Abstract
All people experience sleepiness each day, but when it occurs in excess, sleepiness can be disabling. Excessive daytime sleepiness (or hypersomnolence) interferes with function and may be indicative of an underlying medical, psychiatric, substance use, or sleep disorder. Given how it impairs activities during wakefulness and endangers people during certain activities (e.g., operating a motor vehicle), excessive daytime sleepiness should be aggressively evaluated and treated by a qualified healthcare provider. Insufficient sleep and sedating medications are two of the most common causes of excessive daytime sleepiness in the general population. Sleep disorders known to cause excessive daytime sleepiness include (but are not limited to) obstructive sleep apnea, sleep-related hypoventilation, narcolepsy, idiopathic hypersomnia, restless legs syndrome, and circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders. This chapter presents three cases of excessive daytime sleepiness, including the differential diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of each patient along with an evidence-based discussion of the final diagnosis.
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Sachdeva, A. (2021). Sleepiness. In: Sahni, A.S., Sampat, A., Attarian, H. (eds) Sleep Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65302-6_1
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