You snooze, you lose

In this stressed, overworked life, we read a lot about the dangers of sleeping less or more serious conditions like insomnia. It’s easy, then, to forget about the effect oversleeping has on our bodies. Oversleeping further slows down the metabolism causing obesity. The slowing down of metabolism also increases tiredness and lethargy. The number of hours you need to sleep varies with age and activity. On an average, adults should sleep between seven to nine hours. You can extend your sleep for about half an hour more, but not more than that. The body starves for the whole night and metabolism is slowed down. Oversleeping further slows down the metabolism causing obesity. The slowing down of metabolism also increases tiredness and lethargy. This means the body takes that much longer to restart its system normally, and is not able to function properly. This can also affect heart function, ultimately increasing the risk of heart disease. Concentration levels tend to be abysmally low in ‘over sleepers’, as the metabolism cannot take off immediately, and the brain feels starved, making normal mental activity a herculean task. If you do not get up early, all your jobs are delayed or you have to do them in hurry, as you lose most of your time in sleep. Severe headaches are also common in over sleepers, due to abnormal functioning of serotonin and other neurotransmitters. Moreover, there is 50% greater risk of getting diabetes in people who sleep for more than nine hours, than people who sleep for seven hours per night. At the same time, the risk increases in people who sleep less than five hours per night. Another problem associated with prolonged sleeping habits is backache. Depression too, may worsen due to oversleeping. Insomnia and depression are related so are oversleeping and depression. Oversleeping is just a reflection of laziness and waste of time. It affects your performance, relationships, career, and makes you irresponsible and unsuccessful. So, remember have a good night, but don’t sleep too tight.