Oversleeping is a problem that is commonly experienced by most of us when working from home. Working in the comfort of our home often means we can easily fall asleep on the couch or in bed. It may not be a big problem initially, but when it happens more frequently, it can cause many complications. Studies show that it will cause your professional life to suffer due to low productivity. Your personal life is also bound to experience some unforeseen complications if the issue of oversleeping persists. This problem has led many people to seek answers to the question, “How to Stop Oversleeping Working from Home?”
Numerous solutions have been shared regarding how to ‘combat’ this problem. Some tips may work much more effectively than others.
The habit of creating a few extra minutes of sleep for yourself is what will gradually escalate into full-blown oversleeping. Minimizing the need to get extra hours of sleep during the weekend is also an excellent way to battle oversleeping.
Oversleeping may seem like the perfect way to recharge after a long night. But it can be problematic if you can’t get sleep because of some sleep problem or bad sleep quality. It can cause a more severe health problem. For one thing, oversleeping can make you groggy and disoriented, negatively affecting your productivity throughout the day. In addition, oversleeping can lead to excessive sleepiness, which in turn causes headaches, muscle pain, and feelings of depression and anxiety. So if you regularly sleep for more than eight hours a night, it might be time to cut back on your sleep pattern. Otherwise, you could feel excessive daytime sleepiness and be more tired than ever.
Oversleeping may be more prevalent in some people compared to others. A lot of different factors cause it. Some people have long believed that oversleeping is a sign of laziness. This reason is not entirely true. Some cases of oversleeping have even been attributed to a sleep disorder and other medical conditions. These medical conditions include depression and sleep apnea, which heavily contribute to oversleeping.
Our post will seek to explore ways to stop an oversleeping problem. We shall touch on some of the causes and effects of oversleeping.
Just What is Oversleeping?
Oversleeping just refers to sleeping significantly longer than 7-9 hours. It happens when you struggle to wake up, either naturally or even with your alarm clock, almost every day.
Interestingly, most people don’t plan to sleep longer than they intended. Still, they find themselves waking up at a much later time than they had planned.
How much sleep do I need?
The answer varies from person to person, but there are some general guidelines.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours of sleep a night.
If you’re not getting enough sleep, your body will start to shut down. Lack of sleep can lead to an increased risk of weight gain, depression, and even death. It’s important to get the amount of rem sleep you need every night.
The amount of sleep you need depends on your age.
The amount of quality sleep you need also depends on your age, activity level, and the time of day you go to sleep. For example, most adults need eight or seven hours of sleep a night, but that number can vary from person to person. It also depends on what time of day you go to bed. A good rule of thumb is if you feel sleepy or exhausted throughout the day, it’s time to analyze your sleeping habits and hours.
What Causes Oversleeping?
In order to answer the question “how to stop oversleeping,” we need to define what t really means.
Oversleeping has been widely attributed to several factors. Oversleeping can result from a situation where you get too much or too little sleep. That results from sleep deprivation or a lack of deep sleep. Not having a solid night’s rest can make you wake up tired and is one root cause of oversleeping.
Some causes of oversleeping are serious underlying medical conditions and disorders.
Persistent oversleeping may indicate that you suffer from heart disease and even mental issues such as depression. Therefore, people are advised to seek a physician’s attention if they find that they are experiencing persistent oversleeping. You should not ignore the condition of oversleeping. Many people tend to brush aside any thoughts that this issue may be serious.
They tend to assume that oversleeping may just be a case of being exhausted from the previous day’s activities or a sign that they have become lazy. Seek medical attention instead of self-diagnosis.
10 Essential Tips On How to stop oversleeping
Here are some ways you can stop oversleeping, get a night of quality sleep, and get control back.
1. Try Waking Up Naturally More Often
Oversleeping can be effectively solved if you can train yourself to wake up independently without relying on your alarm. How often have you seen cases where someone sets the alarm but does not even hear it ring? You can avoid this by resisting the use of alarm clocks altogether.
Start by creating a schedule where you sleep at a specific time and decide on waking up time. Follow them consistently. Once you have a scheduled sleeping and waking-up rhythm in your body, you will wake up naturally more often.
2. Stop Hitting that Snooze Button
An alarm clock is a tool of choice for many people. Most people have become very reliant on it. Therefore, those who cannot totally do away with it are advised to exercise some self-discipline. Whenever it goes off, do not hit that snooze button. Never postpone the time that you have set to wake up. Be disciplined and wake up immediately when the alarm rings.
You can put it on a cabinet or table that is at your bedside. I’m pretty sure that, just like me, the last thing you want to hear so early in the morning is a blaring alarm. With discipline, you will be forced to heed the alarm and wake up from your slumber, and oversleeping will soon be a thing of the past.
3. Do Not Over Sleep Over the Weekends
With the busyness during the weekdays, the weekends are perceived to be reasonable times to relax. By relaxing, what people have in mind is to sleep for many more hours than they usually do.
Oversleeping on the weekends is one of the most popular bad habits people can engage in. What they don’t know is that this habit interrupts your sleeping pattern.
It prevents you from nurturing the ability to wake up early and on set times, even during the weekends. However, by deliberately choosing not to sleep during the weekend, people can train their bodies and minds to wake up naturally and easily every day.
4. Create a Morning Routine
Just like you can create a routine that will allow you to sleep without any difficulties, come up with one for your mornings as well. A good routine simply entails setting a specific time in the morning when you can engage in an activity of your choice. For example, create an exercise that involves waking up every day at six in the morning to work out.
By doing this, you will subconsciously communicate to your body and your brain that you must be up at six in the morning daily. Granted, the first few days will not be easy to do. However, after a short while, you will be able to get up and do your morning routine easier.
You may find that you do not even need to wake up with the assistance of an alarm clock. Oversleeping may gradually start to fade away.
5. Create an Ideal Sleeping Environment
An ideal sleeping environment is that which is super conducive to sleep. Your bedroom should be free from any factors that may cause you not to sleep well. Several factors may not allow you to have enough peaceful sleep.
Tone down on the loud music from your stereo. If you are serious about solving the problem of oversleeping, do not go to bed with the music playing. Switch off all the lights as well. These may distract you from falling asleep. Putting your smartphones, tablets, and laptops away is advisable if you are serious about developing a good sleeping routine.
6. Avoiding Blue Light Just Before Going to Bed
You may wonder what this “blue light” really means. Blue light simply refers to the light emitted by the screens of electronic devices. Research has shown that these screens can cause increasing delays of a sleep-inducing chemical known as melatonin. In the absence of this chemical, sleeping becomes a really tough task.
This is because instead of our bodies shutting down and going into sleep mode when the natural light diminishes, we tend to become more alert because of the effect of blue light. However, in these days of digital devices, this may be very hard to do. A more practical option would be to reduce the time you use your devices when bedtime approaches. Avoiding blue light will help you in your efforts to prevent oversleeping.
7. Avoid Stimulants Just Before You To Go To Bed
Stimulants are a broad term that encompasses everything that can make you stay alert for long periods. These can make you stay up all night. However, people have often misconstrued the meaning of “stimulant.” It does not only mean something that can be ingested.
Yes, coffee and other mild drugs may be widely recognized as the perfect examples of stimulants. However, other things such as video games may also be considered stimulants. This is because they may keep you awake without feeling sleepy or needing sleep.
Therefore, avoiding these will be one of the best tricks for minimizing the chances that you will oversleep.
8. Try To Never Take a Nap
Many surveys done on many people have often supported the claim that taking naps during the day may make you feel more tired or fatigued. These little naps are what accumulate over time and result in a serious case of oversleeping. Once this habit takes control of you, you are in for some serious trouble.
So, avoid sleeping during the day and find an activity you can engage in whenever you feel like you want to nap. Oversleeping takes away much-needed time that you would have otherwise directed into your work.
9. Create A Sleeping Routine
Come up with a soothing and relaxing routine you engage in before going to bed.
It has been recommended that to fight off the problem of oversleeping, you must be able to sleep without many complications. Create and do activities that give you the peace of mind to easily fall asleep. Each person may do one activity better for them than another chosen by another person.
One person may prefer to take a cold shower before hopping into bed. Another person may find a hot shower more suitable. A particular individual may find that soft music creates a conducive atmosphere to fall asleep. Another person may find that going out to get some fresh air and experience a cool breeze before bed makes them sleep like a baby!
The key here is to find what works for you and make it a habit.
Every night, before you go to your bedroom, engage in your preferred choice of activity. Over time, this will enable you to sleep without any struggles; consequently, waking up will not be a struggle either.
10. Keep A Sleep Schedule
The National Sleep Foundation reports that people who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to have trouble concentrating, be irritable, have a hard time making decisions, and tend to oversleep in the end. And when you don’t get enough sleep, your body doesn’t have the opportunity to “recharge” and restore itself.
A good sleep schedule will help you feel more rested and energized, and it could even help you lose weight. We’ll walk you through how to create a sleep schedule and what to do if you struggle to get enough sleep.
Set your bedtime.
Your bedtime should be around the same time every night. Setting a bedtime will help your body know when to start winding down for sleep. Try to go to bed at the same time each night.
Set your wake-up time.
If you have a hard time going to sleep or staying asleep, try setting a wake-up time. This will help you get into a routine and keep your body on a schedule.
Give yourself plenty of time to get ready for bed.
If you’re having trouble falling asleep, try giving yourself plenty of time to prepare for bed. This includes turning off your computer and phone, reading a book, and taking a shower. You should also avoid eating or drinking anything after 8pm. If you can’t fall asleep, try to find something else to do until you feel tired enough to go to bed.
Effects of Oversleeping
While many people perceive oversleeping to be a light issue, this can result in some serious health complications. Oversleeping has been known to result in dangerous medical conditions such as obesity and heart complications. Our bodies naturally need to interchange between being active and resting.
Oversleeping will not allow you to achieve this. Your body will often be inert, putting you at risk of developing these health disorders.
Final Thoughts On How To Stop Oversleeping
The problem of oversleeping is pervasive in many people today because many of us have refused to acknowledge it as a problem. Many people actually attribute this issue to plain laziness! However, oversleeping can be a vital sign that seems to communicate that you may have an underlying medical condition that you are unaware of.
If you are experiencing persistent spells of oversleeping, you should seek the opinion and assistance. Too much sleep and poor sleep quality will take away a lot of crucial time you would have used to get some more work done. This gets even worse in a case where you have to work from home. You will not be in a position to reach the productivity levels that you desire.
The tips we have highlighted here should help you develop good sleeping habits. A good sleeping habit will help you to sleep better and reduce the chances that you will suffer from persistent oversleeping. Working from home will therefore become much more productive and enjoyable.
