How much sleep is too much?

[Luppa]

This isn't a problem of my own, more like a friend's problem.

My friend tends to have rather erratic sleeping patterns, and this isn't anything new. She had them long before I even met her, and as far as I know, she isn't suffering from depression or any other mental illnesses.

As much as I've tried to persuade her not to, she has a rather bad habit of pulling all-nighters then sleeping the whole of next day. I'm used to this, but when she manages to sleep from 6pm to 10am the next day, I'm a little worried. Heck, just today, she managed to do a 4am to 10pm.

She falls asleep in classes constantly (I'm not in any of them so I can't do anything about it) and it's sort of getting in a way of a lot of stuff. How can I help and what advice can I give her?

[escape_thereal_world]

Well, if she pulls all-nighters then it makes sense that her body needs to sleep extra hours. Generally 6-8 hours is a good amount of sleep for most people. But if you stay up 24+ hours then your body wants extra sleep. Sometimes 12 hours or more.

Honestly, there is nothing that can be done except getting on a sleep pattern. She needs to make a schedule and stick to it. School is important, but stressing your body with crazy sleep patterns will hurt her in the long run. Our bodies are not made to work for that long. We need rest.

If it happens to be something where she just lies in bed awake all night then a doctor visit might be needed. But she has to try a schedule for a few weeks AT LEAST.

Here is a website with some information about how to prioritize homework, sleep, friends, work, etc.

[Childish Giggle]

You can't make her follow any schedules if she doesn't want to. Firstly try to find out the reason of her not sleeping at night. If it is because she likes to stay up late then all you can do is tell her the ill effects of it. But don't be to forceful or she might try to avoid you. But personally speaking (this one coming from a person who does the same), there's little that you can do about it. Some people just like the night for some reason or the other and it doesn't matter to us what people tell us about making a "proper schedule" and stuff. If she is able to keep up her grades despite sleeping in class and if its not hampering with her health or anything like that then well and good. Otherwise it can be a problem.