Meaning & use
hypersomnia
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Meaning
noununcountablemedical
A condition in which a person feels extremely sleepy during the day or sleeps far longer than normal, even after enough rest.
Grammar: Usually without a: she suffers from hypersomnia.
Patterns
- suffer from hypersomnia
- be diagnosed with hypersomnia
Doctors diagnosed her with hypersomnia after a sleep study.
Hypersomnia can make it hard to stay awake at work.
He sleeps ten hours a night, yet his hypersomnia leaves him exhausted.
Common combinations
- idiopathic hypersomnia
- Idiopathic hypersomnia has no clear cause.
- suffer from hypersomnia
- Many teens suffer from hypersomnia during illness.
- treat hypersomnia
- Doctors treat hypersomnia with medication and routines.
- symptoms of hypersomnia
- Constant yawning is one of the symptoms of hypersomnia.
- diagnosed with hypersomnia
- She was diagnosed with hypersomnia last spring.
Synonyms and how they differ
- excessive sleepiness
- Excessive sleepiness is plain English for the symptom, while hypersomnia names the medical condition.
- somnolence
- Somnolence is a formal word for drowsiness in general, and need not be a disorder.
- oversleeping
- Oversleeping describes a single occasion, whereas hypersomnia is a lasting condition.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: hypersomnia or insomnia? hypersomnia or narcolepsy?
hypersomnia vs insomnia
Insomnia is trouble falling or staying asleep; hypersomnia is sleeping too much or being too sleepy.
hypersomnia vs narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a specific disorder with sudden sleep attacks; hypersomnia is a broader term for excessive sleepiness.
Practice
A person with hypersomnia most likely experiences ___.
Choose one answer.
Hypersomnia means excessive sleepiness or sleeping too long. Trouble falling asleep is insomnia, and sleepwalking is a different condition.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “hypersomnia”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.