Why Do You Feel Odd When You Oversleep?

Do you ever feel odd when you oversleep? I usually never set an alarm before going to bed, and sleep as long as I wish to. And the inevitable happened last week. I overslept! I hadn’t slept well the day before, and wanted to compensate for it. So, I forced myself to sleep longer, even though my body told me that I’d had enough sleep. I got up, and realized that I was feeling odd; actually, I felt almost sick. I was groggy, my eyes were puffy, and I couldn’t concentrate on my usual morning activities. As the day went on, I steadily got better, and eventually, was back to my normal self. But still, the question kept lingering in my mind. Why do we actually feel odd when we oversleep? I started doing some digging around in order to answer this question, and thus, we have arrived at this blog post. If you are as curious as I am, read on.

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The Fast

The first thing to note about this phenomenon is the general fasting process that the body undergoes as we sleep. A typical human being might get 6-8 hours of sleep every 24 hours. And during these 6-8 hours, the body has not had any energy intake. Furthermore, the body has been operating on a lowered metabolic state.

Blood Sugar

The second thing to note is the body’s blood sugar level. Although the body has been operating on a lowered metabolic state, the brain is typically very active during sleep. And the brain is a high energy consuming part of our body.  Add in the rest of the bodily basic functions, and what happens is that the blood sugar level tends to go down during sleep. In the below graph, you can see where blood sugar levels tend to be during the course of a typical day.

The Shock

On days on which we oversleep, the blood sugar levels drop rapidly, leading to a relative hypoglycemic state. In cruder terms, the body loses blood sugar faster than normal. This in turn combined with the fact that the body has been operating under low oxygen levels overnight thrusts it into a mild state of shock. This shock causes the body’s metabolism to slow down, with difficulties in jumping up into action as we try to do our morning tasks. This state persists until fast fuel (sugar-rich food) is available. And that pretty much explains why I felt odd / mildly sick the other day. While experiencing such a state regularly could lead to health issues, oversleeping now and then is not a big deal in my opinion. The typical human body is robust enough to handle such loads.

Disclaimer

While I’ve done my best to dig into this phenomenon, and have presented the information to the best of my knowledge, I must acknowledge that I am by no means an expert in this field! So, everything you read here is for informational purposes only (the sort of information to quench your curiosity). I’d discourage any action or inaction you might be considering based on the information presented here. For such purposes, please consult an actual expert.

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Further reading that might interest you: Your Health is Your Biggest Investment and 5 Underrated Immunity Boosters.