Managing excessive daytime sleepiness helps sufferers continue to live a normal life.
When Sleepiness Strikes You
The effects of daily life can leave you feeling less than energetic. Whether you haven’t been able to get to bed at a reasonable hour or you’ve been on your feet from morning to night, you might be wondering what you can do when you simply can not stay away. Whether you have the signs of EDS or not, excessive daytime sleepiness is not only a problem, but it is also a life altering event. When you can not keep your eyes open, you need to learn how to manage your life differently so that you can still enjoy it.
Tips to Managing Excessive Fatigue
Feeling sleepy can be dangerous to your health and to your safety. When you aren’t able to keep your eyes open when you are driving, for example, you will find that you are going to have problems with everyday tasks. Though there are some treatments available for the underlying causes of excessive daytime sleepiness, you still need to practice good self care in order to manage your tiredness.
- Create a sleep routine – Make sure that you are sleeping on a regular schedule. This will help your body learn when it is ‘right’ to sleep and when it is not.
- Avoid caffeine, TV, and other stimulating things before bed – This will help you to sleep more deeply when you are in bed.
- Consider brief naps – Taking a short nap in the afternoon will help to keep you alert without disrupting your evening sleep schedule.
- Get exercise – Exercise might seem to be exhausting, but regular activity actually helps you have more energy and to sleep deeply.
When you find that these self care steps are not able to manage your excessive daytime sleepiness, you might need to talk to your doctor about other EDS treatments.