Rest vs. Oversleeping

Have you ever felt like your body was giving you a sign that it was time to take a break ? Have you given yourself a break? And in return did you possibly give in maybe a little to much to that break?..Well I have done some research and I hope that maybe this can give you some answers as it did for me.

The past 2 months I have been in a weird funk that I just couldn’t get out of. And I FINALLY think I have figured out some answers why. Recently I started working night shift . I work 4, 12hr shifts from 5pm to 530am. (Not counting any overtime I pick up) As you can imagine that can mess up your sleep cycle as it is . However I thought I had it under control . Until I started realizing that I was getting headaches more frequently , I have been suffering from severe back pain, diet has been inconsistent and my moods are out of control ... most of the time just feeling down and unmotivated .

I really starting questioning and thinking what could this possibly be. Thinking maybe I’m getting sick , maybe this is just a weird time in my life. While thinking these things I started analyzing my habits . Such as the nights I would work back to back I would maybe get 5 hours of sleep each day . And then on my days off I would spend my whole first day sleeping the entire day to recover and slowly taper back to somewhat regular routine until I went back to work days later . I thought to myself this can’t be healthy.

After doing some digging I have found that oversleeping has many many side effects . (Many of which I am suffering from)  When we are oversleeping or under sleeping it messes with our circadian rhythm, that meaning our 24 hour cycle that is driven by our biological clock is now out of whack and results in physical mental and behavioral changes, similar to a “jet lag”.  Another very common side effect from oversleeping is our body not producing as much serotonin which in return can lead to episodes of depression.  It’s very easy to fall into a rut when mentally you can’t get out . In my case I kept telling myself that my body “needed the rest” that it was ok for me to sleep an entire day. When in reality it was only making matters worse.  Moral of the story ... give your body a rest but don’t take advantage of the rest or make reasons to justify it. It will only lead to more symptoms. Keep on a consistent track and depending on your daily activity and age you should keep your sleep to 6 to 9 hours.