1. Community
  2. Symptoms
  3. Sleep Problems

Falling asleep in daytime, anyone experienced or can advise?

Posted , 4 users are following.

DanUK
DanUK

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this. I have had a thing before where when I'm doing something boring or relaxing, usually reading, at work or a book, I'll get an irresistible urge to close my eyes and sleep. By irresistible I mean I can try to resist it, but the longer I do the harder it gets until I can't anymore and just close my eyes for a second. If I'm sitting at work say I will then jerk awake, I assume after only a few seconds as no-one around me seems to notice. When I awake, in my mind anyway, I have still kept working, usually solving something I was working on! And I can remember keeping working, but when I jolt awake and look down at my screen, the (awesome) stuff I just wrote isn't there, just a line of gobbledygook, I realise quickly what happened as I remember jerking awake, and see what I've done doesn't match my memory. This is something that hasn't happened for a few months, but did actually happen in the morning the other day. The reason it is troubling me so much now is that later in that same day I didn't do something I was meant to, but I can vividly remember doing it. So now I'm wondering if this is the cause of my false memory, but if that is the case I'm rather scared by it as that means I had the sleep thing happen without me noticing, which obviously raises the question of if this has happened before rolleyes Does anyone have any experience of anything like this?

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Zigangie
    Zigangie DanUK

    Posted

    Hi Dan,

    If you are not getting enough sleep at night you have what is called micro sleeps sometimes several in an hour.

    I can remember I used to keep doing that at work. I didn't have the problem of thinking I had done something that I hadn't. But my job was very boring inspection work, sat down in front of a huge magnifying glass.

    • DanUK
      DanUK Zigangie

      Posted

      It can be that I'll struggle with it happening repeatedly over a period, then after a while of it happening will be OK again. The memories thing Is like I slipped straight into dreaming very vividly and clearly.
  • lily65668
    lily65668 DanUK

    Posted

    Hi Dan,

    Yes - I'm afraid I've had this all my life. My father had it too, it seemed to run in his family. As I told another poster in the sleep forum just recently, my dad even fell asleep twice while riding his bike! It's sometimes referred to medically as hypersomnia. I also get that false memory thing these days, but didn't have it as much when I was younger. I've always had the opposite problem too - not remembering things I've actually done. This was a problem when I was working as I kept thinking I'd lost documents, only to find that I'd actually filed them away in the correct place, but with no memory of having done it!

    When I was young (born in 1944) doctors weren't remotely interested in this kind of thing. However, it might be worth discussing it with your GP, as sleep medicine has moved on a lot in the past 50 years

  • gabby53
    gabby53 DanUK

    Posted

    Hi Dan, I would definitely suggest going to visit your GP.  It could also be a sign of Sleep Apnea and a sleep test might be arranged.

    It needs to be sorted and there is a great deal of help available in this field now.

    Good luck to you.

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.