Other names: Sleepiness - during the day
Drowsiness is the term used to describe feeling excessively sleepy or tired during the day.
What Causes Drowsiness?
Drowsiness may be caused by a wide variety of medical conditions, medications, and lifestyle choices. Generally, anything that disturbs night-time sleep can lead to daytime drowsiness.
Some common causes of drowsiness include:
- Insufficient sleep at night (going to bed too late or waking up too early)
- Changes to your sleep schedule (such as flying across several time zones)
- Sleep disorders (eg, narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, sleep apnea)
- Alcohol
- Blue light exposure
- Boredom
- Chronic pain
- Dietary reasons (eg, too much caffeine, eating too late at night)
- Head injury
- Hypothermia
- Medical conditions, such as asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, low thyroid levels, metabolic abnormalities
- Medications (such as sedating antihistamines, benzodiazepines, some pain relievers)
- Mental health disturbances, such as anxiety or depression
- Neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease
- Nicotine
- Stress or worry
- Using electronic devices at night.
What are the Symptoms of Drowsiness?
Common symptoms of drowsiness include:
- Daydreaming
- Difficulty focusing
- Disconnected thoughts
- Feeling abnormally sleepy during the day
- Frequent yawning
- Forgetfulness
- Falling asleep at inappropriate times
- Having to take naps throughout the day
- Heavy eyelids
- Inability to sleep at night
- Low motivation
- Missing exits or road signs when driving
- Trouble keeping your head up.
How is Drowsiness Diagnosed?
If you are experiencing persistent, unexplained, daytime drowsiness, see your doctor. Your doctor will ask you questions about how well you sleep and your sleep schedule and they may ask you to keep a diary of your day-to-day life and sleep for a few days to get a clearer idea of how often you fall asleep during the day.
Further tests may be conducted depending on whether the doctor thinks you may have an underlying medical condition. If the cause is psychological, they may refer you to a counselor or therapist, or if it is due to a medication, they may try to swap that medicine out for something else or reduce the dosage. Never stop medicine yourself without first talking to your doctor.
How is Drowsiness Treated?
Treatment depends on the cause and may include:
- Avoiding blue light and electronic screens for at least two hours before going to bed
- Exercising more during the day
- Improving your sleep schedule (such as always going to bed at a certain time and waking up at a certain time, even in the weekends)
- Listening to podcasts that help you to switch off
- Medication
- Meditation
- Psychotherapy
- Relaxation treatments
- Treatment of the underlying cause (if identified and treatable).
