied by dry mucous membranes (mouth, eyes);
• lack of interest in what is happening around;
• decreased visual acuity;
• rapid blinking, involuntary closing of eyelids, red eyes.

For your information! Doubtfulness is often confused with hypersomnia. But the latter state differs from drowsiness and is characterized by an increase in the duration of night sleep, although repeated episodes of an irresistible desire to go to bed during the day are also possible.

Physiological causes of drowsiness

Drowsiness may be a consequence of exposure to natural physiological factors. In this case, it will occur after certain situations or changes. Below are considered normal causes that are not related to deviations and pathologies.

Pregnancy

Why do pregnant women always want to sleep? The condition often occurs in expectant mothers and does not cause concern among doctors, as it is normal and is caused by several factors. The first is a change in blood flow. The volume of circulating blood increases along with the need for it, but it flows to the uterus to ensure normal blood supply to this organ (oxygen and nutrients are necessary for the developing fetus).

The second factor is the increased burden placed on the female body. The reaction to global changes is felt especially clearly in the first trimester. During this period, toxicosis occurs, accompanied by nausea and sometimes vomiting, deterioration of health, changes in appetite, and malaise. A pregnant woman may become very tired, feel weak, and get tired quickly. As the belly grows and the weight of the fetus increases, it becomes difficult for the expectant mother to walk and sit for a long time, it is difficult to choose a comfortable position for sleeping, which also tires and provokes drowsiness. Frequent urination, caused by compression of the bladder by the uterus, forces you to wake up frequently, worsening night sleep and shortening its duration.

The third factor is hormonal levels. In the first weeks after conception, progesterone is actively synthesized in the early stages: the hormone is designed to ensure the normal course of pregnancy, but its effect on the body causes side effects. The substance reduces the contractile activity of the uterus and acts as a powerful relaxant. This is a protective mechanism that protects the pregnant woman and the unborn child from overload. In the later stages of gestation, as labor approaches, the body begins to prepare for the birth of the baby. Doubtfulness is a consequence of lack of normal sleep at night due to insomnia. In addition, the desire to rest arises on a subconscious level: a woman tries to get enough sleep in order to prepare for childbirth and the upcoming sleepless nights and days.

Important! Pathological drowsiness may be a sign of abnormalities: gestosis, anemia.

Food

Why do many people want to sleep after eating? The explanation is simple: after a hearty breakfast, dinner or lunch, the process of digesting food begins. To ensure complete and timely processing of food, blood flow is redistributed: blood flows to the stomach, gall bladder, and pancreas. This leads to a deterioration in blood supply to other organs, including the brain.

Another reason for drowsiness is hunger. If you don't eat for a long time, nutritional deficiencies will arise and energy reserves will decrease. The body will launch protective mechanisms designed to preserve the vital functions of important organs. All systems will switch to a gentle mode, which involves saving energy.

Menstruation, PMS, menopause in women

The cause of doubt can be hormonal imbalances and disorders that occur during menopause, PMS, menopause and premenopause. A woman may feel nauseous, often experience hot flashes, a feeling of heat, increased sweating, dizziness, tongue-tiedness, memory impairment, decreased brain activity, lethargy, weakened libido, weakness, fatigue, and poor health.

Drowsiness in young women and girls is also observed during menstruation due to redistribution of blood flow and significant blood loss, especially if menstruation is painful and heavy.

Drowsiness in children

Drowsiness in newborns and children in the first months of life is normal. A small child sleeps 17-19 hours a day, and parents should not be surprised if the baby, after eating, begins to fall asleep again. As he grows, his sleep requirement will decrease.

School students experience drowsiness and fatigue due to fatigue. Classes and homework take a lot of energy, and the body needs energy to recover. Daytime sleep allows you to relax and better assimilate the information received. A teenager experiences drowsiness as a result of increased stress and hormonal changes caused by puberty.

Useful information: Dr. Evgeny Komarovsky notes that constant drowsiness is a characteristic symptom of elevated body temperature and dehydration, and both conditions are dangerous for the child. An increase in temperature to critical levels can cause convulsions, and with dehydration there is an increased risk of death.

Drowsiness in older people

Doubtfulness is often observed in older people; it can be associated with the inevitable age-related changes observed in the body. The brain works differently: the reactions and processes occurring in it slow down, and recovery takes longer. The duration of the rest period increases, and if an elderly person is forced to stay awake for a long time or does not have the opportunity to get enough sleep, then there will not be enough sleep, and the brain will try to eliminate its deficiency through drowsiness. They provoke doubtfulness and senile diseases that have become chronic.

Interesting fact: It is believed that sleepiness in an elderly person signals the approach of death. This is a myth: if the condition is normal and there are no other alarming symptoms, there is nothing to worry about.

Changes in environmental conditions

Physical condition is influenced by environmental conditions. Drowsiness occurs in the following cases:

• Cold. When it is cold indoors or outdoors, a person begins to freeze and experience discomfort. Metabolism slows down, blood vessels narrow, the brain suffers from hypoxia and goes into energy saving mode.
• Heat in summer can also provoke doubtfulness, especially if a person does not tolerate elevated temperatures well.
• A decrease in atmospheric pressure causes a decrease in blood pressure, and hypotension is accompanied by a desire to sleep or rest. With sharp fluctuations in atmospheric pressure, malaise and weakness are possible. People who are weather-sensitive begin to feel sick and dizzy.
• Cloudy weather: rain, clouds, snow. During such weather phenomena, firstly, atmospheric pressure may drop. Secondly, during rainfall the amount of sunlight decreases, and the brain can perceive this as evening and night approaching, triggering the production of sleep hormones. Weather changes are especially common in autumn and spring, so during the off-season many people are faced with the desire to get enough sleep.

Life style and conditions

A chaotic and unhealthy lifestyle can lead to doubt. The influence of factors is especially pronounced:

• non-compliance with the daily routine: increasing the period of wakefulness, late bedtimes;
• alcohol abuse (a drunk person wants to sleep, the coordination of his movements is impaired, the perception of the surrounding world is changed);
• constant overwork at work or at school while receiving higher education;
• frequent stress;
• intense loads;
• long stay in a stuffy room;
• work in difficult, unfavorable conditions (exposure to high temperatures, inhalation of toxic substances).

Psychological factors

If you constantly want to sleep and extreme fatigue does not leave you, then the reasons may lie in a psychological or emotional state that affects sleep. One of the areas of medicine - psychosomatics - studies the connection between the psyche and somatic (physical) diseases. Doubtfulness occurs against the background of depression and neuroses, after suffering losses (death of loved ones, separation from a loved one). A drowsy state is a protective reaction of the brain that allows you to survive the events that happened, come to terms with what happened, come to terms with the severity of the loss, and restore strength.

Pathological factors

Daytime sleepiness sometimes warns of a serious illness or dysfunction of vital organs. There are a number of pathological factors that provoke drowsiness:

1. Infectious diseases are accompanied by malaise, weakness, and fever.
2. Past serious illnesses: acute infections, heart attacks, strokes. The body of a sick or recovering person strives to restore the strength spent during illness, and the best way to restore it is long, sound sleep.
3. Side effects of taking certain medications. Drowsiness is caused by first-generation antihistamines (Suprastin), antidepressants, and antipsychotics.
4. Endocrine diseases: diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism.
5. Received head injuries (face, frontal or occipital part, temples). Drowsiness will be one of the manifestations of damage to important parts or the cerebral cortex. Other alarming symptoms: tinnitus, lack of coordination (the victim may feel “stormy” or stagger), confusion or loss of consciousness, blurred vision, memory loss, flashes in the eyes, numbness or paralysis of the fingers, arms and legs, noise or ringing in the ears .
6. Neck injuries can cause compression of the vessels through which blood flows to the brain. Hypoxia will lead to doubt.
7. Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine disrupts the blood supply to the brain due to compression of blood vessels.
8. Dehydration. The volume of circulating blood decreases, which inevitably leads to weakness and the desire to sleep.
9. Avitaminosis. A lack of vitamins in spring and winter is accompanied by a number of unpleasant symptoms: weakness, an eternal desire to lie down or fall asleep, tearfulness, deterioration of mental abilities, and changes in appetite.
10. Oncological diseases. Cancer disrupts the functioning of important organs, chemotherapy provokes intoxication of the body. The patient experiences severe stress and increased stress.
11. Pain syndrome after injuries, against the background of diseases. The pain is exhausting and prevents you from sleeping fully at night, so during the day the body tries to eliminate the sleep deficit.
12. Sleep disorders. If you wake up frequently, sleep lightly, have difficulty falling asleep and take a long time to fall asleep, or suffer from insomnia, then you will experience doubt during the daytime. It is observed if you begin to have bad dreams, making your night's rest incomplete and insufficient.
13. Attacks of sudden drowsiness may signal narcolepsy, a disease of the nervous system accompanied by periodic bouts of daytime sleepiness.
14. Bleeding, significant blood loss.
15. Anemia. A low level of hemoglobin, which is responsible for transporting oxygen, will lead to brain hypoxia.
16. The symptom may mean atherosclerosis of the brain vessels, which become clogged with cholesterol plaques, which causes hypoxia and ischemia.
17. Poisoning with toxic substances and vapors, causing general intoxication of the body.
18. Heart failure. If you have had a heart attack or the heart function is impaired, blood will not flow to the brain in the required volumes.
19. Diseases of the liver, kidneys. They affect the composition of the blood, provoke an increase in the concentration of toxins in it and reduce oxygen levels, affecting brain function.

Other impacts

People who are interested in esotericism believe that drowsiness occurs due to negative influences exerted on a spiritual level, for example, the evil eye or damage. The energy shell is damaged, the strength begins to leave the person, which is why the aura becomes vulnerable, and the defense weakens. The opinion is controversial, but if you believe in the dangerous consequences of influences caused by unnatural force, you can worsen your psychological state, which will actually lead to unpleasant symptoms.

Consequences of drowsiness

Why get rid of a symptom? The sleepy state not only causes discomfort, but is also very dangerous, as it can lead to negative consequences. A tired and sleepy person may fall asleep while driving or while performing monotonous actions when working with machinery, which will lead to injuries. Serious consequences are possible due to decreased concentration when crossing the roadway. Doubtfulness affects relationships with loved ones and family life.

Men and women who are always sleepy are unlikely to seem attractive to members of the opposite sex, will make their relatives worry, and irritate their colleagues. The quality of life will deteriorate, problems will arise in all areas: personal relationships, career, education, interaction with others.

How to solve a problem?

To get rid of the desire to sleep that haunts you all day or arises periodically, you need to eliminate the causes of doubt. The first step for an adult is to visit a clinic and see a general practitioner. He will prescribe an examination, including blood tests and diagnostic procedures: ECG, ultrasound of internal organs, MRI or CT. Based on the diagnostic results, the specialist will make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment.

Therapy will depend on why drowsiness began and what causes the symptom. If the hemoglobin level decreases, it should be increased with the help of iron supplements. For vitamin deficiencies, multivitamin complexes are recommended. For endocrine diseases and hormonal imbalances, hormonal drugs or agents that suppress hormone production are prescribed. Infections require immediate treatment with immunomodulators or antibiotics, depending on the pathogen. The resulting injuries require medical attention: the affected limb is immobilized, and painkillers are prescribed for pain.

There is no point in delaying contacting a specialist: the sooner you start acting, the greater the chances of curing the disease and solving the problem. Meticulousness in relation to your health and a serious attitude towards it will allow you to prevent dangerous consequences and live a full and energetic life.

Important! If everything is fine with your health, but the problem persists, you should immediately consult a psychologist.

Emergency measures

When you start to feel very sleepy and want to go to bed, but you need to continue working or doing business, you can use methods to eliminate drowsiness. The following methods will help you overcome the desire to sleep:

1. An effective temporary measure is to solve crossword puzzles or scanword puzzles. You will force your brain to work and forget about sleep for a while.
2. On the forums they advise washing your face with cool water or taking a contrast shower.
3. Move actively, do exercises, warm up.
4. Open the window and get some fresh air.
5. Change your activity, take a break from monotonous duties that make you sleepy.
6. Roll an ice cube over your ears, neck and face.
7. Try drinking citrus juice or water with lemon.

If drowsiness persists, the doctor will prescribe pharmaceuticals. Potent drugs used for narcolepsy and other sleep disorders - Longdaisin, Modafinil. They are available by prescription and cannot be used for self-treatment. There are products containing vitamin supplements and herbal ingredients: Pantocrine, Berocca Plus, Bion 3. Some try to treat doubtfulness with the help of homeopathy, but its effectiveness has not been proven, as confirmed by videos with stories from doctors. In any case, any pills should be taken under the supervision of a doctor.

Lifestyle change

Changing your lifestyle for the better will help you get rid of periodically occurring drowsiness:

1. You need to start getting rid of bad habits.
2. Eat a nutritious and varied diet, including healthy foods rich in vitamins, macro- and microelements, and minerals.
3. Maintain a balance of rest and wakefulness, try to go to bed on time and not late, and get enough sleep.
4. In order not to get tired and avoid excessive stress, give yourself rest during the working day. If this is not possible, do not burden yourself with activities after work.
5. It is important to spend more time in the fresh air and go for walks. This will increase the concentration of oxygen in the blood and prevent hypoxia. A light jog in the morning will help you cheer up and finally wake up.
6. In the evening, get ready for sleep: do not overexert yourself, relax, avoid overexcitation, suppress irritability, protect yourself from events and actions that can bring negative emotions. But pleasure and pleasant sensations are useful.
7. Avoid stress and try not to get nervous.
8. If the room is stuffy, open a window or turn up the air conditioner.

Folk remedies

Folk and home remedies for combating drowsiness, included in the list of the most effective:

• Ginseng can help suppress the desire to sleep. Infusions and decoctions are prepared from the plant.
• Many people start drinking coffee when they feel sleepy: the drink really gives you energy and suppresses the desire to sleep.
• You can relieve drowsiness with green tea, which contains caffeine. Add lemon to your drink for a boost.
• Combine two tablespoons of peeled chopped walnuts, dried apricots, natural honey and raisins. Eat the mixture and drink water.
• You can drink a decoction of Chinese lemongrass for a month: pour a tablespoon of the raw material with a glass of boiling water, cook the mixture for ten minutes and strain. Divide the volume into two parts and drink them after breakfast and dinner.

Knowing the answers to questions about the causes and elimination of drowsiness, you can get rid of doubt. But remember that a symptom sometimes signals serious abnormalities, so you need to deal with it in a timely, effective manner and under the supervision of a doctor.

Have you ever literally struggled to sleep during the day? In fact, this problem occurs in many people, but for some it goes away the next day, while others live with it for years. Does this condition indicate a simple malaise, or does daytime sleepiness warn of a serious illness?

Causes of drowsiness

In reality, there may be several factors why you are so tempted to sleep during the day. Often the culprits are the medications we take. For example, these could be anti-inflammatory drugs or antihistamines. But if you are not taking any medications, then perhaps daytime sleepiness warns of a serious illness associated with disruption of this process. These may be narcolepsy, catalepsy, sleep apnea, endocrine system disorders or depression. Often this condition is associated with meningitis, diabetes, cancer or poor nutrition. In addition, such drowsiness may occur due to any injury. For symptoms that last several days, the best option for the patient is to see a doctor.

But not in all cases, sleepiness during the day warns of a serious illness; often the reason for this is ordinary lack of sleep at night, associated with lifestyle, worries or work. In addition, boredom and idleness can put pressure on your eyelids. Also, a poorly ventilated room can provoke an attack of drowsiness due to lack of oxygen. But often the desire to constantly sleep causes anxiety for your health, so it’s worth finding out how you can deal with this condition in different cases.

Narcolepsy

This disease may be hereditary. In this state, a person is unable to control himself, and sleep can overtake him completely suddenly. At the same time, he may have dreams. A person suddenly experiences muscle weakness and simply falls, dropping everything in his hands. This condition does not last long. This disease mainly predominates among young people. The causes of this condition have not yet been identified. But such “attacks” can be controlled with the help of the drug Ritalin. In addition, you can set aside some time for daytime sleep, this will reduce the number of unexpected attacks.

Sleep apnea

Daytime sleepiness in older people often occurs precisely because of this disease. Overweight people are also prone to it. With this disease, a person stops breathing during night sleep, and due to lack of oxygen, he awakens. Usually he cannot understand what happened and why he woke up. As a rule, the sleep of such people is accompanied by snoring. This condition can be controlled by purchasing a mechanical breathing apparatus for night time. There are also special holders that do not allow the tongue to sink. In addition, if you are overweight, it is important to strive to get rid of it.

Insomnia

This is one of the types of sleep disorders. It is very common and occurs in people of all ages. Insomnia can manifest itself in different ways. Some people have trouble falling asleep at all, while others suffer from constant awakenings. This disorder is accompanied by the fact that a person experiences regular sleepiness during the day and insomnia at night. Due to constant lack of sleep, the patient’s general condition and mood worsen. This problem can be solved by lifestyle adjustments and medications.

Thyroid

Often, daytime sleepiness warns of a serious illness associated, for example, with the functioning of the endocrine system. This disease is often accompanied by weight gain, bowel dysfunction, and hair loss. At the same time, you may feel chills, cold and fatigue, although it seems to you that you have had enough sleep. In this case, it is important to support your thyroid gland, but not on your own, but to ask for help from a specialist.

Hypoventilation

This disease occurs in obese people. It is accompanied by the fact that a person can fall asleep even in a standing position, and, moreover, unexpectedly for himself. Such a dream may last for some time. Doctors call this disease hypoventilation. It occurs due to poor quality of the respiratory process. Some areas of the brain receive very limited amounts of carbon dioxide. For this reason, a person becomes sleepy during the day. Treatment for such people consists mainly of training diaphragmatic breathing. It is also important to make efforts to get rid of extra pounds.

During pregnancy

In a woman who is carrying a baby, her body begins to work in an unusual mode. Therefore, daytime sleepiness during pregnancy is often caused by a physiological feature. In addition, such women use up energy faster. Since many invigorating drugs are contraindicated during this period, a woman can change her regimen. To do this, it is important for her to sleep for about nine hours and avoid noisy evening events, because they affect the nervous system. If a pregnant woman works, it is better for her to take short breaks and go out into the fresh air, and the room in which she spends most of her time needs constant ventilation. In addition, it will be useful for such a woman to master breathing exercises.

But it happens that, along with the constant desire to sleep, the expectant mother has other symptoms, or this condition causes her a lot of inconvenience. In this case, she should tell her doctor everything. Perhaps she simply has a lack of microelements, but it should be replenished immediately.

Drowsiness after eating

Sometimes a person can be healthy and have no obvious reasons for fatigue. But despite this, he may feel drowsy during the day after eating. This should not be surprising, since after eating food there is an increase in glucose in the blood, which affects some brain cells. In this case, he ceases to control the area that is responsible for wakefulness. But how to deal with this problem, because there is still half a working day ahead?

Fight afternoon sleepiness

Method 1. There is a point in the nasolabial fold that you are advised to press at an energetic pace. This action helps you “come to your senses” after lunch.

Method 2. You can massage your eyelids by squeezing and unclenching them. After this, finger movements are performed under the eyebrow and under the eye.

Method 3. Head massage also brings you back to your senses. To do this, you will have to lightly walk your knuckles all over your head. In addition, you can lightly tug on your curls.

Method 4. By working the area of ​​the shoulders and neck with your fingers, you can cause a rush of blood, which will bring with it a portion of oxygen to the brain. It is worth noting that often, due to osteochondrosis, people feel a loss of strength and a desire to rest during the day.

Method 5. You can take restoratives that will help you stay alert. For example, make some ginger tea for yourself. A few drops of eleutherococcus, Schisandra chinensis or ginseng will also work. But coffee will only give short-term results.

But not only because of global diseases or after lunch, daytime drowsiness can set in. There are other reasons, for example, simply lack of sleep due to lifestyle. Therefore, you need to take the following recommendations as a rule:

1. Don't steal time from sleep. Some people think that during the time needed to sleep, more useful things could be done, for example, cleaning the room, watching a TV series, putting on makeup. But do not forget that for a full life you need quality sleep of at least seven hours a day, and sometimes longer. For teenagers, this time should take 9 hours.
2. Train yourself to go to bed a little earlier. Go to bed, for example, not at 23.00, as usual, but at 22.45.
3. Eat meals at the same time. This routine will help your body get used to having a stable schedule.
4. Regular physical exercise makes your sleep deeper, and your body will be more energetic during the day.
5. Don't waste time being bored. Try to always be doing something.
6. If you don't feel sleepy, then don't go to bed. Fatigue is different, be able to distinguish between these two sensations. Therefore, it is better not to go to bed just to take a nap, otherwise your night's sleep will be more disturbing, and during the day you will want to rest.
7. Contrary to what many people think, alcohol in the evening does not improve the quality of sleep.

Lack of sleep doesn't just cause inconvenience. The quality of life deteriorates, side health problems arise, and daytime sleepiness is to blame. It is better to find out the causes of this problem from a specialist, since a person cannot establish a diagnosis on his own. After all, it may not just be insomnia or another sleep disorder. Such problems may indicate liver disease, kidney disease, cancer, infection or other misfortune.

Somnolence is a sleep disorder accompanied by a constant or periodic desire to fall asleep at a time not intended for sleep. Drowsiness, like insomnia, is the retribution of modern man for the lifestyle he leads. Increased sleepiness is perhaps the most common symptom. The number of diseases that occur with severe drowsiness is so large that it is not so easy to understand them. And this is not surprising, since drowsiness is the first manifestation of depression of the central nervous system, and the cells of the cerebral cortex are unusually sensitive to the effects of external and internal unfavorable factors. However, despite its nonspecificity, this symptom is of great importance in the diagnosis of many pathological conditions.

Types and classification of drowsiness

In medical practice, the following classification of drowsiness is used, expressed in the following forms:

• mild - a person suppresses sleep and fatigue in order to continue to perform work duties, but he begins to feel sleepy when the incentive to stay awake disappears;
• moderate - a person falls asleep even while doing work. This entails social problems. Such people are not recommended to drive a car;
• severe - the person cannot remain active. It is affected by severe fatigue and dizziness. For him, the motivating factors do not matter, so they often get injured at work and become the culprits of road accidents.

For people with constant drowsiness, it does not matter when to fall asleep; sleep can occur not only at night, but also during the day.

Symptoms of drowsiness

Increased sleepiness in children and adults is accompanied by various symptoms. Thus, adults and elderly people experience:

• constant weakness and fatigue;
• attacks of severe dizziness;
• lethargy and distraction;
• decreased ability to work;
• memory impairment;
• loss of consciousness, but in very rare cases. This condition is often preceded by dizziness, so at the first manifestations of it you need to sit down or take a lying position.

For children and infants, drowsiness or constant sleep is the norm, but if the following symptoms occur, you should seek help from a doctor:

• frequent vomiting;
• increased body temperature;
• diarrhea or lack of fecal output;
• general weakness and lethargy;
• the child has stopped latching or refuses to eat;
• acquiring a bluish tint to the skin;
• The baby does not respond to the touch or voice of the parents.

Causes of drowsiness

Chronic drowsiness is a common sign of a certain malfunction in the body. First of all, this applies to severe diffuse brain damage, when sudden severe drowsiness is the first alarming sign of an approaching catastrophe. We are talking about such pathologies as:

• traumatic brain injury (intracranial hematomas, cerebral edema);
• acute poisoning (botulism, opiate poisoning);
• severe internal intoxication (renal and hepatic coma);
• hypothermia (freezing);
• preeclampsia in pregnant women with late toxicosis.

Since increased drowsiness occurs in many diseases, this symptom has diagnostic value when considered against the background of pathology (drowsiness in late toxicosis of pregnancy, drowsiness in traumatic brain injury) and/or in combination with other symptoms (posyndromic diagnosis).

Thus, drowsiness is one of the important signs of asthenic syndrome (nervous exhaustion). In this case, it is combined with increased fatigue, irritability, tearfulness and decreased intellectual abilities.

Increased drowsiness combined with headache and dizziness is a sign of cerebral hypoxia. In such cases, the lack of oxygen can be caused by both external (staying in a poorly ventilated room) and internal causes (diseases of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, blood systems, poisoning with poisons that block the transport of oxygen to cells, etc.).

Intoxication syndrome is characterized by a combination of drowsiness with loss of strength, headache, nausea and vomiting. Intoxication syndrome is characteristic of external and internal intoxication (poisoning with poisons or waste products of the body in case of renal and liver failure), as well as for infectious diseases (poisoning with microorganism toxins).

Many experts separately distinguish hypersomnia - a pathological decrease in wakefulness time, accompanied by severe drowsiness. In such cases, sleep time can reach 12-14 hours or more. This syndrome is most typical for some mental illnesses (schizophrenia, endogenous depression), endocrine pathologies (hypothyroidism, diabetes, obesity), and damage to brain stem structures.

And finally, increased drowsiness can be observed in absolutely healthy people with lack of sleep, increased physical, mental and emotional stress, as well as during travel associated with crossing time zones.

A physiological condition is also increased drowsiness in pregnant women in the first trimester, as well as drowsiness when taking medications, the side effect of which is depression of the nervous system (tranquilizers, antipsychotics, antihypertensive drugs, antiallergic drugs, etc.).

Physiological drowsiness

When a person is forced to stay awake for a long time, his central nervous system forcibly turns on the inhibition mode. Even within one day:

• when the eyes are overloaded (sitting for a long time at the computer, TV, etc.);
• auditory (noise in the workshop, office, etc.);
• tactile or pain receptors.

A person may repeatedly fall into short-term drowsiness or so-called “trance”, when his normal daytime alpha rhythm of the cortex is replaced by slower beta waves typical of the rapid phase of sleep (during falling asleep or dreaming). This simple technique of immersion in a trance is often used by hypnotists, psychotherapists and scammers of all stripes.

Drowsiness after eating

Many people are drawn to sleep after lunch - this can also be explained quite simply. The volume of the vascular bed exceeds the volume of blood that circulates in it. Therefore, a system of blood redistribution according to a system of priorities is always in effect. If the gastrointestinal tract is filled with food and works hard, then most of the blood is deposited or circulates in the area of ​​the stomach, intestines, gallbladder, pancreas and liver. Accordingly, during this period of active digestion the brain receives less oxygen carrier and, switching to economy mode, the cortex begins to work less actively than on an empty stomach. Because, in fact, why move if your stomach is already full.

Chronic lack of sleep

In general, a person cannot live without sleep at all. And an adult should sleep at least 7-8 hours (although historical colossi like Napoleon Bonaparte or Alexander the Great slept for 4 hours, and this did not prevent one from feeling invigorated). If a person is forcibly deprived of sleep, he will still switch off and may even sleep for a few seconds. To avoid wanting to sleep during the day, sleep at least 8 hours at night.

Stress

Pregnancy

Pregnant women in the first trimester, against the background of hormonal changes, toxicosis, and in the last trimester, when the cortex is naturally inhibited by placental hormones, there may be episodes of prolonged night sleep or daytime drowsiness - this is the norm.

Why does my baby sleep all the time?

As you know, newborns and children up to six months spend most of their lives sleeping:

• newborns - if the baby is about 1-2 months old, he has no special neurological problems or somatic diseases, it is typical for him to spend up to 18 hours a day in his sleep;
• 3-4 months - 16-17 hours;
• up to six months - about 15-16 hours;
• up to a year - how much a baby up to a year should sleep is decided by the state of his nervous system, the nature of nutrition and digestion, the daily routine in the family, on average it is from 11 to 14 hours per day.

A child spends so much time sleeping for one simple reason: his nervous system is underdeveloped at the time of birth. After all, the complete formation of the brain, completed in utero, simply would not allow the baby to be born naturally due to the head being too large.

Therefore, while in a state of sleep, the child is maximally protected from overloads of his immature nervous system, which has the opportunity to develop further in a calm mode: somewhere to correct the consequences of intrauterine or birth hypoxia, somewhere to complete the formation of the myelin sheaths of the nerves, on which the speed of nerve impulse transmission depends .

Many babies can even eat in their sleep. Children under six months of age wake up more and more from internal discomfort (hunger, intestinal colic, headache, cold, wet diapers).

A child's sleepiness may no longer be normal if he or she is seriously ill:

• if the baby vomits, he has frequent loose stools, prolonged absence of stool;
• he fell or hit his head, after which some weakness and drowsiness, lethargy, pale or bluish skin appeared;
• the child stopped responding to voices and touches;
• does not breastfeed or bottle for too long (much less urinate);

It is important to urgently call an ambulance or take (carry) the child to the emergency room of the nearest children's hospital. As for children older than one year, their causes of sleepiness that go beyond the usual are practically the same as in infants, plus all the somatic diseases and conditions that will be described below.

Pathological drowsiness

Pathological drowsiness is also called pathological hypersomnia. This is an increase in sleep duration without an objective need for it. If a person who previously got eight hours of sleep begins to nap during the day, sleep longer in the morning, or nod off at work for no objective reason, this should lead to thoughts about problems in his body.

Acute or chronic infectious diseases

Asthenia or depletion of physical and mental strength of the body is characteristic of acute or severe chronic, especially infectious diseases. During the period of recovery from the disease, a person with asthenia may feel the need for longer rest, including daytime sleep. The most likely reason for this condition is the need to restore the immune system, which is facilitated by sleep (during it, T-lymphocytes are restored). There is also a visceral theory, according to which during sleep the body tests the functioning of internal organs, which is important after an illness.

Anemia

Close to asthenia is the condition experienced by patients with anemia (anemia, in which the level of red blood cells and hemoglobin decreases, that is, the transport of oxygen to organs and tissues by the blood deteriorates). In this case, drowsiness is included in the program of hemic hypoxia of the brain (together with lethargy, decreased ability to work, memory impairment, dizziness and even fainting). Iron deficiency anemia most often manifests itself (with vegetarianism, bleeding, against the background of hidden iron deficiency during pregnancy or malabsorption, with chronic foci of inflammation). B12-deficiency anemia accompanies stomach diseases, stomach resections, fasting, and tapeworm infection.

Atherosclerosis of cerebral vessels

Another cause of oxygen starvation of the brain is cerebral atherosclerosis. When the vessels supplying the brain become overgrown with plaques by more than 50%, ischemia appears (oxygen starvation of the cortex). If these are chronic cerebrovascular accidents, then in addition to drowsiness, patients may suffer from:

• for headaches;
• decreased hearing and memory;
• instability when walking.

In case of acute disturbance of blood flow, a stroke occurs (hemorrhagic when a vessel ruptures or ischemic when it thromboses). The harbingers of this formidable complication can be disturbances in thinking, noise in the head, and drowsiness.

In older people, cerebral atherosclerosis can develop relatively slowly, gradually worsening the nutrition of the cerebral cortex. That is why, for a large number of elderly people, drowsiness during the daytime becomes an obligatory companion and even somewhat softens their departure from life, gradually worsening cerebral blood flow so much that the respiratory and vasomotor automatic centers of the medulla oblongata are inhibited.

Idiopathic hypersomnia

Idiopathic hypersomnia is an independent disease that often develops in young people. It has no other cause, and the diagnosis is made by exclusion. A tendency to daytime sleepiness develops. There are moments of falling asleep during relaxed wakefulness. They are not so sharp and sudden. Like narcolepsy. Time to fall asleep in the evening is shortened. Waking up is more difficult than normal and there may be aggression. Patients with this pathology gradually weaken social and family ties, they lose professional skills and ability to work.

Narcolepsy

This pathology differs in that, unlike physiological sleep, the REM sleep phase occurs immediately and often suddenly without prior slow sleep. This is a lifelong disease.

• this is a variant of hypersomnia with increased daytime sleep;
• more restless night sleep;
• episodes of irresistible falling asleep at any time of the day;
• with loss of consciousness, muscle weakness, episodes of apnea (stopping breathing);
• patients are haunted by a feeling of lack of sleep;
• Hallucinations may also occur when falling asleep and waking up.

Increased drowsiness due to intoxication

Acute or chronic poisoning of the body, to which the cortex and subcortex are most sensitive, as well as stimulation of the reticular formation, which provides inhibitory processes with various medicinal or toxic substances, leads to severe and prolonged drowsiness not only at night, but also during the daytime.

A concussion, brain contusion, hemorrhage under the meninges or into the substance of the brain can be accompanied by a variety of disorders of consciousness, including stupor (stunning), which resembles a prolonged sleep and can turn into a coma.

Sopor

One of the most interesting and mysterious disorders, expressed in the patient falling into a prolonged sleepy state, in which all signs of vital activity are suppressed (breathing slows down and becomes almost undetectable, the heartbeat slows down, there are no reflexes of the pupils and skin).

Lethargy in Greek means oblivion. A variety of peoples have a lot of legends about people buried alive. Typically, lethargy (which is not pure sleep, but only a significant inhibition of the functioning of the cortex and vegetative functions of the body) develops:

• for mental illness;
• fasting;
• nervous exhaustion;
• against the background of infectious processes with dehydration or intoxication.

Thus, if you are worried about causeless fatigue, drowsiness, the causes of which are very diverse, you need the most thorough diagnosis and consultation with a doctor to clarify all the circumstances that led to such disorders.

If sleep apnea syndrome is suspected, it is possible to record breathing parameters using respiratory monitoring at home using a special device. Pulse oximetry is performed to determine the efficiency of breathing and oxygen saturation in the blood. To exclude somatic diseases that cause drowsiness, you should be examined by a therapist, who, if necessary, will prescribe a laboratory examination or consultation with a specialist.

Treatment

There are several ways to get rid of drowsiness, differing depending on what the causes were. Therapy for each patient is prescribed individually.

If this process causes a disease or inflammatory process, it is necessary to eliminate it. For example, herbal medicines such as eleutherococcus or ginseng will help with low blood pressure. Preparations or tablets high in these elements can prevent daytime sleepiness.

If the cause is low hemoglobin content, a complex of vitamins and minerals (with a high concentration of iron) will help the patient. If there is insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, the best remedy is to give up nicotine and treat vascular pathologies that may be the cause of this process. In cases where nervous system disorders, traumatic brain injury, problems with the heart and other internal organs become a factor, therapy is carried out by a specialist doctor.

It is worth paying more attention to the selection of medications if drowsiness occurs during pregnancy or in infants, because not all medications can be taken by such groups of patients.

Anti-drowsiness medications

While waiting for a doctor’s consultation, you can do the following on your own:

• Find out your sleep norm and stick to it. Determine how many hours a day you need to sleep in order to feel alert and rested. Try to stick to these data for the rest of the time.
• Stick to a sleep and rest schedule. Go to bed and get up at the same time, both weekdays and weekends.
• Do not neglect rest, walks in the fresh air and physical activity.
• Include multivitamins, fresh vegetables and fruits in your diet, and drink enough clean water.
• Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol.
• Reduce the proportion of carbohydrates in your diet.
• Don't get carried away with coffee. During sleepiness, coffee stimulates the brain to work harder, but brain reserves are quickly depleted. After a fairly short time, the person feels even sleepier. In addition, coffee leads to dehydration of the body and leaching of calcium ions. Replace coffee with green tea; it also contains a good dose of caffeine, but at the same time saturates the body with vitamins and antioxidants.

As you can see, it’s not so easy to brush off drowsiness. Pay attention to how you feel. The danger of the symptom is obvious. In addition to a decrease in quality of life due to decreased memory and attention, this can lead to work-related injuries, accidents and catastrophes.

You will still have to establish the reasons for sleepiness during the day - this is not life, sleeping on the move.Why is a woman still drawn to sleep during the day, she feels lethargic, weak, and most importantly. Desire to sleep.

Let's first look at the banal reasons, what if you didn't pay attention to them?

Causes of daytime sleepiness in women and common diseases:

Poor nutrition without vitamins:

• There are many women who absolutely do not pay attention to. This is living food with vitamins and minerals - without it you will be haunted by drowsiness. Just remember spring, how lethargic and lifeless we all are.
• Don't forget about proteins and complex carbohydrates. We forget about sugar, smoked meats, and pickles. Volumes of information have been written. This risk cannot be ignored.
• Eat more greens and vegetables and everything will get better.

Insomnia:

• This phenomenon needs to be removed from your life. Make sure you get good sleep. If a woman does not get enough sleep, she will not be healthy.
• Try all means, especially pay attention to your lifestyle. Go to bed and get up at the same time, even on weekends.

Sleep apnea:

• This is the name given to snoring during sleep with frequent pauses in breathing. The condition is dangerous, especially for the heart and blood vessels.
• A woman will never feel rested and is always sleepy during the day.

Anemia:

• Weakness, drowsiness, feeling of constant cold and - these are the main symptoms. People say - anemia.
• Blood poorly fills the body's cells with oxygen, all organs and systems suffer.
• A deficiency of iron in the blood must be treated with diet or medications prescribed by a doctor.

Diabetes:

• Patients often experience a significant drop in blood sugar during treatment, and suffer from weakness and especially severe drowsiness.
• After eating, pay attention, if you feel sleepy or feel weak, check your blood sugar level.

Hypothyroidism:

• Another reason is a lack of your own thyroid hormones. The woman gains weight, although she eats no more, is very cold, sleeps on the go, weak and in a constantly bad mood.
• Treatment with hormones is necessary, necessarily with hormone tests and an ultrasound examination of the thyroid gland. The dose is selected for a long time, depending on the degree of the disease.

Low pressure:

• Many women know what it is. True, it is still easier to deal with it than with elevated ones. Just drink a cup of coffee and it will go up. A piece of cheese or salted herring helps many people. Drink enough water.
• Be careful with coffee, it washes calcium and magnesium out of the body. These are healthy nerves and bones. Don't overuse it.
• If an examination is strongly needed, a disease may develop, you will find out in time.

Pregnancy:

• Many women complain of drowsiness at this time - this is normal, unless you sleep for days. Be sure to tell your doctor about this, she will decide whether this is normal or abnormal.
• Overtraining, fatigue, and too much caffeine will also lead to drowsiness. After all, this symptom tells us that the nervous system is overloaded.

Viral hepatitis:

• The manifestation of this disease remains drowsiness and fatigue for a very long time. The woman has no idea what she is sick with.
• It is necessary to understand that we will not just doze off if we are healthy. With such a deviation as drowsiness, especially when it already interferes with normal life, an examination is needed.

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease):

• A disease of smokers in which the flow of oxygen through the respiratory tract is severely limited.
• The person feels bad - constantly tired, sleepy, powerless. There is simply not enough oxygen in the body - hypoxia.

Medicine:

• Look at what medications you are taking; drowsiness is very often a side effect of medications.
• These are drugs for allergies, depression, psychotropic, sedatives.

Depression:

• A serious illness from which it is not so easy to get out. Here there is drowsiness and apathy, loss of interest in life, weakness.
• Treatment by a neurologist or neurologist is necessary. It's difficult to get out on your own.

Brain injury or infection:

• When drowsiness is accompanied by vomiting, headache, or blurred vision, you should immediately call an ambulance.
• Even more quickly if you have recently suffered a head injury or do not know the cause.
• There may also be brain tumors that compress neighboring organs. Infection may develop: encephalitis, meningitis.

Reye's syndrome or infections:

• This is a disease of the brain and liver in adults and children under 16 years of age. It occurs a few days after a viral infection, or rather its incorrect, illiterate treatment.
• Many people give children acetylsalicylic acid, which is not suitable for them at all.

Narocolepsy:

• An almost uncontrollable desire to sleep with bouts of drowsiness throughout the day. Muscle weakness is pronounced (reversible). It has been established that neurons in the brain stem are damaged.

Poor quality sleep:

• Frequently interrupted night sleep will lead to daytime sleepiness - the body has not recovered.
• Sleep in your usual bed, in the dark, in silence
• Try to ventilate the room before going to bed. In the stuffiness, you will sleep poorly and have a headache.
• Don't go to bed hungry, but don't overeat either. Eat 3 hours before bedtime, but not carbohydrates.
• Do not sit at the computer in the evenings or in front of the TV - the radiation from them has a bad effect on sleep. Do simple household chores for an hour, iron, cook for tomorrow, take a shower.
• If you are tense and irritated, you will not fall asleep.
• Do not drink coffee or strong tea after lunch. Caffeine will keep you from sleeping peacefully.

Prevention of drowsiness:

Reconsider your lifestyle:

• Nutrition.
• Movement.
• Sleeping mode.
• Vitamin therapy.
• Rest.
• Job.

If it doesn’t help, you need to get examined and look further.

• You need to sleep no more than 8 hours, sometimes an hour more.
• Pregnant women sleep more - this is a reaction to hormonal changes.
• With age, the need for sleep decreases, a woman no longer moves as much and does not do much work. And chronic illnesses and, of course, pain will not allow you to sleep like a baby.
• Consider sleeping more than 10 hours as a sleep deviation.

Excessive sleepiness (hypersomnia) during the day is a sign of exhaustion of the nervous system. The body wants to rest, it is tired, overworked - your task is to find the cause and eliminate it. Who, if not you, knows your body well and understand what is wrong in it and help yourself and it

Have wonderful dreams at night and energy during the day!

Various versions of the origin of the disease have been put forward, including some surprising ones (one German neurologist believed that the cause of narcolepsy was teenage masturbation). Some neurologists spoke about the psychosomatic origin of the disease, others considered it a manifestation of schizophrenia, and others considered the cause to be disturbances in the neurochemical balance of the brain.

The true cause of narcolepsy was discovered quite recently, at the end of the twentieth century, it lies in the “breakdown” of the system that triggers the REM (paradoxical) sleep phase.

Our brain is a very complex “mechanism”. Even in Pavlov's laboratories it was proven that it contains deep structures responsible for sleep. There are also biologically active chemicals that facilitate the conduction of nerve impulses through neurons - neurotransmitters (neurotransmitters). When the human nervous system functions correctly, then thanks to these substances we are in a non-sleeping state. But if there is a lack of them, the excitation impulses do not reach the neurons and the person falls asleep. Thus, extensive research has made it possible to establish the most plausible cause of narcolepsy, which lies in the lack of certain types of neurotransmitters - orexin A and orexin B. The function of orexins is to maintain a state of wakefulness, and their lack is the cause of narcolepsy.

A breakdown of the REM sleep system and, accordingly, a lack of orexin is provoked by:

• brain injuries;
• infectious brain lesions;
• excessive fatigue;
• pregnancy;
• unstable emotional state, psychological trauma;
• malfunctions of the immune system;
• hormonal imbalance;
• diabetes;
• genetic predisposition.

In many cases, the cause of narcolepsy, that is, the factor that provoked paradoxical sleep disorder, remains unclear.

Signs of the disease

There are two mandatory symptoms of narcolepsy:

1. Falling asleep “on the go,” when a person suddenly falls asleep for no apparent reason. Most often this happens during monotonous work, but it is possible to completely unexpectedly fall asleep during a conversation, while walking, while watching a movie, or in any other situations. Such sleep usually lasts a few minutes, but in severe forms of narcolepsy it can last for hours.

2. Sudden involuntary relaxation of all muscles of the body (cataplexy), which occurs at the moment when a person experiences vivid emotions (laughter, surprise, rage, vivid memories, anxiety, a certain period of sexual intercourse). Cataplexy (loss of muscle tone) is rarely the first symptom of narcolepsy, and much more often it develops over the years.

In the first case, inhibition captures the cerebral cortex, but does not reach the lower parts of the brain, so the person falls asleep, but immobility does not occur. So, if he falls asleep while walking, then in a sleeping state he can walk for another 1-2 minutes and then wake up.

In the second case, the opposite happens. With normally preserved consciousness, immobility occurs. The person’s muscles relax, he simply falls, but still manages to find a place to fall, for example, sits down on a chair.

These are not all the symptoms of narcolepsy; many patients experience the full range of possible symptoms, including:

• sudden falling asleep and cataplexy (discussed above);
• vivid dreams up to hallucinations that are observed when falling asleep or waking up;
• immediately after waking up, a person cannot move for several seconds (this condition is called sleep paralysis);
• there is an urgent need for daytime sleep.

In addition, due to the absence of the slow-wave (deep) sleep phase, it is not uncommon for patients with narcolepsy to sleep poorly at night, their sleep is shallow, and they often wake up.

Symptoms of narcolepsy can develop over many years or occur all at once. However, you should not assume that if you have the symptoms listed above, then you necessarily have narcolepsy. These manifestations are also signs of many other diseases, but most often they can simply be temporary disorders due to stress, chronic fatigue, lack of sleep, etc.

Diagnosis and treatment of narcolepsy

Diagnosis is very important for any disease, narcolepsy is no exception. The symptoms of narcolepsy are similar to the symptoms of other disorders of the nervous system, therefore, before starting treatment for narcolepsy, you need to make sure whether it is this and, first of all, exclude the possibility of a disease such as epilepsy. The treatment of narcolepsy and epilepsy is diametrically opposed, so making the correct diagnosis in this case is vitally important.

Both diagnosis and treatment of narcolepsy should be carried out under the strict supervision of a neurologist.

Diagnosis of the disease is quite complex and lengthy, it includes: polysomnography and MSLT test. Polysomnography is performed in a sleep laboratory, where the person must spend at least one night. Special electrodes are attached to it, with the help of which brain waves, muscle activity, heart rhythms, and eye movements are recorded. After polysomnography, an MSLT test is performed; it allows you to obtain the so-called sleep pattern, which differs between patients with narcolepsy and healthy people.

Narcolepsy is a serious disease that can significantly reduce the patient’s quality of life. Treating narcolepsy is quite a difficult task. Unfortunately, today there are no treatment regimens that could completely eliminate the disease. But there are two groups of drugs that the doctor selects individually for each patient, and which temporarily relieve the symptoms of narcolepsy:

1. Drugs that stimulate brain function.

2. Drugs that weaken the inhibitory effect from the sleep zone in the brain.

And although the treatment of narcolepsy is mainly symptomatic, the patient himself can make efforts and adapt his life to the current situation as much as possible. It is necessary to normalize night sleep, establish a daily routine and wakefulness, and, most importantly, allocate a certain time for daytime sleep.

Patients with narcolepsy are strictly prohibited from engaging in activities that are potentially dangerous to themselves and others, including: driving a car, working at heights, working with other moving mechanisms, night work, etc.

American scientists have taken a new step in the treatment of narcolepsy. They have developed a special nasal spray that contains orexin (a substance whose deficiency causes narcolepsy). Experiments on animals have confirmed the effectiveness of the drug, so there is a possibility that soon the theory that narcolepsy is incurable will become a thing of the past.

This article is posted for educational purposes only and does not constitute scientific material or professional medical advice.

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The diagnosis is unreliable! CONTACT A GOOD NEUROPATOLOGIST!

or better yet, see a good psychiatrist!

For Inna. I understand and sympathize. It’s easier for me, I’ve been retired for a long time, I’ll soon be 70 years old. But over the past year, and especially this winter, I’ve been completely hibernating, like a bear. Crystal good health only at night from 01.00 to 05.00 (four hours a day), provided that the rest of the time is to sleep. In general, I have had this since childhood, but before it was not so pronounced. Now we have to drag ourselves and the dogs to the store to get food so we don’t fall asleep on the way. My wife says I'll quit! Although, she herself is becoming more and more “infected” with the desire to sleep. That's how we live.

Sorry! Same story and also fired. As a rule, I pass out at the computer in the first half of the day and have a headache, and in the evening I feel invigorated..

When using materials from the site, the active reference is obligatory.

The information presented on our website should not be used for self-diagnosis and treatment and cannot serve as a substitute for consultation with a doctor. We warn you about the presence of contraindications. Specialist consultation is required.

An obese person always falls asleep as soon as he sits down. Why?

Situation: A friend often comes to see my husband for repairs. It has a live weight of at least 150 kilograms. It barely fits in the car. While he is being repaired, he sits in the garage and sleeps in a chair. I even fell several times. Well, at least not into the inspection hole. One day he was asked to drive a car out of the garage after repairs. He left. But the door does not open, the engine is running. The men came up - he was sleeping! I fell asleep in a few seconds! But there's more to come. Over the last 2 weeks, he fell asleep at the wheel 4 times. The first time I was taking my husband's partner home. He, sitting next to him, grabbed the steering wheel and kicked him in the side with his elbow. Thanks to this, we didn’t drive off the road. However, later he himself, being alone in the car, fell asleep 3 times. He was lucky twice. I just drove off and got stuck on the side of the road. But the third time I didn’t leave the truck driver. The car is like an accordion - he doesn't have a scratch. Probably, if I hadn’t slept, I would have killed myself to hell. A Belarusian truck driver was shocked by the severity of local drivers. Now it doesn't drive. Apparently God saved. He won’t kill himself while driving and won’t kill anyone. Only one thing is clear - he can’t drive. But he intends to restore the car.

That’s the real question - what’s wrong with him? What kind of disease is it and what is it called? How to treat this, and how to live with it?

I had such a problem (at a weight of 120), it was associated with sudden changes in blood sugar, most likely a person at this weight already has diabetes, and there is also a hormonal (age and weight) imbalance, for example, testosterone. But you can’t joke with your health; it’s difficult to establish the cause of such a problem on your own, so without a proper examination of the body, a person not only risks, he also shortens his allotted age for a long time.

With the development of obesity, night sleep becomes restless, with periods of respiratory arrest, snoring, and muscle twitching. Daytime sleepiness is compensatory in nature. In addition, in obese people, fat deposits compress the vessels in the neck that supply the brain. When there is a lack of oxygen, the brain prefers to work at minimal cost. This condition is called Pickwick's syndrome and differs from narcolepsy in the absence of catalepsy (no falls) and hallucinations.

All signs will disappear when weight normalizes.

My relative (former traffic police officer) after a drunk driver dragged him along the highway for one and a half kilometers (the tablet caught on the driver’s seat while he was filling out a report, the driver hit the gas and rushed forward, and the traffic cop was pulled after him. It was a miracle that he was not dragged under the wheels and thrown into the oncoming traffic) - after this incident, I also began to fall asleep right on the move. I could fall asleep while standing in line, in the bathroom, and even fell asleep while eating!

He was treated for a long time. It’s good that his experience had already been completed (25 years), and he was able to retire. In general, spontaneous drowsiness is often observed in older people.

Grandparents always fall asleep in front of the TV, for example, but their sleep is superficial. shallow.

But in this case, the person clearly has something wrong with the blood vessels. It is necessary to do an ultrasound scan of the vessels of the head and neck, check the blood for cholesterol, consult a neurologist, cardiologist and somnologist.

With narcolepsy, people often fall into a deep sleep phase directly from wakefulness. There is often a genetic predisposition to this disease; this symptom also occurs in mental illnesses. It is necessary to be examined, because the condition is very life-threatening.

Excess weight makes a person slow. It is difficult for him to bend, squat and even walk. So he looks for a way out in the elevator or in the car. He wants to sleep due to heavy workload. He gets tired quickly and needs sleep to regain his strength. And the car needs to be taken away from him, out of harm’s way. Once you were lucky, the second time, and the third time not. He will walk more and lose extra pounds. His joy in life will return. In general, only one positive thing.

There is also such a disease (not only in “obese” people) called “Narcolepsy”, in which a person can fall asleep anywhere and anytime. A very scary thing. But it’s hard to say what’s wrong with your friend; you need the help of a qualified specialist.

Most likely he has high blood pressure, and he does not take medications. With high blood pressure, many people experience constant drowsiness. And excess weight just contributes to increased blood pressure.

Sleep disorder: narcolepsy, symptoms

The narcoleptic falls asleep for short periods of time several times a day under any circumstances under the influence of irresistible sleep.

Neurologists around the world have been studying the disease, first described in 1877 by the German neurologist Westphal, for more than a century.

Its name comes from the Greek words “stupor” and “attack”. The disease is quite rare, but the total number of patients with narcolepsy in the world is quite large, in the USA alone there are more than 100 thousand.

Experts note the close relationship of the disease with genetic predisposition.

People susceptible to this disease and those around them often do not take it seriously.

Consider one of the cases described by Peter Hauri, an American somnologist:

Farmer Robertson, 36, has been experiencing three daytime sleep attacks since he was 17, lasting up to 15 minutes each. Friends regard his strange behavior as a sign of laziness.

But the farmer himself is worried about another feature of his: when he has to get angry with his children, scold them or punish them, he is seized by severe weakness in the knees, which simply knocks him down on a chair or the floor.

After seeking help from a psychotherapist, the patient was examined at a sleep clinic, where his daytime sleep was recorded. The examination showed that Robertson falls into the phase of paradoxical sleep directly from wakefulness, which is abnormal for healthy people. He was diagnosed with narcolepsy and treated successfully.

Narcolepsy attacks can affect the patient's relationships with others and their quality of life. Therefore, it is very important to recognize this disease in the early stages of development.

Symptoms of Narcolepsy

• Sudden and inevitable attacks of drowsiness

This is the most disturbing symptom and is the most characteristic. A narcoleptic attack occurs unexpectedly: during eating, sexual intercourse, driving a car or other transport, while swimming, which creates unpleasant or dangerous situations not only for the patient.

• Loss of muscle tone in striated muscles (cataplexy)

Let's remember the case of the farmer - muscle weakness, which doctors call cataplexy, manifested itself in moments of strong emotions and anger. Cataplexy can even be triggered by unpleasant memories.

Healthy people may also experience a “weak-kneed” feeling when they are scared or receive bad news. This is the body's natural reaction to a stressful situation.

In narcoleptics it is pathologically enhanced and can manifest itself in a weak form or complete collapse (fall). A person may fall silent in the middle of a conversation, drop a cigarette from his mouth, drop a fork from his hands, his body does not obey him: his arms hang like whips, his head droops, his legs give way, his jaw hangs, his tongue does not move.

The attack of immobility can stop instantly and the patient who has dropped the book manages to pick it up. It is interesting that at this time the narcoleptic is aware of what is happening, and his attention sharpens.

Cataplexy may not develop immediately after the onset of drowsiness, but some time later (months or years).

• Sleep paralysis

Another manifestation of narcolepsy is sleep paralysis. In a weak form it is expressed in a healthy person, in patients it is extremely strong. Patients feel immobilized for a short time, measured in seconds or a few minutes, and experience a feeling of severe anxiety.

Sleep paralysis occurs when falling asleep or waking up and can disappear with external touch. This condition can frighten the patient: he is aware of the situation to varying degrees, but cannot move.

• Hypnagogic hallucinations (visual and auditory hallucinations of falling asleep)

Vivid dream-like experiences in a state of active wakefulness, often unpleasant and scary. A person may imagine various monsters and all sorts of evil spirits crawling on him, but he can neither scream nor move.

The patient, being in a state of partial wakefulness and sleep at the same time, has no control over what is happening, which often frightens him.

A narcoleptic person performs ordinary everyday actions without conscious awareness. He may even fall asleep for a short time and continue to fall asleep, but after a while he will not remember what, how and when he did it.

The manifestation of this symptom can pose a potential threat to others.

In narcoleptics, not only daytime wakefulness is disrupted, interrupted by short episodes of uncontrollable sleep. Night sleep also occurs abnormally and is characterized by high motor activity due to frequent awakenings. Sleep may be interrupted for just a couple of seconds and the patient may not notice it.

In the morning he is completely exhausted and broken and cannot understand the reason, which is that frequent awakenings do not allow him to plunge into full-fledged fast or deep slow sleep and get the necessary rest. There are no boundaries separating the phases of rest and activity.

Narcoleptics do not have full daytime activity and are deprived of normal night sleep.

• Associated symptoms of narcolepsy include double vision, poor concentration, headaches, and memory loss.

Children susceptible to this disease often lag behind in their development. Adults may have problems performing professional duties.

Symptoms of the disease may develop gradually over time or occur all at once.

In healthy people, paradoxical sleep begins 60–90 minutes after falling asleep, muscle tone gradually disappears.

The narcoleptic falls into paradoxical sleep instantly and can also quickly lose muscle control. Sudden attacks of daytime sleep occur with characteristic symptoms: loss of muscle tone, sleep paralysis, vivid hallucinations - dreams.

Patients do not have a clear separation of wakefulness and paradoxical sleep.

Vogel, an American scientist, believes that a healthy person dreams in order to sleep, but a narcoleptic person sleeps in order to dream. With the help of an unexpected transition to sleep, they escape from reality and from conflict situations.

Narcoleptics remember their dreams well and talk about them with pleasure. The proportion of REM sleep in the patient is increased, and slow sleep is decreased.

Causes of drug forest

There is no exact answer about the causes of narcolepsy yet. Genetic predisposition is noted by experts as one of the most important prerequisites for this disease.

The sleep of people suffering from narcolepsy is similar in many ways to the sleep of newborns: overly active and uncoordinated - without stages of drowsiness and sleep spindles.

In both infants and narcoleptics, the thalamohemispheric system of the brain, responsible for organizing slow-wave sleep, is weakened, and the hemispheric-brain system, responsible for REM sleep, on the contrary, is strengthened. By continuously producing REM sleep (in fragments or completely), it prevents the narcoleptic from either sleeping or staying awake normally.

What factors or causes lead to disruption of the sleep-wake cycle? Biochemists and geneticists will have to answer this question. In the meantime, narcolepsy is entirely under the control of neurologists, who offer patients medication and psychotherapeutic treatment.

Treatment of this disease should include proper organization of the wake-sleep regime: going to bed and getting up in the morning, preferably at the same time.

Repeated short naps during the day are useful, 20-30 minutes each episode, which will provide the necessary level of activity.

• You should be careful when performing potentially dangerous actions: driving a car and other vehicles, working with electrical appliances. Plan your day so that someone can be with you at this time.
• Follow the prescribed medication carefully and report any changes in your health to your doctor.
• Ask your doctor to have an explanatory conversation with your family members if they underestimate the seriousness of the disease and attribute its manifestations to laziness and other things. Family support is very important.
• It is not recommended to hide from your employer that you suffer from narcolepsy. The employer will provide the necessary working conditions if you are a valuable employee.
• Meeting people susceptible to this disease will provide moral support - find or create a support group for narcoleptics in your city.
• Pay special attention to your child if he also has narcolepsy. Teachers and coaches should know about this in order to help and protect in difficult or dangerous situations.

An interesting fact: not only people, but also dog breeds such as Labradors, Dachshunds and Dobermans are susceptible to this disease. They exhibit the same symptoms as humans: sudden daytime sleep, cataplexy, etc.

I wish you and your pets health and suggest you watch a short and funny video about a pug who reacts vividly to a TV show.

Elena Valve for the project Sleepy Cantata.

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Hello, I am 21 years old and I suffer from lack of sleep. It all started in the army, when I was put on duty in a company, and within 24 hours I went on duty. I often didn’t sleep for days and then it started happening to me. I fell asleep all the time during the day, standing, sitting, and once I even fell asleep while walking, without even realizing it. Also, sometimes when I talk to a person I have attacks of paralysis for a second, and it often happens when I laugh. Many people say that I laugh in my sleep. But they became so colorful, rich as in reality and became so long that this has never happened before. I also fall asleep while driving, but I feel myself falling asleep and immediately look for a place to stop. I consulted with a doctor, she told me to drink glycine, I’ve been drinking for a month now and there haven’t been any significant changes, I just noticed that I’m not starting to lose power so sharply. During the day I can sleep all day, but at night I am alert and seem to not need sleep. Well, now after the army it’s all the same, and glycine has become easier, but I’m still tired of it, I want a normal life.

Yes. I also had to face this problem. Tell me which specialists I need to contact. what is it connected with? could it be a heart problem?

Victoria, the cause of narcolepsy has not been established; scientists suggest that the main prerequisite for the occurrence of the disease is genetic predisposition. See neurologists or specialists who diagnose and treat complex sleep disorders.

I wrote a higher post here (I’m 30, and I’ve been nodding off for about 10 years now.). I forgot to say that when it “cuts” (an attack of such drowsiness occurs), it does not look like just falling asleep, at that moment it “knocks out” with such force that it looks like a horse dose of sleeping pills or anesthesia. And at the same time there is a feeling that you yourself want to relax and... It is possible that this even looks like a drug “high” (although I have never tried drugs myself and cannot say for sure), but the sensations when falling asleep are so pleasant that if you relax, you immediately forget not only where you are, but even your name and who you are. It is very difficult to overcome this when you work at a computer. Although a little physical activity (getting up, walking, stretching) helps temporarily.

Although who knows, maybe this is normal? I work at a computer, my work is monotonous, with numbers, graphs, technical documentation (most often these are kilometers of columns with numbers/data that I have to parse). Maybe it’s just monotony that affects me this way, because sitting in the twilight in an empty room and reading an interesting book for 4-6 hours doesn’t “break” me! And even when stuck in a traffic jam for a long time, it still doesn’t “cut” with such force as at work.

Thank you very much for the detailed explanations. It’s very bad that I found out about this disease so late. I've had this problem for a long time, since school. But I just didn’t suspect that it could get worse.

Now I can switch off when I’m talking to someone.

I have already explained my condition to doctors, psychiatrists and neurologists, but they blame everything on depression and chronic diseases, which I also have.

But I still understood something from your statements, and took note.

Forget-me-not, doctors, unfortunately, cannot always help. Fortunately, each of us has a remedy that is effective, but most importantly, safe. This is our self-hypnosis, our connection with our “I”, with our subconscious. The cause of the disease may lie in your fear of life; affirmations can help:

“I completely trust the very process of life and move freely in it,”

“Life was created for me, I move freely in it and trust the very process of life.”

Control all your thoughts, think that you are able to control every moment of your life and fall asleep only at your own discretion.

Go to church, pray to the icons for the illness to go away, order a prayer service for your health.

Dear Forget-Me-Not, believe in your healing, it will definitely come. All the best.

I'm 17 years old, and it's been bugging me for 2 years. At first I thought it was because I didn’t sleep much at night, although it seemed like I always went to bed and woke up at the same time. At first I fell asleep at school at my desk, but then all hell broke loose: I began to fall asleep wherever possible, in the cinema, at the computer, while studying and even walking down the street. I try not to go out and walk with people, because I’m afraid that it will start to “knock out” again. I can’t communicate normally with new people, because they are scared that I fall asleep like that, they think I’m some kind of drug addict or crazy. This is simply unbearable, I don’t know how to live further with this disease, because I really want to learn, develop and explore the world, but this is not possible for me because of sleep. My memory has deteriorated, I stopped understanding a lot of things, I can no longer do things on the spot like I used to. I'm afraid to go study for my license, in case I fall asleep and crash. And after all this, I decided to undergo an examination, they did a sleep analysis and the diagnosis of narcolepsy was confirmed. They prescribed some pills, but I need to take them constantly and I’m afraid that I’ll get used to them and become like a drug addict. What should I do?

Vlad, accept reality as it is, but don’t lose heart. The pills will support your health for now. After all, they are better than falling asleep in unexpected situations. Continue treatment and look for alternative methods. Find and study the necessary literature; you are unlikely to find the right advice on the Internet. Contact the Higher Powers with a request to help overcome this disease, the answer will definitely come. Books that can help include Sinelnikov’s “Love Your Illness,” Louise Hay’s “Heal Your Body,” and many other psychologists. Many diseases, if not caused by heredity, are acquired due to an incorrect worldview. Try to understand yourself. Sleep is an escape from reality. How long have you been experiencing symptoms of uncontrollable falling asleep? Is there an unpleasant situation associated with this period? This may reveal the cause of the disease and the path to cure.

I'm 30, and I've been nodding off for about 10 years now. I always want to sleep, which makes it difficult to concentrate. When I perform some active actions, it somehow drives the blood and then I may not notice my drowsiness. But with not very active actions, sleep begins to “cut” me. Even with a slow-moving traffic jam (I turn on heavy metal so as not to sleep). Now I work in an office and drink liters of coffee. I’m training my will, it got to the point that when I had kidney surgery, they gave me general anesthesia intravenously and they couldn’t “knock me out.” Attacks of drowsiness occur several times a day (3-4), it knocks me out so much that I begin to see double. I hold on to my consciousness with all my strength and let it go, but my head begins to pound. The tone usually appears after 16 hours, productivity at work immediately increases, etc. By the evening, if I slept at least 7-8 hours last night, I do not experience any drowsiness, I feel a surge of energy and a thirst for activity. If I don’t go to bed, I’m in good shape until 4 am. But usually I go to bed at 11, usually 12 at night and get up at 7-7:30. Once I conducted an experiment on myself - I just wanted to get some sleep and slept from 15:00 on Friday to 12:00 on Monday with breaks for the toilet and still did not get enough sleep. When I fall asleep, dreams (with sound and color) come instantly, I just have to close my eyes, but at this moment I can still control my body while conscious and even describe what I see and hear, while hearing what is happening around me.

What is this? Narcolepsy or am I just a night owl out of my cycle?

Sergey, it is quite possible that you are an owl “in a cycle that is not yours.” In this case, changing your job to another with a more suitable schedule can help.

If you exhibit symptoms of narcolepsy, you need to go to specialists who can identify the disease.

I think we need to start with an examination. Searching for answers on the Internet will not guarantee that you will diagnose yourself correctly.

I haven't been able to control my sleep since junior high school. Now I am already 22 years old. I constantly fell asleep in class, even when I was interested, and sometimes my brain simply turned off due to monotony. At the same time, it was necessary not to fight in front of anyone, because the teachers cursed, and the peers joked and then teased me as soon as this happened again. Then my body began to recover on its own as the tone weakened. because of this, you seem to be sleeping and at the same time aware of what is happening around and with you. and at night the same. You hear something when you say something in your sleep, you move your arms and legs. My boyfriend sometimes finds it difficult to sleep with me, and sometimes he becomes afraid. The last time he said that in a dream I had a cramp and my hand clenched as if it were my heart. my fingers did not open, I did not wake up and stopped breathing for 30 seconds. Of course, over all this long time I have learned to live with this feature. But in the last 2-3 weeks everything became somehow different. worse. Just like when I was a distant child, literally yesterday I fell asleep while walking and couldn’t control it. In the underground. Trying to move away from the edge of the platform and not being able to really do it, I realized that I was starting to fall asleep and that I would start falling onto the rails. and today. Previously, visuals came at moments when I was completely exhausted, but I couldn’t sleep and you were holding on with all your might. Today.. it’s a strange state.. I haven’t been involved with substances for a very long time. but in an absolutely normal state, I looked at photographs of my friends and acquaintances and they seemed to be in reality in space. there was a feeling that they were continuing the movement that they were performing in the photo. move and become three-dimensional in real space. like in 3D or something.

In general, this is not a healthy topic.

Thank you for the article! I will definitely visit a neurologist.

Emotional and mental fatigue impairs my ability to remember information. Problems in my personal life and being stuck at work have exhausted my body. The employee persuaded me to take Biotredin (thought it was an antidepressant). It really improved my condition, and there is no dependence on it.

I have been suffering from a similar disease for ten years now. I am 65. About 35 years ago I was in a car accident in Moscow. Severe concussion, the torn out eye was sewn on in Sklif. Vision was preserved. The family laughed at first, but then they began to take it more seriously. I can suddenly fall asleep in the toilet, during lunch, rub my face into a hot cup of tea, into a computer keyboard, on the corner of a table, etc. The most unpleasant thing is that this happens at concerts, in cinemas, when watching action films, listening to loud music. By profession I am a film director. He has made many documentaries and feature films. Now, having a pacemaker and second-degree diabetes, he is forced to lead a secluded life in a remote Smolensk village. I have undergone many examinations, but there are no prescriptions for today, or are there? The article is good, but without hope. Vitaly.

When traditional medicine has made diagnoses and is unable to help, it’s time to engage in self-healing. Vitaly, don’t give up and don’t lose heart. I advise you to get acquainted with the health systems of Shatalova, Boyarshinov (AGGS), Norbekov, read Sinelnikov, Louise Hay. Any disease is a consequence of our wrong mental attitudes, and, of course, nutrition and lifestyle.

All the best to you!

So how to treat this disease, are there any ways and which doctor should I contact if necessary?

Like any disease, narcolepsy is best treated in the early stages. You, Andrey, should contact a neurologist or a specialist who diagnoses and treats complex sleep disorders.

I had periods when I literally fell asleep on the go.

But it seems that overwork played such a role.

Now, I definitely need to get at least 8 hours of sleep to feel full of energy.

Otherwise, I’ll be like boiled chicken again. 🙂

I also remember such a period when I was studying at the institute, I fell asleep during sessions on the go. At night he also worked part-time at sabbaths. Thank God that these are temporary manifestations of drowsiness, and not permanent, as described in the article.

Yes, this disease occurs not only in people - I recently saw a program on Discovery about a dog who falls asleep from a loud sound, for example, clapping his hands.

I have never heard of such an insidious disease as narcolepsy. Thank you!

I saw a documentary about this disease, it’s strange and scary, because not only this person’s life is in danger, but also the people around him.

When my driving experience was just beginning, I very often experienced drowsiness while driving, apparently under the influence of the monotony of the road. A couple of times I just fell asleep, but both times everything ended well, thank God. Now even if I didn’t get enough sleep while driving, this doesn’t happen.

I forgot about it as soon as I left the night shift.

I even watched a program about such people. a very dangerous disease.

It turns out that a person cannot control himself. It's very scary. And it turns out there are so many of them, I didn’t know.

Yes, it’s unpleasant, especially while driving or if such attacks make a person dependent on performing their functional duties, such as a doctor, a teacher, and it’s simply difficult for a person with the same disease to live.

My dad sleeps all the time, even while driving. This can hardly be called narcolepsy. He has no other signs, but who knows.

Yeah! If it’s just chronic lack of sleep, then the matter is fixable, but the symptoms are different! But in the case of narcolepsy, a completely different approach is required. It’s good, at least it’s been identified as a separate disease, and not attributed to laziness or carelessness. Such people need to be seriously treated, otherwise grief will befall them, those around them and their relatives. An interesting article, presented in detail, absolutely creepy, as you can imagine.

There are so many diseases! This is the first time I’ve read about such a pathology. I really sympathize with people who suffer from this disease.

Probably, before making such a diagnosis, you need to look at whether it is just a simple chronic lack of sleep. And if it’s lack of sleep, then the situation can be easily corrected. When I chronically didn’t get enough sleep, I fell asleep standing on the bus.

How many tragedies happen on the roads if a driver falls asleep at the wheel. Unfortunately, almost no one pays attention to this disease, citing the fact that they are simply tired and have not slept much. It's a pity.

You are absolutely right, Evgeniy. A friend of mine often falls asleep in any circumstances, but chalks it up to fatigue and lack of sleep.

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Be sure to consult with a specialist so as not to harm your health!

What kind of disease is this? A person only has to sit down, and even though he constantly falls asleep, even though his neck falls off

Another manifestation of the disease is cataplexy: a person suddenly falls silent in the middle of a conversation, things fall out of his hands, and his legs give way. Consciousness does not leave him, but he is unable to utter a word or move his hand - his muscles relax. The attack lasts several seconds, sometimes minutes. Often patients do not even have time to fall, but having dropped the object from their hands, they pick it up. The most surprising thing is that attacks of cataplexy most often occur against the background of a joyful, happy mood, and their most reliable provocateur is sincere laughter. For some, pain attacks occur especially persistently when they themselves tell something funny. However, it is not possible to provoke an attack of arbitrariness with “artificial laughter”. “Polite” laughter is also safe for the sake of decency - but laughter from the heart very quickly ends in a fit!

Another form of the disease - periodic hibernation - has been known to doctors since time immemorial. A medical work from 1672 describes the poet Epiminides of Crete, who allegedly slept in a cave for 57 years. It is hardly worth fully believing this period, but cases of hibernation that lasted two decades are completely reliable. True, they are very rare and are consequences of severe mental illness. A week-long or even three-week hibernation is not such a rare occurrence. Probably, the roots of this disease go very deep: it has much in common with the condition that, for example, bears and gophers fall into in winter, when there is little food, and some amphibians - in summer, when water bodies dry up. During hibernation, people's body temperature is reduced, as is their blood pressure. They do not eat or drink for several days - as a result, tissue dehydration occurs, and patients suddenly lose weight. The muscles completely relax, reflexes sometimes completely disappear. It is impossible to wake up such patients.