Drowsiness

Reason of feeling inactive

By the time you have reached the state of drowsiness, your body is already fighting sleep. Sleep onset is not far off and it’s likely you will not remember the exact moment you nodded off to sleep.

When you are drowsy, you require sleep. In fact, as you likely know, you cannot fight sleep forever, nor can you force yourself to stay awake when your body is ready to sleep.

Drowsiness can interfere with normal day-to-day activities affecting your concentration, reaction time, productivity and most seriously, your safety.

Drowsiness refers to feeling sleepy or tired, or being unable to keep your eyes open. Drowsiness, also called excess sleepiness, can be accompanied by lethargy, weakness, and lack of mental agility. While most people feel drowsy at some point or another, persistent sleepiness or fatigue, especially at inappropriate times, can indicate a sleep disorder or other medical problem.Most often, drowsiness becomes a problem because it interferes with normal daytime activities.

Through drowsiness, your body is telling you that you need to rest. By drinking a caffeinated drink, you are telling it to go to hell.

Causes

A variety of things may cause drowsiness. These can range from mental states and lifestyle choices to serious medical conditions.

• Lifestyle choices

Certain lifestyle choices may lead to increased drowsiness, such as working very long hours or switching to a night shift.

• Mental state

Depression can greatly increase drowsiness, as can high levels of stress or anxiety..

• Medical conditions

Some medical conditions can cause drowsiness. One of the most common of these is diabetes. Other conditions that may lead to drowsiness include those that cause chronic pain or affect your metabolism or mental state, such as hypothyroidism or hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is when the level of sodium in your blood is too low.

• Medications

Many medications, particularly antihistamines, tranquilizers, and sleeping pills, list drowsiness as a possible side effect.

• Sleeping disorder

Excessive drowsiness without a known cause can be a sign of a sleeping disorder. There’s a range of sleeping disorders, and each has its own unique effects.

Prevention

A regular amount of sleep each night can often prevent drowsiness. Most adults require about eight hours of sleep to feel fully refreshed. Some people may need more, especially those with medical conditions or a particularly active lifestyle.

Talk to your doctor as soon as possible if you experience any changes in your mood, signs of depression, or uncontrollable feelings of stress and anxiety.

Symptoms

• Routinely taking more than 30 minutes to fall asleep
• Regularly waking up many times and having trouble falling asleep again
• Frequent sleepiness during the day, frequent naps, or falling asleep unintentionally or at inappropriate times during the day
• Loud snoring, gasping, snorting, choking sounds or stopping breathing for short periods during sleep – problems that are usually reported by your spouse or partner
• Creeping, tingling or crawling feelings in your legs or arms, especially as you’re falling asleep
• Legs or arms jerk often during sleep, often reported by your spouse or partner
• Waking up with headaches
• Vivid, dream-like experiences while falling asleep or dozing
• Unusual behaviors during sleep, such as sleepwalking
• Episodes of sudden muscle weakness when you’re angry, fearful or laughing
• Feeling unable to move your body when you first wake up

Treatment

If you are taking a medication that causes drowsiness, your doctor may suggest trying another drug instead. He or she may also suggest certain lifestyle modifications, such as going to bed earlier to try to get more sleep at night, and eliminating alcohol and caffeine consumption.

Your doctor can also prescribe various drugs to treat hypersomnia. These may include:

• Stimulants, such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) modafinil (Provigil)
• Antidepressants, such as fluoxetine (Prozac), citalopram (Celexa), paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft)
• Sodium oxybate (Xyrem) is used to treat excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy

Natural way to treat Drowsiness

• Commit to a Regular Sleep Schedule

setting a proper sleeping schedule is one of the best ways to prevent daytime drowsiness. Proper sleep will even help fight low energy, fatigue, depression and stress.

• Begin Your Day with Sunlight

Expose yourself to some sunlight every day. This will help keep you alert and energetic throughout the day and fight daytime sleepiness.

• Splash Cold Water on your Face

Whenever you feel drowsy, splash some cold water on your face. The sudden change in temperature helps dispel that sleepy feeling and improve your energy level as well as mental focus.

• Drink Green Tea after Waking Up

Green tea gives you a boost of energy and stamina that last for hours and prevent drowsiness. It is even effective at fighting fatigue and stress while improving mental focus. In addition, the polyphenols in it help promote better sleep.

• Drink Lemon Water

Drinking lemon water in the morning is another excellent way to get rid of daytime sleepiness. It helps keep the body hydrated and flush out harmful toxins.

• Eat a Healthy Breakfast and Snacks

To prevent daytime drowsiness, never skip breakfast. Eating a healthy yet light breakfast will keep you active in the morning and more productive in your daily activities.

• Exercise Daily

Regular exercise of 30 minutes, 5 times a week, can greatly help improve your alertness and energy and fight daytime sleepiness. It also improves your sleep quality at night. Outdoor exercise provides the most benefits.

• Enjoy Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy can help reduce daytime drowsiness as well as irritability, low energy, fatigue and headaches. Some of the best essential oils for aromatherapy include rosemary, basil and peppermint.

• Eat Foods Rich in Omega-3

In addition, omega-3 fatty acids help boost your immunity and keep you mentally alert throughout the day.

Stay Away from Foods that Cause Drowsiness

Along with eating healthy, you need to be aware of the foods that cause more drowsiness and cut them out of your diet.

• Avoid pastries, pastas, potatoes, and white rice during the day as they make you sleepier.
• Avoid caffeinated beverages in the morning. Though caffeine does help with that feeling of alertness, it is just a temporary stimulant and can make you drowsier later during the day.
• Do not drink alcohol during the day, as it tends to make people sleepy.
• Avoid processed and smoked meat.
• Avoid breakfast foods with added sugars, such as high-fructose corn syrup and table sugar.

Dr. Shivani Bhardwaj