Dr Zac Turner explains why too much sleep can be bad for you

Too little sleep is linked to chronic disease and mental illness but there are also big dangers attached to getting too much sleep. `

Welcome to Ask Doctor Zac, a weekly column from news.com.au. This week Dr Zac delves into how too much sleep is bad for you.

Question:

Hi Dr Zac, my son recently gave up his career working in hospitality and has since scored himself an office job. He’s absolutely loving all the extra sleep time now that he doesn’t come home at 4am anymore.

When it comes to sleep, too much of a good thing can be problematic. Picture: iStock.

At the moment it seems like he is catching up on all the sleep he missed out on over the last four years while he worked as a bartender – I’d say he’s sleeping over 14 hours a day! I’m starting to worry that all this sleep is a bad thing, especially because he needs to start full-time work in two weeks.

I know not enough sleep is bad for us, but is there such a thing as too much sleep? – Natalie, Vic

Answer:

This is a fascinating question, and one that I think not too many people consider. We all are aware that skimping on sleep can be terribly bad for you. As I’ve said before, getting too little sleep is linked to a number of chronic diseases, mental illness and obesity.

There is another side to the coin to this, however, and it’s not commonly known that sleeping too much is also problematic to our health. If you find this all too confusing, you need to read the fairy tale of Goldilocks again. You need the amount of sleep that is just right, and this could be between six to eight hours and is dependent upon you!

Sleeping too much, which is often described as 10 hours or more, has been linked to heart disease, obesity, depression and headaches. Studies have shown that counting too many sheep raises the risk of chronic diseases in adults aged 45 and over.

The key thing is to start becoming aware of your sleep, what time you are going to bed, and what time waking up is best for you. For many of my patients, it’s the hours before midnight that make the biggest difference, rather than sleeping in later in the morning.

The golden amount of sleep is six to eight hours, says Dr Zac. Picture: iStock.

Prolonged sleep or increasing from your usual amounts can also be a sign of a more serious underlying health problem. Now I’m fairly certain your son is simply enjoying his new freedom to sleep in a regular pattern, however, if his oversleeping continues he must see a doctor to check on his health. After fourteen hours of sleep he should be bouncing off the walls and ready to run a marathon, he shouldn’t then be heading to the couch for a marathon Netflix session!

However, wanting to stay in bed is often an initial sign of some anxiety related reasons, and that starting the day seems all too much.

As I previously mentioned in my column, lack of sleep is linked to cognitive decline. One study has shown sleeping too little or too much might increase the risk of dementia. The fascinating research showed that compared with individuals without sleep disturbances, subjects who reported sleep disturbances had a higher risk of incident all-cause dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia.

The desire to sleep more could be indicative of an underlying mental health problem. Picture: iStock

If you really are worried about your son’s health, I recommend you keep a sleep diary for him. It’s a simple process which can help you and your doctor decode his health. It goes like this – every day when you wake up, record how long you slept, the time you hit the bed versus when you actually went to sleep, the amount of times you woke up, the quality of your sleep and how you feel waking up.

To garner this info, you will obviously need to quiz him at the start of each day. You’re a caring mum, so I’m sure he won’t mind volunteering this info.

My best piece of advice for maintaining a great sleeping pattern is to focus on your triangle of health. If you look after diet, exercise and sleep all at the same time, you will find a perfect synergy between them. These three factors all play a major part in your health, and if you maintain all sides to your triangle, you will feel amazing.

Dr Zac Turner has a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Sydney. He is both a medical practitioner and a co-owner of telehealth service, Concierge Doctors. He was also a registered nurse and is a qualified and experienced biomedical scientist along with being a PhD Candidate in Biomedical Engineering