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Excessive Sleep in Winter (aka "I'm pretty sure I have you all beat here")

Dave TalloDave Tallo
in General Training Discussions

(cross-post from ST)

Does anyone have experience or knowledge about excessive weekend sleep during winter months? I live in Canada, and for a number of years, I have a winter month pattern where I'm able to function well enough M-F, but come Saturday and Sunday, I sleep. And not just "boy, did I ever sleep in today - three extra hours!" I'm talking occasional numbers between 14-24h on Fri night into Saturday, and 12+ Sat night into Sunday. Solid. If the alarm goes, the battery will run out 'cuz I ain't responding. At worst, let's say 5-10% of this comes from being a lazy bastard, but I now just scratch plans to do anything except sleep and train on weekends, cuz that accounts for the time I have. Come April, I'm good to go and can jump onto a bike at 7am Saturday and Sunday morning and have productive weekend days again.



I've gone for sleep studies, had blood tests, and things come back normal. I've tried to manage SAD through the usual remedies including bright light therapies, to no avail. I've looked into hypersomnia, but this applies more to regualr excessive daytime sleepiness instead of the sleep debt that I live with. I've also experimented with earlier or adjusted midweek sleep to try to get in front of the debt to no avail. Short version: Unless there's a paying job that I have to wake up to go to, I could probably sleep 24-7 until April.



Any insights?

Comments

  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Wow, and I thought that sleeping in an occasional 10 hrs was massive! Maybe if I lived that far up north and it was cold and dark for most of the winter I would hibernate too. The obvious remedy is to move to Tampa!
  • Scott AlexanderScott Alexander
    Not that extreme, but for me in this longer-than-usual winter, I guess that knowing I won't be getting up too early on Sat/Sun for a workout enables me to sleep 2-3 hours more than just hitting snooze indefinitely.

    I've always been one that can sleep pretty much anywhere, anytime. I'd imagine that 2/3 of the flights I've ever taken, I don't even remember taking off because I fall asleep so easily.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    My husband experiences the same thing when we go to Ireland in the Winter months, and says he feels like there is something in the air that knocks him out...but only during the Winter. This doesn't happen to him at home in New York, or even at altitude in Colorado (when there we stay at 10,100 ft elevation.) And, it never happens in the late Spring or Summer. It is the strangest thing. Maybe you guys just go into hibernation mode.

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