Tiredness and sleepiness throughout the day may be observed in stroke patients. Sleeping supports recovery in the brain after stroke. Stroke patients should get enough sleep to process the exercises they have done throughout the day into their brain. However, excessive sleepiness may point to more serious underlying problems.
Benefits of Good Sleep after Stroke
Sleepiness is a normal part of the early recovery period after the stroke. In this period, the brain dedicates most of its resources to recovery the damage it was exposed to. Therefore, the brain has less energy to keep the person awake.
Deep sleep helps the brain to recover in the persons who had a stroke. REM Sleep (deep sleep which comes at intervals throughout the night) helps our brain to process motor information. During this stage, our brain converts short term memories about muscle movement into long term information.
Good sleep can help to regain movement and muscle strength in stroke patients. Therefore, stroke patients should get enough sleep.
Causes of Excessive Sleep After Stroke
We have mentioned the importance of sleep for stroke patients. However, sleeping throughout the day and excessive sleepiness characterized by tiredness may be seen in some patients. While this decreases after a couple of weeks generally, in some patients it may continue for more than 6 months. In stroke patients, if excessive sleepiness prevents the participation to the rehabilitation and lasts more than a couple of weeks, a doctor should be consulted.
In some stroke patients, the sleep-wakefulness balance may suddenly be disturbed. The patient whose wakefulness level had increased before may suddenly start to shut down and experience excessive sleepiness. Relatives of the patient should be careful about this situation. Excessive sleepiness which develops suddenly may mean that a new problem formation in the brain. In such instances, a doctor should be consulted.
Besides, the causes of excessive sleepiness after stroke may be these:
- Sleep-Disordered Breathing (Sleep Apnea): A chronic situation which causes the partial or complete stop of breathing during night and ends up with excessive sleepiness during daytime.
- Reverse Robin Hood Syndrome: Excessive sleepiness situation which happens when the brain tries to channel the blood flow from the damaged areas to the undamaged areas.
- Depression: Severe depression can cause extreme fatigue and drowsiness.
These kinds of problems can prevent you from getting good sleep and as a result, affect your recovery negatively. Therefore, it is very important to detect and treat these problems as soon as possible.
Symptoms of Excessive Sleepiness After Stroke
The first symptom of excessive sleepiness after stroke is feeling tired throughout the day. The stroke patient with excessive sleepiness feels tired and sleepy even if they just wake up from a full night’s sleep. The other symptoms are these:
- Angriness
- Apprehension
- Decreased appetite
- Cognitive disorders
- Slow speech
- Memory problems
- Restlessness
Treatment of Excessive Sleepiness After Stroke
Experiencing excessive sleepiness may be natural for stroke patients in the early period. This situation is a part of the recovery process. However, if the sleepiness does not decrease and the person cannot participate in the therapies because of that, this affects the recovery process negatively.
In the treatment of excessive sleepiness after stroke:
- Detection and treatment of the underlying reasons,
- Doctor’s prescription of the medications which will decrease the sleepiness,
- Changes in diet may be recommended.
Generally, the first step to be taken is to detect the underlying reasons of excessive sleepiness. For instance, if you experience sleep apnea, you may need to use a sleep device which will enable you to get enough oxygen throughout the night. If depression causes excessive sleepiness, you can control post-stroke emotional alterations with medications and psychological counseling.
Reference: flintrehab.com
