Stimulants, such as amphetamine, methylphenidate, and modafinil, may be prescribed. Other drugs used to treat hypersomnia include clonidine, levodopa, bromocriptine, antidepressants, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Changes in behavior—for example avoiding night work and social activities that delay bed time—and diet may offer some relief. Patients should avoid alcohol and caffeine.
Tips for a Good Night's Sleep:
Set a schedule:
Go to bed at a set time each night and get up at the same time each morning
Disrupting this schedule may lead to insomnia. Sleeping in on weekends also makes it harder to wake up early on Monday morning because it resets your sleep cycles for a later awakening.
Exercise:
Try to exercise 20 to 30 minutes a day. Daily exercise often helps people sleep, although a workout soon before bedtime may interfere with sleep. For maximum benefit, try to get your exercise about five to six hours before going to bed.
Avoid caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol:
Avoid drinks that contain caffeine, which acts as a stimulant. Sources of caffeine include coffee, chocolate, soft drinks, nonherbal teas, diet drugs and some pain relievers. Smokers tend to sleep very lightly and often wake up in the early morning due to nicotine withdrawal. Alcohol robs people of deep and REM sleep and keeps them in the lighter stages of sleep.
Relax before bed:
A warm bath, reading or another relaxing routine can make it easier to fall sleep. You can train yourself to associate certain restful activities, such as relaxation techniques, with sleep and make them part of your bedtime ritual.
Sleep until sunlight:
If possible, wake up with the sun, or use very bright lights in the morning. Sunlight helps the body's internal biological clock reset itself each day. Sleep experts recommend exposure to an hour of morning sunlight for people having problems falling asleep.
Don't lie in bed awake:
If you can't get to sleep, don't just lie in bed. Do something else, like reading, watching television or listening to music, until you feel tired. The anxiety of being unable to fall asleep can actually contribute to insomnia.
Control your bedroom enviroment:
- Use comfortabe bedding
- Block out distracting noise
- Reserve bed for sleep and sex
- Maintain a comfortable bedroom temperature. Extreme temperatures may disrupt or prevent sleep.
See a doctor if your sleeping problem continues:
If you have trouble falling asleep night after night, or if you always feel tired the next day, then you may have a sleep disorder and should see a physician. Your primary care physician may be able to help you; if not, you can probably find a sleep specialist at a major hospital near you. Most sleep disorders can be treated effectively.
Sleep research is expanding and attracting more and more attention from scientists. Researchers now know that sleep greatly influences our waking hours, and they realize that we must understand sleep to fully understand the brain. Innovative techniques, such as brain imaging, can now help researchers understand how different brain regions function during sleep and how various activities and disorders affect sleep. Understanding the factors that affect sleep may lead to revolutionary new therapies for sleep disorders and to ways of overcoming jet lag and the problems associated with shift work.
Hypersomnia. Last reviewed 11/21/2009
DSM-IV TR (2000).
Textbook of Clinical Neurology. 3rd ed.
University of Maryland Medical Pages
