DAYTIME SLEEPINESS

Daytime Sleepiness 2017-04-30T03:17:16+00:00

Are you sleepy during the day?

This Disorder is called Excessive daytime sleepiness, it affects 5 to 10% of world population.

If you feel tired after sleeping 8 hours, you could have this disorder. This can be dangerous if you fall asleep in places like the movie theater, church or other non appropriate places.

Let’s divide the causes of the problem:

  • Insufficient sleep: This is the most frequent one, specially in people with two jobs or several other tasks and just get around 4 to 6 hours of sleep, this is not enough for an adequate rest, during the day they excessively feel sleepy or tired. This just needs an adjustment in sleeping habits to feel rested.
  • Excessive urge to sleep: These patients have narcolepsy, excessive idiopathic sleepiness, etc., that require a complete study, since they are frequently diagnosed with disorders like depression and get medicines without any progress. This is the least probable cause but the most difficult one to diagnose, but once detected, improvements will follow with the appropriate medicine.
  • Fragmented sleep: Here lies all the disorders that prevent us from sleeping like Sleep Apnea, Restless Leg Syndrome. It is common for people that snore, but also have sleep apnea (they stop breathing for 10 seconds or more). In these cases studies are needed in sleep disorder clinics to identify the cause with the appropriate equipment.

There are different ways to measure sleepiness, the most simple one is to apply  a questionnaire, the most popular one being EPWORTH, where the patient is asked to give an answer on the possibility to fall asleep under different situations. Please answer the next questionnaire.

0 No probability; 1 Some Probability; 2 Moderate Probability; High Probability

Situation  –  Answer
Reading while sitting _______
Watching Television _______
Sitting in a public space _______
As a passenger in a car for more than an hour _______
Resting in bed in the afternoon _______
Talking while sitting _______
Sitting after a meal without alcoholic drink consumption _______
While driving and stuck in traffic _______

A value of 9 or more is considered excessive sleepiness and requires medical attention.

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