Falling asleep within minutes of lying down may not be a sign of good rest but a warning of chronic sleep deprivation or a sleep disorder, experts say.
British newspaper The Mirror recently reported the assessment, citing Omar El-Gohary, superintendent pharmacist at online medical service provider IQ Doctor. El-Gohary said healthy adults typically take 10 to 20 minutes to fall asleep, and that anyone who drifts off within a few minutes every night should examine the quality of their sleep.
El-Gohary pointed to accumulated sleep loss as a reason for falling asleep too quickly. The larger the sleep debt, the greater the pressure to doze off, causing people to fall asleep immediately after getting into bed. Long working hours, late-night smartphone use, irregular sleep schedules and stress were cited as causes.
Obstructive sleep apnea was also singled out. When the airway narrows or closes during sleep and breathing repeatedly stops or becomes shallow, people wake frequently without realizing it and the quality of their sleep declines. That is why drowsiness and fatigue can persist during the day even after long hours in bed.
Still, a short time to fall asleep alone is not enough to diagnose a condition. How quickly someone falls asleep varies depending on how much sleep they had the night before and on individual differences. El-Gohary said occasionally falling asleep quickly after a busy day is usually not a problem.
The key variables are frequency and accompanying symptoms. El-Gohary said how a person feels after waking in the morning reveals more about their sleep than how long it took to fall asleep. HuffPost UK, citing U.S. health information outlet Verywell Health, reported that falling asleep within five minutes can be seen as a sign of excessive sleepiness. That figure alone cannot determine whether a disorder is present. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society recommend that adults get at least seven hours of sleep a night.
He advised consulting a doctor when the pattern repeats every night alongside daytime fatigue, reduced concentration, irritability, headaches or memory problems, or when it becomes difficult to get through the day without coffee. If fatigue does not ease even after enough sleep and is accompanied by severe snoring, sleep apnea may be suspected.
Diagnosis relies on polysomnography, a sleep study that records brain waves and breathing during sleep. Basic sleep hygiene includes going to bed and waking at the same time each day and cutting back on electronic devices starting an hour before bedtime. Those who suspect a problem can keep a record of their bedtimes, wake times and how long it took to fall asleep over several days to use in a consultation.
