What is long-sleeper syndrome?

“Long-sleeper syndrome can essentially be defined as the habitual need to sleep for longer than your age group,” says Dan Fabian, a sleep health expert and founder of Ten PM. The syndrome only affects around 2% of the population and leads to adults craving around 10 hours of sleep a day to function normally.

As Fabian explains, people with long-sleeper syndrome don’t choose to sleep more – they physically need to. “This isn’t just someone being lazy, but it’s someone whose body and mind needs more time to recover and recharge than what is considered usual or average for their age group,” he says.

Casey Paul, a positive psychology coach, notes that long-sleeper syndrome is unique among sleep disorders. “The sleep itself is of normal quality and is not broken or disrupted,” she says. “Also, the need for extended sleep is consistent and not significantly altered by lifestyle changes, stress or other external factors.”

Long-sleeper syndrome can also be caused by a genetic mutation. “Gene variations, such as to the gene DEC2 which affects how long you sleep for, are fairly uncommon, but they can cause a person to have an increased need for sleep, get sleepier throughout the day, and need more sleep during the night,” explains Dreams sleep expert Sammy Margo.

“The average person needs about 7-9 hours of sleep a night and with this they should be able to get through the day without a nap, but there are various tests you can do to investigate whether or not you have the ‘sleepy gene’.”

Always sleepy? Long-sleeper syndrome might be the reason you feel more tired than others