What kind of cost are the researchers talking about? While the figures related to cost to the Danish society they nevertheless give us a broad idea.

A persistent snorer who could be suffering from narcolepsy or hypersomnia involves an annual cost of 10,223 Euros (about $13,500) and 2190 Euros ($2,880) respectively. This amount refers to the direct cost of doctors’ visits, hospital admissions and cost of medicines. Indirect costs include cost of lost working hours.

Additionally, there are costs involved in terms of state benefits. In fact, the researchers revealed that patients of hypersomnia receive more state benefits than healthy individuals and consumed more state-subsidized medicines more frequently. The study also reveals that the cost borne by society rises exorbitantly primarily because of regular absences from work and lower income among the patients who are sick.

If you want to know more about what to do about it read the full story in http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/12/20/hypersomnia-costly-for-sufferers-society/21968.html

Here is a list of top hypersomnolence drugs designed to treat specific aspects of the disorder, according to http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/hypersomnia-idiopathic-drugs-work/2010/11/03/id/375951

Ritalin: Most effective. Increases wakefulness without any accompanying fatigue.
Provigil: FDA-approved. Useful for excessive daytime sleepiness and shift work sleep disorder.
Nuvigil: FDA-approved. Provides a feeling of wakefulness.
Modiodal: FDA-approved. Improves quality of sleep as well as reduces excess sleep.
Clonidine: Adrenergic agonist. Also treats neuropathic pain and narcolepsy.
Xanax: Good not only for treating hypersomnolence but also for mood disorders, depression.
Imipramine: Safer option. Fewer side effects. Non-addictive. Does not cause drug dependence.

If you are not taking any of these drugs, it wouldn’t hurt to ask your doctor why.

So far so good but the real problem is elsewhere. Most patients do not have the kind of strong will power and sustainable determination that is needed to implement the several self-help strategies that the doctor recommends. Additionally, many patients may not be that lucky to have such supportive families who offer sustainable help. This is the main reason why several self-help strategies fail to deliver results.

For such hapless patients, there is online help. http://www.moodjuice.scot.nhs.uk/sleepproblems.asp can expose patients to a brand new perspective of what self-help is all about. This amazing workbook is designed to help people manage their sleep problems without seeking any external help.

It helps in recognizing sleep problems better; understand the causes and factors that defy most treatment options and most importantly, helps the patient to be self-dependent to overcome a majority of sleep problems.

Great help is finally just a click away.

Worst still, the ailment affects people aged between 15 and 30. Idiopathic hypersomnia has been officially declared as a ‘rare disease’ by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and affects less than 200,000 people in the US.

Hypersomnia treatment: where does one begin?

Since, most of the time, there are no apparent causes for the ailment to develop, idiopathic hypersomnia treatment invariably involves taking approaches that provide symptomatic relief. In fact, doctors normally combine several treatment methods to cure the condition. Over and above drug therapy, doctors rely more on making several lifestyle alterations and coaching the patient many self-help strategies using which, he or she can get sustainable relief from excessive daytime sleepiness.

Excessive daytime sleepiness treatment: involvement of others

The nature of the condition is such that the patient is highly likely to be misunderstood by family and friends as being a work-shirker, lazy, etc. If married, hypersomnia may also seriously jeopardize marital harmony. Hence hypersomnolence treatment invariably requires the involvement and joint effort of people who make the patients’ immediate surroundings like spouse, close friends, colleagues, etc.

Such close people are meticulously counseled for extending their cooperation and support to the patient undergoing excessive daytime sleepiness treatment. A helping hand and an understanding attitude from loved ones can go a long way in giving the victim the mental strength to live through the disease condition.

Excessive daytime sleepiness treatment: importance of changing the way you live life

At times making poor lifestyle choices can seriously damage health. By making some seemingly simple changes in the way you live can go a long way in helping the doctor involved in hypersomnia treatment. Changes include:

• Keeping regular sleeping hours; avoiding late nights and other socializing events that result in staying up late.
• Stop rushing in an out of sleep. Sleep is a relaxing activity that should not be rushed, as it causes sleep deprivation.
• Quit alcohol. This liquid poison is behind several sleep disorders.

Quit smoking. Nicotine withdrawal makes one wake up early.

Excessive daytime sleepiness treatment: help yourself to help the doctor

• Do regular physical exercise for at least 20 minutes per day.
• Avoid foods and drinks that contain nerve stimulants like coffee, aerated drinks, chocolate, diet drugs, etc.
• Undertake activities before bedtime that relaxes both the mind and the body, including a warm bath, etc.
• Make your bedroom more sleep-friendly.

Excessive daytime sleepiness treatment: what are the drugs used?

Hypersomnolence treatment uses several types of drugs, depending on the severity and duration of the condition.

• Modafinil, sodium oxybate, amphetamine, methamphetamine, dextroamphetamine, methylphenidate, and selegiline are common drugs used for idiopathic hypersomnia treatment.
• Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), clonidine, levodopa, bromocriptine, amantadine, and methysergide are also used for the treatment of this condition.

But at times such excessive sleepiness begin to dominate our lives; we feel sleepy most of the time…feel like taking short naps whenever or wherever and worst still, do not feel refreshed, no matter how many such naps we have taken.

Causes of excessive sleepiness should be probed further and if necessary, officially diagnosed and treated, as there are very high chances that you have been affected with a rare but serious sleep disorder called hypersomnia. Listed as a ‘rare disease’ by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institute of Health (NIH), idiopathic hypersomnia, a sub-category of hypersomnia affects close to 200,000 people in the US.

Hypersomnia causes: is it just tiredness?

As strange as it may sound, though the symptoms are similar, excessive daytime tiredness related to hypersomnia causes and the kind of fatigue we feel after a late night or having been deprived of sleep the previous night have different origins.

When hypersomnia causes excessive sleepiness during the day, the symptoms are more extensive: you sleep for inordinately long hours; wake up very late; feel disoriented and confused on waking up; have low appetite; suffer from irritability, depression and hallucinations; you are incapable to think fast and your speech is slow.

What could be the causes of hypersomnia? There are plenty of factors that could cause excessive daytime sleepiness. Here are some causes of excessive sleepiness that you might find strange, but they are true all the same:

• The most common of all hypersomnia causes is sleep deprivation, which has a cumulative effect on the neurobehavioral functioning of the body.

Causes of hypersomnia are easier to understand if they are categorized according to their origin:

• Neurological origin or fallout of existing sleep disorder

-         Close to 10% of cases diagnosed with idiopathic (‘no known causes’) daytime hypersomnia are affected by narcolepsy.

-         Injuries or disorders caused by head trauma, accident involving the brain, encephalitis, brain tumor, restless leg syndrome, etc.

• Excessive daytime sleepiness causes related to lifestyle choices or mental disorders:

-         Depression

-         Inadequate sleep hygiene

-         Consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol (most common)

-         Jet lag, nightshift switchovers, etc, that disrupt the circadian rhythm.

• Causes of excessive sleeping related to disorders that could be co-existing:

-         sleep apnea

-         congestive heart failure

-         COPD

-         Coronary heart disease

-         Anemia

-         Hypothyroidism

-         Mononucleosis

• Causes of hypersomnia related to medications:

-         Clonidine

-         Beta blockers

-         Anticonvulsants

-         Anti-depressants

-         Medicines for Parkinson’s’ Disease

-         Anti-diarrheal medicines

-         barbiturates

-         Benzodiazepines

-         Medicines that treat nausea and vomiting (anti-emetics)

-         Anti-histamines

-         Anti-spasmodic medication

-         Skeletal muscle relaxants

With regard to idiopathic hypersomnia treatment, we need to keep in mind that ‘idiopathic’ means ‘no known cause’. Therefore idiopathic hypersomnia treatment invariably relies on providing symptomatic relief. However, idiopathic hypersomnia could also reach a severe stage, resulting in complete collapse of normal life parameters like employment prospects, education, etc. Patients suffering such severity normally respond very poorly to hypersomnia treatment.

Typical onset of this condition is between the age of 15 and 30. Hypersomnia treatment, if delayed or missed, may turn chronic and remain a life-long condition.

Hypersomnia treatment: the recommended approach

According to American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), if the cause of hypersomnia can be attributed to a disorder of the central nervous system, then the treatment should entail:

• Right diagnosis – this involves ruling out neurologic, lung-related and mental disorders which also cause daytime sleepiness. Once an underlying cause is established, hypersomnia treatment could involve consultations with neurologist, pulmonologist and a psychiatrist.
• Individual monitoring of therapy administered
• Regular follow up post-therapy for monitoring response.

Hypersomnia treatment: roads that lead to success

• Drug therapy involving anti-depressants and stimulants for the central nervous system have proved to be effective for excessive daytime sleepiness treatment. Some drugs used for the treatment include:

-          Modafinil, sodium oxybate, amphetamine, methamphetamine, dextroamphetamine, methylphenidate, and selegiline are effective medications for idiopathic hypersomnia treatment.

Though the mode of action of modanifil is not very well understood, it is an effective medication in excessive daytime sleepiness treatment. It acts as a stimulant by reducing the GABA-mediated neurotransmission, resulting in improved wakefulness. The best redeeming feature about modanifil is that it is not addictive and provides a steady improvement, unlike other stimulants that usually have several highs and lows in their mode of action.

Modanifil normally does not carry side effects like nervousness, anxiety, etc. The drug is long-acting with a half-life between 12 and 15 hours.

With regard to the use of amphetamines, it must be remembered that these drugs are known to cause side effects like rapid heartbeats and nervousness.

-         Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), clonidine, levodopa, bromocriptine, amantadine, and methysergide.

• Behavioral therapies with improvement of sleep hygiene are used for hypersomnolence treatment.
• Patient education along with family involvement. Hypersomnia treatment should ideally involve the patients’ family members. Since this type of disorder results in breakdown of relationships, etc., the spouse of the patient should be counseled properly, at the right time. People suffering from this disorder often get misunderstood as being lazy, work-shirkers, etc. Therefore people close to the patient who is undergoing idiopathic hypersomnia treatment like friends, family and colleagues should be informed and counseled so that the patient can function better in his or her immediate surroundings.
• Lifestyle changes: Changing some habits and choices in the lifestyle could improve the condition. These include:

-         Maintaining a regular sleep schedule

-         Avoiding rushing through sleep.

-         Avoiding alcohol, caffeine or any medication that interfere with sleep.

-         While driving and operating machinery while feeling sleepy is dangerous, if such activities is a must, then a schedule has to be maintained by which such activities are undertaken when the excessive sleepiness is lowest and the patient is most alert during the day.

-         Avoiding night shift or social activities that delay bedtime.

• Self-help strategies that help in hypersomnia treatment:

-         Physical exercise for about 20 minutes per day to tire the body

-         Avoid foods and beverages like chocolate, coffee, soft drinks, diet drugs that are known stimulants. Nicotine withdrawal can also make the smoker wake up early.

-         Take a warm bath before bedtime or do some other relaxing activity.

-         Improve bedroom ambience including right temperature.

Hypersomnia treatment: summary

Most of the time, sleep disorders like hypersomnia can be prevented if noticed on time, diagnosed and treatment sought. In case you suffer from recurrent sleeping problems and experience excessive daytime tiredness, you should see a doctor without any delay. If your family physician cannot offer help with hypersomnolence treatment, then consult a sleep specialist to get proper treatment.

Close to 5% of US population is affected by this disorder that strikes mostly teenagers and young adults. According to the National Sleep Foundation, nearly 40% of people could experience some of the symptoms of hypersomnia some time or the other.

What are the hypersomnia causes? What are the reasons that make people of such young age fall prey to this dreaded illness? Most of the time, causes of hypersomnia remain unknown to the treating physician. However, many of the excessive daytime sleepiness causes are eventually linked to injury to the head, tumor or some injury that involves the central nervous system.

At times causes of excessive sleepiness are attributed to more serious conditions like a malfunctioning autonomic nervous system, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, encephalitis, serious depression or even obesity.

Excessive sleepiness is a common manifestation of several sleep disorders like sleep apnea, narcolepsy, sleep deprivation, insomnia, etc. Therefore, doctors also take into consideration such existing health conditions when they are looking for hypersomnia causes. In fact one of the leading causes of hypersomnia could be a disruption in the normal sleep cycle. Change of shift duties, is an example that may cause daytime sleepiness.

Hypersomnia is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness. The victim sleeps for inordinately long hours, has a tendency to take frequent naps that do not refresh him or her. Gradually, both the social, personal and professional lives of such young people get severely jeopardized with dim hopes of furthering education or getting employment opportunities.

They are irritable, moody with poor memory and focusing abilities, lack clear thinking and fall off to sleep anytime, even when they are driving.

Though the instances are less common than say, another sleep disorder called narcolepsy, where the patient falls asleep suddenly, the most prevalent type of hypersomnia is called primary or idiopathic hypersomnia – where the term idiopathic means ‘no cause known’. However, doctors and researchers have, over the years, found several factors that are directly or indirectly involved in the onset and development of the condition.

List of causes of hypersomnia is long with several physical, emotional and physiological factors playing their roles.

Hypersomnia causes: many roads lead to one

• Damage to the brain caused by head injury, neurosurgery, infection, or spinal cord injury
• Parallel to other illnesses like depression, uremia and fibromyalgia
• Could be a symptom of other sleep disorders like sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and restless leg syndrome.
• After effect of some medications including medicines used for depression, anxiety management and bipolar disorder.
• After effect of neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis
• Withdrawal of certain medications
• Drug or alcohol abuse
• Genetic factors.
• Obesity. Like sleep apnea, causes of excessive sleepiness and weight gain are also related. This happens when excessive sleepiness reduces metabolic rate and initiate weight gain, as the victim splurges on food on waking up.
• Infection like mononucleosis. Influenza in children could also be one of the causes of hypersomnia.
• Not getting adequate sleep at night is one of the common causes of excessive sleepiness.
• Prolonged use of prescription drugs like tranquilizers.

Hypersomnia causes: Treatment rationale when no cause is known

You might be wondering if there are no known causes, as in idiopathic hypersomnia, how doctors can make a choice in how to treat the condition? When causes of hypersomnia are not known, treatment is usually symptomatic. Many doctors treat the condition with drugs like amphetamine or methylphenidate. Other medications could be levodopa, bromocriptine, clonidine, monoamine oxidase inhibitors and antidepressants. Provigil and Xyrem.

In this regard, several doctors believe in altering lifestyles to treat the condition since there are no confirmed hypersomnia causes known.

To handle excessive daytime sleepiness causes, doctors increasingly rely on focusing on the hypothalamus to reverse the situation and put the patient back on wakefulness. There have been several cases where causes of excessive sleepiness have been linked to hypothalamic tumors.

Since alcohol and caffeine further precipitate the symptoms, doctors advise patients to stay away from these stimulants.

We tend to overlook such trivial problems. Perhaps this is a mistake. If excessive daytime sleepiness become a habit, it is time to see a sleep specialist to rule out idiopathic hypersomnia. More so, if you are under 30.

According to official statistics, 5% of the entire US population suffers from primary hypersomnia. This condition affects mostly people between 15 and 30. According to National Sleep Foundation nearly 40% of people could experience some of the symptoms of hypersomnia one time or the other.

Does all this sound Greek? Want to know what excessive daytime sleepiness can lead to? For that you have to know what idiopathic hypersomnia or idiopathic hypersomnolence is.

But before you get into details, you need to know that hypersomnia can be of two types: primary hypersomnia, also called idiopathic insomnia and recurrent insomnia. While the typical symptoms are same for both these types, the only point of difference is in the frequency with which they happen.

What is idiopathic hypersomnia or idiopathic hypersomnolence?

The terms hypersomnia or hypersomnolence mean excessive sleepiness and idiopathic means ‘no known cause’. But what is the condition all about? It is a type of sleep disorder, which is characterized by:

• Excessive daytime sleepiness EDS – this is different from sleepiness due to late nights, excessive work, or just physical tiredness, etc.
• Excessive daytime somnolence is marked by repeated naps during the day, when it is considered improper or inappropriate like during work, conversations, meals, etc. However, these short daytime naps do not bring down the need or tendency to sleep further, or provide any refreshing feeling.
• Idiopathic hypersomnia patients usually sleep for very long hours in the night and find it tough to wake up. Even when they do, they feel confused and disoriented.
• Some other typical tell-tale signs of idiopathic hypersomnolence include: irritability, anxiety, depression, low appetite, hallucinations, poor memory, and difficulty in focusing, loss of fast thinking abilities and reduced speed of talking.
• The signs of primary hypersomnia are noticed during early adulthood and adolescence and may continue for several years.

Excessive daytime sleepiness: what could be the causes?

There are plenty of sleep disorders that have links with excessive daytime somnolence including sleep apnea, narcolepsy. Sub-optimal functioning of the autonomic nervous system, drug or alcohol abuse could cause idiopathic hypersomnia. Some other causes of hypersomnia include brain injury, head trauma, injury to the central nervous system, or a physical reason like a tumor, etc.

At times the excessive daytime somnolence could be caused as a parallel effect of other sleep disorders like sleep apnea, etc. Genetic factors are also not ruled out when looking for possible causes of idiopathic hypersomnia.

Some medical conditions like multiple sclerosis, depression, encephalitis, epilepsy, or obesity could also lead to hypersomnia as well as withdrawal or side effect of some medicines.

Idiopathic hypersomnia: when are you sure?

The first symptom that usually drives a patient to see a sleep doctor is excessive daytime sleepiness. The doctor initiates treatment by recording the sleep history of the patient: how long he or she sleeps at night; how often daytime sleepiness affects; how many times the patient wakes up in the night, and so on. The doctor then probes a bit further to note the patients’ emotional and medical history.

Some diagnostic tests are helpful for the doctor to assess the situation including routine blood examination, computed tomography (CT) scans, and sleep study, also called polysomnography. The doctor may also want a report of the brain activity study, done with the help of electroencephalogram (EEG).

Persistent daytime somnolence: what is this condition all about?

Though persistent daytime somnolence is a serious health condition with high rate of morbidity and mortality, its incidence is not very well documented. Some of the typical symptoms of persistent daytime somnolence include difficulty in falling and maintaining sleep, restless sleep, and more. Official studies have shown that though there is a high presence of the symptoms, only about 10% of people experiencing such symptoms ever been diagnosed with a sleep problem.

Some of the typical problems faced by patients with this disorder are: problems falling asleep; problems staying awake during the day; snoring, etc. According to researchers, patients as well as clinicians need to be better informed about this disorder as a large number of ailments are associated with it, like diabetes, drug-resistant hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, obesity, poor surgery results etc.

Before the situation goes completely out of hand and the condition worsens into something more serious, you need to find out whether you are suffering from hypersomnia symptoms and seek medical attention without any delay. Idiopathic (the term means ‘no known cause’) hypersomnia is an uncommon but serious type of disorder, with far-reaching consequences, many of which are fatal.

Hypersomnia symptoms: what they are and what they are not?

One of the primary hypersomnia symptoms is excessive sleepiness during the day, coupled with prolonged sleep during the night. Such symptoms of hypersomnia are not the same as sleepiness as felt after a couple of sleepless nights, a hard days’ work or just tiredness. When you are experiencing hypersomnia symptoms, you can go off to sleep involuntarily, mostly at improper times like during a meeting, lunch or dinner or even while you are in conversation with someone.

Hypersomnia symptoms: the most common ones

• Excessive sleepiness during the day for at least one month on a continuous basis.
• Frequent but long naps, waking up groggy and drowsy.
• Undisturbed and inordinately long sleeping hours in the night
• Waking up looking and feeling ‘drunk’, confused and disoriented.

Hypersomnia symptoms: other manifestations

• Anxiety
• Irritability
• Reduced energy
• Restlessness
• Slow reflexes including diminished thinking ability
• Slurred or slow speech
• Reduced appetite
• Hallucinations
• Poor memory

Symptoms of hypersomnia have major impact both on the personal like, personality and professional life of the sufferer. Often patients withdraw from meeting other people in social or family gatherings as they find themselves inept to handle any situation satisfactorily.

Idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms: are they same as symptoms of narcolepsy?

This is a condition that usually manifests before the age of 30. Idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms are the same as hypersomnia symptoms where even repeated naps do not refresh or revive the sagging energy levels of the victim. You might feel completely disoriented or confused (called sleep drunkenness) after such long or short naps and feel like going back to sleep again.

Some typical idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms include:

• Major difficulty in waking up in the morning.
• Sleep paralysis: a condition where the patient finds it impossible to move or speak while falling asleep or after waking up.
• Hallucinations: waking dreams that happen as part of excessive daytime sleepiness symptoms
• Frequent forgetfulness

While many of the idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms may appear similar to those of narcolepsy, here the patient does not suffer cataplexy – a condition that causes sudden loss of muscle tone of the face or limbs. Additionally, while both the conditions result in frequent and excessive sleepiness during the day, narcoleptic naps are shorter in duration and leave the victim refreshed; which differs from idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms.

Hypersomnia symtoms: when are they likely to show up?

Symptoms of hypersomnia may be due to some other kind of pre-existing sleep disorder like sleep apnea or narcolepsy, malfunctioning of autonomic nervous system, alcohol abuse, drug consumption, etc. Body injuries involving the head or physical problems like tumor or injury to the central nervous system could also trigger hypersomnia symptoms.

Some underlying medical conditions are at times responsible for excessive sleepiness during the day and are called hypersomnolence symptoms. Such medical conditions include multiple sclerosis, depression, encephalitis, epilepsy, etc. Even obesity is considered to be one of the leading reasons for idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms to show up. Genetic factors could also be responsible.

Young adults as well as adolescents are the normal victims of symptoms of hypersomnia.

Hypersomnia symptoms: symptoms of depression?

According to one school of thought, hypersomnolence or hypersomnia is one of the leading outcomes of depression. While idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms occur 5 times less frequently than narcolepsy, hypersomnolence symptoms are primarily related to excessively long phases of sleep. One of the identifiable symptoms of hypersomnia is problem faced by the victim to remain awake.

Many consider the idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms to be caused by impairment of the central nervous system and can remain life-long with very slow or no improvement in the condition despite therapy.

Drugs that treat hypersomnia symptoms are more or less the same as used for the treatment of depression and include stimulants, like amphetamine, methylphenidate, and modafinil. Other drugs used to treat hypersomnia symptoms include clonidine, levodopa, bromocriptine, antidepressants, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

Hypersomnia symptoms: what are the risk factors?

• Impaired autonomic nervous system
• Obesity
• Drug or alcohol abuse
• Certain prescription drugs including tranquilizers and sedatives
• Withdrawal of certain medications
• Hereditary factors

Hypersomnia symptoms: conclusion

Excessive sleepiness during the day can cause serious impediment to anyone trying to lead a normal life as it adversely affects both professional and personal lives. It can be dangerous to drive and operate machinery if the symptoms of hypersomnia are not brought under control with the right therapy. Affecting mostly teenagers and young adults, idiopathic hypersomnia symptoms need to be addressed without any delay, as soon as they are noticed and before the situation takes a turn for the worse.

As you understand the implications of symptoms of hypersomnia, it is worthwhile to remember that the entire situation could be fallout of some underlying conditions like multiple sclerosis, depression, obesity, chronic fatigue syndrome, head trauma caused by accidental injury and affecting the central nervous system, side effect or withdrawal effect of certain medications, or even genetic factors.

Following factors are taken into consideration while diagnosing hypersomnolence symptoms before therapy is initiated:

• Experiencing excessive sleepiness during the day for at least a month.
• Severity of hypersomnia symptoms is causing serious impairment to social and professional life of the patient.
• Hypersomnia symptoms are not due to physiological effects of any drug or medical condition.

While chronic sleeplessness or insomnia is a serious sleep disorder as well as a major health condition, a person who has too much sleep is also a matter of grave concern. Feelings of excessive sleepiness can throw both personal and professional life completely out of gear. In short, extreme sleepiness is also a medical condition requiring therapy.

If extreme sleepiness has started to interfere with your quality of life, you need to get familiar with some medical terms of which hypersomnia or hypersomnolence is perhaps most important. Obviously, there are definitive causes, symptoms as well as treatments available for such sleep disorders. But before you get into such details, it makes sense to know what is hypersomnia or hypersomnolence?

In medical terms, hypersomnia definition could be interpreted as follows: it is a condition marked by excessive daytime sleepiness or EDS that many refer to as excessive daytime somnolence. At the outset it must be understood that EDS is not the same as feeling sleepy due to lack of sleep the previous night or feeling extremely tired, etc.

The condition is characterized by chronic sleepiness – where the patient tends to fall asleep no matter what he or she is doing or the place where they fall asleep. Even after such short but repeated naps the excessive sleepiness continues unabated. On waking up, the patient usually feels disoriented and confused. Such abnormalities in the sleep pattern have deep-rooted impact on physical, physiological as well as emotional balance of the individual.

What is hypersomnia or hypersomnolence?

There are essentially two types of hypersomnia: primary hypersomnia or idiopathic hypersomnia and recurrent hypersomnia. While the symptoms of both these types are similar, the difference is the frequency of instances of excessive sleeping. How often the patient dozes off to sleep decides whether it is idiopathic hypersomnia or recurrent hypersomnia.

Idiopathic hypersomnia, where the term idiopathic means ‘unknown cause’ and hypersomnia means excessive sleepiness, is an uncommon but an extremely serious sleep disorder responsible for jeopardizing quality of life, both on the work and home front.

Excessive sleeping can also be medically termed as hypersomnolence. This condition is marked by a person sleeping more than normal (10 hours or more). The victim also takes long naps during the day and none of the usual wake-up calls seem to work on such people. Despite the amount of excessive sleep, patients suffering from hypersomnia or hypersomnolence do not feel refreshed or energetic.  Their motor reflexes are slow and mentally they are not as alert as they are expected to be. They tend to be mentally unstable and feel drained out easily.

What is hypersomnia or hypersomnolence – typical manifestations?

• A patient of idiopathic hypersomnia never has too much sleep. They have a tough time waking up and feel confused when they do wake up.
• Irritability, anxiety, depression, fatigue, restlessness are some of the typical manifestations of a patient suffering from primary hypersomnia or hypersomnolence.
• These patients also suffer from slow reflexes, lack of alertness, poor memory, hallucinations, low appetite, etc.
• Many sufferers gradually find themselves unfit to mix socially and shrink from family or professional setups.
• Such manifestations may remain with the patient for several months or even years.

According to National Sleep Foundation, close to 40% people show one or more symptoms of hypersomnia off and on.

Hypersomnia or hypersomnolence: what is idiopathic hypersomnolence?

Idiopathic hypersomnolence is a kind of sleep disorder for which there is no trigger or apparent cause. It seriously jeopardizes the victim’s life as excessive daytime sleepiness prevents him or her to undertake any activity. Symptoms match that of narcolepsy but unlike narcolepsy, where the sleep attack can invade anytime, patients with idiopathic hypersomnolence usually have better control over their sleep episodes. Such patients do not have hallucinations or sleep paralysis.

This is normally a life-long condition (though 25% of patients recover from the condition) and the treatment involves the same kind of stimulants for the central nervous system as used for the treatment of narcolepsy including amphetamine, methamphetamine, methylphenidate and modafinil.

What is hypersomnia or hypersomnolence: when are these conditions likely to happen?

Excessive sleepiness can be seen when someone is recovering from a serious health condition like surgery or infection. Sleep apnea, head injury resulting in concussion, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome are other ailments that can also result in chronic sleepiness since these conditions do not allow restful sleep during the night resulting in excessive daytime sleepiness or excessive daytime somnolence. Some people take magnesium as a health supplement. This mineral is also known to cause too much sleep alongside depression that result in excessive sleeping.

At times hypersomnolence can be a temporary sleep disorder that gets cured by treating the underlying health condition.

Hypersomnia or hypersomnolence: how are they different from other sleep disorders?

There is a normal tendency for most people to confuse hypersomnia or hypersomnolence with other sleep disorders like insomnia, narcolepsy, etc, though there are some subtle differences amongst them. For example, insomnia usually leaves the sufferer exhausted due to sleeplessness which in turn may result in hypersomnolence. But then, narcolepsy and hypersomnia share similar symptoms in the sense that both conditions result in excessive daytime sleepiness, though narcolepsy is related to sleep involving dreams whereas hypersomnolence is related to non-REM sleep.

Hypersomnia or hypersomnolence: associated condition

There is yet another kind of hypersomnolence that is linked to excessive daytime somnolence but hardly reported. It is persistent daytime hypersomnolence.

Persistent daytime hypersomnolence is a highly prevalent and serious type of sleep disorder that has a high rate of morbidity and mortality attached to it. Strangely enough, this disorder is hardly reported and diagnosed. Lack of patient as well as clinician awareness is largely responsible for this. Even the rate of prevalence of persistent daytime hypersomnolence is not very well documented.

Characterized by difficulty in going to or remaining asleep, having restless sleep, snoring and symptoms of other already diagnosed sleep disorders, this sleep disorder can pave the way for several other health conditions including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and more.