Why Is Sleeping More Than 9 Hours A Day Not So Good?

Lack of sleep can not only decrease your health and work productivity, it can also lead to mood swings, skin problems, and daytime sleepiness.

But what about the other end of the spectrum: sleeping too much? Is it possible that sleeping too much can also have a negative impact on your health? In this article I will explain it.

Each person is different when it comes to the amount of sleep they need to feel rested. While seven to eight hours is the sweet spot, there may be people who sleep only six hours and may feel good, and others who need a full nine hours to get the same effect.

Sleeping excessively on the weekends is one thing, but when oversleeping becomes a habit, that’s where a problem can exist. Sleeping too much, as well as exaggerating in other things, such as eating too much sugar or exercising excessively, can be detrimental to health, as stated by Michael Grandner, PhD, MTR, CBSM, FAASM, Director of the Research Program Sleep and Health at the University of Arizona School of Medicine, Tucson and Casper’s sleep advisor.

What are the downsides of oversleeping?

Sleeping too much on a regular basis can have detrimental effects, says Cassie Majestic, MD, an emergency physician in Orange County, California. For one thing, women who regularly sleep 9–11 hours a night have been shown to have an increased risk of heart disease, although the cause of this is unfortunately unknown. Sleeping excessively has also been associated with depression and weight gain, so it can cause visible changes in your body.

Sleeping too much can also shorten people’s lifespan. Currently there is data showing that people who sleep excessively (more than 9 hours a day) have a shorter life expectancy, in addition to that people who sleep more also have a shorter life expectancy. The data on long sleep is even stronger than short sleep as it has shown that people who sleep a lot are more likely to have chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, fatigue and systemic inflammation.

If you find it difficult to get out of bed even after 9 hours of sleep, this could be a sign of an underlying medical condition, such as untreated sleep apnea, which can make sleep more shallow and consequently , of bad quality.

This can lead to a desire for more sleep because sleeping is not restful enough. It could also be a sign of depression, so you may feel exhausted and have difficulty getting out of bed. Grandner, advises that anyone who feels they need more than nine hours of sleep to feel rested should see a doctor to determine what might be happening.

People who sleep a lot and never feel rested might also consider doing a sleep study to get to the root of the problem. Some sleep disorders can exist without your knowledge, such as narcolepsy or idiopathic hypersomnia (a chronic neurological disorder marked by an insatiable need to sleep), and talking to your doctor can help you discover the existence of one of these disorders.