“I Dreaded The Phone Call To My Manager”: 67 Stories Of People Who Had One Job… And Slept Through It

Sleeping through your alarm may be due to a disrupted sleep routine, a health condition, or excessive sleepiness.

According to Dr. Guy Meadows, co-founder and clinical lead at Sleep School, research suggests that deep sleepers have more sleep spindles, a form of brain activity during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.

These sleep spindles “act as a noise-canceling device,” says Meadows.

“A study on brain rhythms and stable sleep found that individuals who generate more sleep spindles during a quiet night of sleep were able to tolerate more noise on a subsequent, less quiet night of sleep.”

“Therefore, people who are able to produce more sleep spindles may be hard to wake because they can effectively cancel out the noise that is attempting to disturb their sleep,” Meadows adds.

But other factors can cause a deep, deep slumber, too.

The quality and amount of sleep you’re getting every night may be to blame for your oversleeping problems, particularly if you have an inconsistent routine.

“Whether it’s one night or over the course of several nights, by not getting a full 8 hours of sleep, you create a sleep debt that needs to be repaid,” Meadows explains.

Sleeping at the wrong time for your natural chronotype (sleep schedule) can also cause problems.

“Those who are naturally ‘night owls’ tend to stay up later at night, and, therefore, sleep later in the morning,” he says.

“When their alarm goes off in the morning, especially during the earlier hours of the morning, they are in a deeper phase of sleep than those who go to bed earlier in the evening.”

And that can be a recipe for disaster if you have an early appointment!

For some people, certain medical conditions can make it harder to wake up in the morning.

For example, cardiac rhythm sleep disorders stop you from developing a regular sleeping pattern, which can mean that you go into a deeper sleep that is harder to wake from.

Night terrors, sleep walking, and sleep apnea can also cause issues, along with some medications you might be taking, such as beta-blockers and sleeping pills.

Mental health also plays a part. In fact, one of the common symptoms of depression is oversleeping. That’s because people who suffer from the condition can often be too anxious or lethargic to get a good night’s sleep. And when they do finally nod off, they may have just a few hours until morning and easily sleep through their alarm.

The first step to avoiding such mistakes is building a better routine. And it’s all about consistency.

“By going to bed and getting up at the same time each day, it becomes easier to wake up in the mornings and start your day,” says Meadows.

It not only helps you fall asleep more easily, but it also means the quality of your sleep should improve.

Of course, to ensure you’re getting enough sleep, this may mean going to bed earlier than you usually would—most people need between 7 and 9 hours.

If you’re finding it hard to get in bed an hour or so earlier, try moving your bedtime up in more manageable increments, such as ten minutes per night.

But if you have a medical condition that makes sleeping or waking more difficult, you should probably visit a doctor for advice and treatment options.