Sleep plays a vital role in our health and wellbeing, including relieving headaches and migraines. However, too much sleep can have the opposite effect, causing headaches, rather than relieving them.
What Is Excessive Sleep?
Excessive sleep is when you sleep more than the average recommended hours. The amount of sleep you need will depend on several factors, such as your age, health, and daytime habits. Occasionally, you may need more sleep than usual, like when you travel, are unwell, or after a strenuous activity.
However, many experts recommend that adults should get between 7 to 9 hours of sleep, although some people may need an extra hour, while others may require less.
If you are regularly sleeping for more than 10 hours in 24 hours, it is considered oversleeping or long sleep.
Besides sleeping 11-13 hours every night, other symptoms of excessive sleep are:
- Grogginess on waking
- Back pain
- Headaches
- Difficulty maintaining a regular sleep schedule
Excessive sleep can be a symptom of several underlying health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, sleep disorders, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle factors also contribute to excessive sleep. For example, poor sleep hygiene can prevent good sleep at night, leading to excessive sleep. A sedentary lifestyle, with little or no exercise, can leave you feeling more tired and requiring extra sleep. Even taking certain medications or alcohol and drug use can disrupt regular sleep, resulting in oversleeping.
Frequent oversleeping may also indicate an underlying condition called hypersomnia, which is characterized by excessive sleepiness during the day and frequent daytime napping. Hypersomnia is also known to trigger headaches because of chronic oversleeping.
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The Connection Between Excessive Sleep and Headaches
Even though sleep feels good, getting too much sleep can increase the likelihood of headaches. The connection between excessive sleep and headaches involves several biological mechanisms:
Changes in brain chemistry
Several neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, regulate and maintain the sleep-wake cycle, enabling restful sleep and being alert when awake. These neurotransmitters are chemical messengers in our brain that transmit signals between nerve cells along a neural pathway, signaling our body when to sleep and when to wake up.
Sleeping excessively after the neurotransmitters have already prompted your brain to awaken disrupts neural pathways, resulting in irregular levels of specific neurotransmitters. These changes can trigger headaches, especially migraines, which have been linked to abnormal levels of serotonin.
Studies show that another neurotransmitter, adenosine, plays a role in both headaches and excess sleep. Adenosine levels increase during the day to promote sleepiness and rest at night. However, oversleeping disrupts the balance of adenosine in the brain. This contributes to grogginess and sleep inertia even after you wake up. Moreover, increased levels of adenosine have been linked to migraine attacks.
Disruption of the sleep-wake cycle
Our biological clock, known as the circadian rhythm, is the natural 24-hour cycle in our brain that regulates various psychological functions of the body, such as hormones, metabolism, digestion, and body temperature. It also regulates our daily schedules for sleep and wakefulness.
However, regular oversleeping can disrupt the natural sleep-wake cycle, leading to difficulties falling asleep at night and waking up later in the morning. Besides increasing the risk of insomnia, depression, and weight gain, the disruptive influence of oversleeping on the circadian rhythm can also trigger headaches associated with daytime sleepiness and fatigue. Oversleeping can also trigger more intense morning headaches, often experienced as “weekend headaches” or “holiday headaches”—when we sleep longer than usual.
Blood-sugar fluctuations
Our body maintains stable blood sugar levels in the initial hours of sleep. The liver releases glucose into the bloodstream through glycogenolysis, ensuring a steady supply for the brain and other vital organs.
In the early hours of the morning, blood sugar levels naturally rise. This is known as the “dawn phenomenon” where an increase in hormones like cortisol and growth hormone prompts the liver to release more glucose and provides the energy to wake up.
Thus, breakfast in the morning gives our body an alternative source of glucose, causing blood sugar levels to rise a bit more. Insulin released by the pancreas counteracts this rise, bringing blood sugar levels back into normal range.
But, when you sleep longer and neurotransmitters have already signaled to wake up, your body is in a state of nutrient deficiency. It needs food and nourishment to restore blood flow and other activities that have slowed down during the night. Prolonged sleep extends the fasting state, depleting glucose stores and leading to low blood sugar levels.
Since oversleeping often means you are skipping your meals, blood sugar levels drop further, resulting in headaches, especially migraines. In response to the low blood sugar, our bodies release stress hormones to stimulate glucose production. This further exacerbates headaches and anxiety.
Prolonged sleep also disrupts the normal pattern of hormones and increases the sensitivity of pain receptors in the lining of the brain, which can trigger painful headaches.
Excessive sleep can also cause dehydration as we go for longer periods without drinking water. Dehydration is known to trigger headaches, particularly migraines.
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Sleep apnea
Conditions like sleep apnea, particularly Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), which is characterized by breathing pauses or shallow breathing, can lead to excessive daytime sleepiness and oversleeping. This is because of the partial or complete obstruction of the upper airway during sleep.
People who oversleep may have underlying sleep apnea, which worsens with extended sleeping, increasing the incidence of shallow breathing and pauses. The reduced airflow causes low oxygen levels, leading people to wake up often to restore normal breathing. Morning headaches are commonly found in people with OSA because of the dilation of blood vessels from low oxygen, increased carbon dioxide in the bloodstream, and disturbed sleep.
Increased muscle tension
Oversleeping and staying in bed for extended periods leads to muscle tension and stiffness, especially around the neck and shoulders, which can cause tension headaches. Poor posture also puts a strain on breathing, resulting in inadequate ventilation and shallow breathing, contributing to headaches.
Besides, excessive sleep leaves little or no time for exercise or physical activity, which not only reduces blood flow to your brain and other parts of the body, but also exacerbates muscle tension, leads to poor posture, and can increase stress and anxiety—leading to the likelihood of headaches.
Managing Excess Sleep to Prevent Headaches
It is important to break the cycle of oversleeping and create good sleep habits to prevent headaches from excessive sleeping.
- Create a consistent sleep routine by sleeping and waking up at the same time each day. Set an alarm to wake up and don’t hit the snooze button.
- Avoid daytime naps or take short naps of 10-20 minutes.
- Create a sleep-friendly environment with optimized temperature and light levels. Make sure it is comfortable for good sleep.
- Reduce alcohol consumption and caffeine.
- Track your habits and routines with a sleep journal or use Oxa to monitor your sleep patterns and breathing. This helps manage your sleep and speeds up the sleep onset.
Key Takeaways
There are several reasons why excessive sleep can trigger headaches. But you can take charge of your sleep habits and make necessary changes to reduce the likelihood of morning headaches. However, if you are struggling with oversleeping, you should contact your doctor for a diagnosis.
FAQs
How do I get rid of a headache after sleeping too much?
Stretch your neck, back, and shoulders to relieve muscle tension, and drink water to hydrate. Take over-the-counter pain relief if needed. You can also use a cold compress on your forehead and temples to numb the pain. Practice gentle breathing or other relaxation techniques.
Is it ok to stay in bed all day once in a while?
Occasionally staying in bed all day to rest and recuperate is acceptable, especially if you are unwell or fatigued. Rest is important for your physical and mental wellbeing. However, if you find that you are staying in bed often and it interferes with your daily life and social interactions, then you must get assessed to understand any underlying conditions.
What are the health risks of oversleeping?
Excessive sleep is associated with several health risks such as the increased risk of depression, cognitive impairment, obesity, increased pain and inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
