Two nights of sleep for the price of one!

January 9, 2010 1:20 PM

I just slept for 19 hours straight. WTF?!

I am one of those people who wakes up like clockwork at nearly the exact same time every single day. I almost never sleep past 8 or 9 am.

Last night I must have fallen asleep on the couch early while I was watching TV. And then I didn't wake up until almost 20 hours later. However, at some point this morning I seem to have let the dogs in and out of the house. I don't have any recollection of doing it though.

As far as I know I'm not getting sick. I'm not extremely short on sleep or overworked and nothing in my daily life has changed significantly. I did not drink or take any medication last night. I just had a checkup and I am not dying of anything either.

I was thinking that maybe it was because my daughter is spending the night at her grandparents until Sunday, but then usually even if she isn't here I still wake up pretty early. Also, I tested the carbon monoxide detectors in my house after thinking about this and they have good batteries. So I'm probably not going to die of that either.

When I woke up, I felt pretty good but a little groggy and with a backache because my couch isn't very comfortable.

Is there any particular reason I might have slept for more than twice as long as I usually do in one night? I mean, I'm sure there's not anything life-threatening going on here, but I'm a more than a little weirded out by it since it's way out of character for me.

posted by howrobotsaremade to health & fitness (15 answers total)

What that happens to me, I figure I'm sick and my body needed the sleep.
posted by musofire at 1:21 PM on January 9, 2010

If you are in the US, maybe it's just holiday stress being let down? First Friday of the first week back after the holidays, I know my job was go, Go, GO! all this past week. Plus, I spent a lot of time visiting family, friends, etc. The couple weeks before I was shopping for holiday pressies, decorating, cooking, wrapping. You mention a daughter, maybe you were more wound up during the holiday season getting stuff, and making things perfect for her, more stressing than you originally thought.

I didn't sleep 19 hours last night, but after the holidays, damn, that does sound good.
posted by kellyblah at 1:33 PM on January 9, 2010

You don't need to be "extremely short on sleep" to have a sleep deficit build up over time. Since you did wake up to deal with the dogs, I'd be very surprised if there were any medical reason for the extended sleep.
posted by birdsquared at 1:33 PM on January 9, 2010

If you don't have any recollection of letting the dogs out, could you have done other things without any recollection? Perhaps you didn't sleep for as long as you think you did?

For what it's worth, I do this about once a year. Wake as normal, sleep in and then get up about 3PM. It's more of a nuisance due to the fact that it throws my sleep cycle completely out than anything else.
posted by Solomon at 1:38 PM on January 9, 2010

Rule of thumb is if a condition lasts for more than two weeks, go see the doctor.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:40 PM on January 9, 2010

If you don't normally sleep on the couch, maybe you didn't get good quality sleep.
posted by cabingirl at 1:51 PM on January 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Any chance it's unusually cold where you're at? I've known myself and some of my family members to konk out for several extra hours during significant cold snaps. We joke that we're hibernating.
posted by Benjy at 2:24 PM on January 9, 2010

First symptom of mono, maybe? When I had mono, the first thing that I noticed wrong with me was that I had a nap in the middle of the day, which at the time NEVER happened.
posted by pised at 3:52 PM on January 9, 2010

What musofire said.
posted by Billegible at 3:55 PM on January 9, 2010

Sometimes when I'm coming down with something, the first symptom is sleepiness. If I have the time, I often try "sleep it off" before it develops into anything very noticeable. My longest stretch was 18 hours. I went to sleep feeling cruddy and woke up feeling fine. Family members told me that I'd gotten up several times to use the bathroom, but I didn't remember. I think that if you feel fine, and it doesn't keep happening, it's probably no big deal.
posted by SamanthaK at 3:58 PM on January 9, 2010

For whatever reason, your body needed the extra rest. It could be stress, it could be feeling totally relaxed because you didn't need to be on alert for your daughter, could be while you aren't getting sick, your immune system was warding something off, or it could be something else altogether. Unless this persists over a long period of time and/or interferes with your daily life, I wouldn't worry about it. Also, for what it's worth, I vote for the brief respite from parental stress allowed your body to fully relax and recharge explanation.
posted by katemcd at 4:34 PM on January 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

No chance someone slipped you something in your drink? (Not kidding.). The amnesia about letting out the dog is what's bugging me.
posted by Mid at 8:01 PM on January 9, 2010

Mid, I know that nobody slipped something in my drink since I was just sitting around my house in sweatpants all evening eating takeout and watching a movie. Nobody else was here. There are french doors in my living room that are right next to the couch, they go out to the patio. So it's conceivable that I did some sort of sleepwalking thing just to put the dogs out.

I also seem to have fed them at some point and they had water in their bowls, which is probably why they didn't mutiny and wake me up earlier.

I think it's probably a combination of things that people have mentioned above. It's been bitterly cold and has been snowing non-stop and work has been a bit insane this week. I know I don't have mono, but maybe I was fighting off some potential virus or something.

Still, that's a bit odd for me to sleep that long in one stretch, so I'm relieved to know that I hadn't lapsed into some kind of mild coma or anything.
posted by howrobotsaremade at 6:07 AM on January 10, 2010

Ah. Clearly your dogs felt you needed extra sleep. That's assuming dogs are as clever about such things as cats, which I suspect they are. I don't know how a dog could encourage your staying asleep, but of course they can choose to not bother you (a cat will purr you to sleep).

I can so easily see where a parent that also is working would conk out for a long time, the first opportunity. Enjoy the feeling, you earned it.
posted by Goofyy at 7:26 AM on January 10, 2010

How soon after you ate the takeout did you fall asleep?
posted by Evangeline at 10:53 AM on January 10, 2010