You still feel asleep and this feeling does not disappear even after a strong coffee? And even if - it comes back quickly and won't leave you for the rest of the day? Feeling sleepy is a sign that your body is demanding rest. However, if it accompanies you too often, it is worth considering what causes it. Here are the most common causes of excessive sleepiness.
Excessive sleepinessand accompanying symptoms - yawning, lack of energy, lethargy, a feeling of weariness, the desire to immediately put your head to the pillow and drift off into the embrace of Morpheus probably knows everyone who at least once stuck at a boring and lengthy meeting at work.
Disturbing daytime sleepiness may of course be related to exhaustion caused by too intensive work, or to an individual disturbance of night rest (when sleep did not give rise to noise outside the window or a sick child). However,if this feeling occurs too often - and in situations that are by no means boring - a sign that something is wrong.
Instead of explaining it with heat or a temporary decline in fitness, it is worth checking whether the cause of excessive daytime sleepiness is not due to lifestyle or even an underdiagnosed disease. Here are the most common causes.
1. Lifestyle.Sedentary work, too little exercise - it makes the body hypoxic, so you often lack energy during the day and you constantly yawn. Try to change your habits: walk to work, do not commute (or at least get off the bus a stop earlier), during the day take away from your desk even for a short walk around the building, at home, instead of sitting on the couch, go for a walk.
2. Monotonous menu.Energy during the day may also be lacking because your diet is too low in vegetables and fruit, but contains too many fatty and fried foods. Try to change something in your menu, reduce the portions of meat and enrich it with salads and salads - you will quickly feel an improvement if this was the reason for excessive sleepiness.
3. Arterial hypotension.Perhaps your blood pressure is too low - it is said to be when your systolic blood pressure is consistently below 100 mmHg. Then drowsiness is not the only symptom: it can often be accompanied by headaches, nausea, and a tendency to fainting.
The cause of hypotension requires a diagnosis, because it may result, for example, from hormonal disorders, cardiovascular disorders or the functioning of the autonomic nervous system - in this case, specific tests (including cardiological, neurological, and thyroid hormone levels) are ordered by doctor.
4. Anemia.When there is too little hemoglobin in the blood, which carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues and organs, the body becomes hypoxic, and the brain function is impaired - a symptom of which is drowsiness. To confirm it, a blood count must be performed.5. Hypothyroidism.It is caused by a deficiency of thyroid hormones, which slows down metabolic processes - which in turn results in sleepiness and fatigue during the day. In addition, hypothyroidism has other characteristic symptoms, including memory impairment, constipation, and feeling cold. She is diagnosed with, among others by determining the level of TSH, fT3, fT4 hormones in the blood.
6. Virus infection.Chronic drowsiness may also accompany a viral infection which, after the initial acute phase of infection (resembling influenza), becomes chronic and is asymptomatic - e.g. infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) causing mononucleosis. Blood tests, including antibody tests, are required to confirm infection.7. Diabetes.The carbohydrate metabolism disorders related to it are responsible for the chronic feeling of sleepiness and fatigue. The diagnosis is made by the doctor on the basis of the test results, primarily blood glucose tests and the oral glucose load test.
8. Sleep apnea.A few, several-second breaks in breathing, followed by rapid breathing interrupts the natural phases of sleep, disrupting the night's rest and regeneration of the body. And while you don't remember these episodes when you wake up, they can result in excessive daytime sleepiness.
That you have sleep apnea can be confirmed by tests - polysomnography or apnograph tests - these consist of monitoring your sleep using special sensors.
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