I Am 48 Years Old. Feeling Sleepy. What Is Causing This Feeling?

Posted on Tue, 31 Jul 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 Answered on

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : I am a 48 yr old woman, lately I find that I am quite sleepy and its very unusual

Answered by Dr. Hema Yadav (4 hours later)

Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
Excessive sleepiness can be a sign of an underlying health problem like thyroid disorder , stress & depression, sleep apnoea, or a peri menopausal symptom.
The best way to confirm the diagnosis would be to get yourself evaluated by your doctor. The doctor after a thorough clinical history and examination can determine the cause and start appropriate treatment . Sometimes sleepiness can be a sideffect of any medications taken by you . Kindly mention if you have any related medical problems or ongoing treatment .
As a average an healthy adult can sleep about 6- 9 hours sometimes extending to 12 hours in rare cases .more important is the quality of sleep which should be restorative , a fragmented or irregular sleep schedule can cause excessive daytime sleepiness and fatigue.
If there is no problems in sleeping or feeling refreshed after sleep , then a medical problem like hypothyroidism should be tested for by a simple blood test ( free t3, t4, Tsh) .
Hope I have answered your query .
I'll be available for any follow up queries.
Kindly accept my answer if you have no further queries.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar