Last updated on January 25th, 2023 at 03:42 pm
Although it’s quite obviously an essential part of our health, you may be surprised to learn that you can get headaches from sleeping too much…
If you oversleep, then you could wake up with a dull and throbbing pain in your head that you have no explanation for. Why is this? One of the reasons that can contribute towards getting a headache is oversleeping. The amount of sleep that a person needs to get depends on several factors.
These include:
- The age of the person
- How often they exercise
- How healthy they are
- What their mental state was like through the day
These factors can change through the life of a person. However, according to experts, between seven to nine hours of sleep a night is ideal for people.
But what do you do when you get a headache from oversleeping?
How To Get Rid Of A Headache From Oversleeping
You may be wondering about oversleeping and headaches. If you wake up with a headache from oversleeping, there are some things you can do to take care of the situation.
These include:
- You can take medication to reduce your headache
- You can reduce muscle tension by stretching the muscles in your head, as well as your neck
- You should try to rehydrate yourself by drinking a lot of water
- You can drink herbal tea, such as ginger tea or chamomile tea
- You can make use of a cold compress or a hot compress, in order to stimulate the flow of blood in your body and relax muscles that are tense
- Aromatherapy can also help, especially lavender and eucalyptus essential oils
- Another way you could relax your muscles while reducing your headache is with the help of breathing exercises
- You can also think about simply lying on your bed, without going back to sleep
These were just some of the things you could do to nurse a headache from oversleeping.
How To Recover From Sleeping Too Much
When you sleep too much, there are several things that can happen in your body. One of this has to do with the neurotransmitter known as serotonin.
Serotonin is responsible for maintaining the circadian rhythm of the body. It also helps maintain the body’s natural sleeping pattern and helps you feel refreshed.
The process involved in this is called a neural pathway. Should you oversleep, this pathway gets interrupted.
When you sleep after serotonin has let your receptors know that it’s time to wake up, this means that you won’t be able to rest more.
If you sleep too much, then there are some things you can do to try to recover. One of these things is drinking water.
You can also try to use breathing exercises, as well as stretch out your muscles in order to feel better. Eating nutritious foods can also help up better deal with your headache from oversleeping.
Can You Get A Headache From Sleeping Too Little?
There is a clear link that exists between sleeping too little, as well as tension headaches. A study was published in 2011 by the Missouri State University.
This study suggested that there was a link between getting headaches and a lack of REM sleep. Scientists believe that this REM sleep is important when it comes to storing memories, regulating mood, as well as learning.
When you don’t sleep enough, there are proteins that are created in the brain, that that cause chronic pain. These proteins can reduce the threshold for pain that the body has, and spark headaches that are intense.
It has also been seen that sleeping less can reduce the threshold for pain that the body has. A study was done in 2015 regarding the link between pain as well as sleep.
This study revealed that those who slept less, had a pain threshold that was lower. What this means is that if you should sleep less, then you’re likely to be more sensitive to pain in your body.
And sleeping less or not having enough REM sleep, can in fact, cause headaches.
Why Am I Sleeping Too Much All Of A Sudden?
If you’re an adult, then you will need between seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Oversleeping is also referred to as hypersomnia.
If you have hypersomnia, then you may find yourself sleeping more, upto fifteen hours in a day. You could also wake up in the middle of the night more often.
People who oversleep may not remember waking up at night. However, all this waking up is preventing you from enjoying deep sleep, which is essential for the body.
So what are the reasons behind why you could be oversleeping?
- You could be experiencing thyroid issues
- There could be a heart disease that you might need to address
- You could be suffering from sleep apnea
- You could be dealing with depression
- You could have narcolepsy
- There are certain medications that could cause you to oversleep as well
Can Sleeping With A Headache Kill You?
A headache can feel severe, but they are rarely life threatening. They also don’t tend to cause brain damage that is long term.
Should you get a migraine that comes with an aura, then this increases your risk related to migraine infarction. This is essentially a kind of ischemic stroke which occurs during migraines.
There are also risks associated with cardiovascular events as well. This is why if your headache is accompanied by any symptoms that are unusual, you should see a doctor.
Generally, sleeping with a headache will not kill you. However, depending on the severity of the headache and how chronic it is, medical intervention might be necessary.
Sleeping Too Much Causes
You could have questions about getting headaches from oversleeping. But what can cause headaches from oversleeping?
- You could have a sleep disorder than affects how long you sleep
- You could be dealing with anxiety, and sleeping more as a result
- You could suffer from hypersomnia, which refers to sleeping in chronically
- You could have taken alcohol and need to sleep it off
- You could be skipping meals, which is why your body needs to compensate for that through oversleeping
What Are Too Much Sleep Symptoms?
You may want to know if getting too much sleep can affect you negatively. The answer is, not always.
But what are the symptoms associated with oversleeping?
- You could get headaches from sleeping too much
- You could experience difficulty when it comes to concentrating
- Your inflammations could increase
- You could suffer from issues related to your memory
- Your eyes and your face could be puffy as well as strained
- You could experience anxiety
- You could also experience depression
FAQ Relating To Headaches From Sleeping Too Much
Lots of people have questions about headaches and sleeping. Here are the most frequently asked questions that people have, when it comes to oversleeping and headaches.
How Do You Get Rid Of A Headache From Sleeping Too Much?
If you’ve got a headache from sleeping too much, then there are several things that you can do in order to take care of it.
- You could drink ample amounts of water to rehydrate yourself
- You could use breathing exercises
- Stretch the muscles in your body in order to relieve any tension in your muscles
- You could also take medication for headaches
What Are The Side Effects Of Oversleeping?
If you oversleep, then one of the most common experiences you could get, is a throbbing headache. Other than this, as a result of oversleeping, you could also experience muscle tension as well.
Inflammation is seen to be another side effect advocated with sleeping too much. Your brain could feel numb and foggy, and you could also have difficulty with concentrating properly.
Oversleeping can also actually leave you feeling even more tired. When you sleep, it’s only during the REM stage that the body can properly rest.
Just because you’re sleeping more, that doesn’t mean that your REM stage also expands. This is why you could end up feeling more tired when you wake up after oversleeping.
How Many Hours Is Oversleeping?
How much sleep you need to get can vary depending on your age, among many other factors. But for healthy adults, the amount of sleep necessary is between seven to nine hours each night.
If you sleep more than ten hours every night on a regular basis, then you’re oversleeping. But how many hours you’re oversleeping by can also have an effect on your body.
Sleeping more than twelve to fifteen hours on a daily basis can have a worse effect on the body.
Why Am I Sleeping 12 Hours A Day And Still Tired?
It’s during the REM stage of sleep that the body properly relaxes. This happens during a specific stage since the time you went to sleep.
If you oversleep, this doesn’t mean that your REM stage of sleeping, or deep state of sleeping, also expands. This is why even if you sleep more, that isn’t the same as your body resting more.
So you could end up sleeping over twelve hours in a night and still wind up feeling tired. For most adults, sleeping between seven to nine hours every night is sufficient.
During this time, the body goes through the REM stage, and rests while doing it. But if you oversleep, your REM state of resting will not increase.
This is why you could feel tired even if you’ve overslept.
