Can you fall asleep with a concussion

Other symptoms may take a few days to show up or become apparent. One of those potential symptoms is a change in sleep patterns. Some people, after a concussion, will sleep a lot more than usual, and it may be hard to wake them up. Others may have a hard time falling asleep at all, or they may wake up frequently.

Get immediate medical attention. Sleep is an important part of the healing process, so you should get plenty of rest after a concussion. However, after headaches, sleep problems are the most commonly reported symptoms of a concussion.

If you have sleep issues that linger after the first few days of healing, you may want to try the following to get better sleep :. If symptoms are absent or mild, you may want to go to urgent care or see if you can get an appointment with your regular doctor that day. Symptoms that are more serious warrant a trip to the emergency room. Actually, you can sleep after a concussion. It's a mistaken belief that you have to stay awake for the first 24 hours.

However, it's a good idea to stay awake long enough to get checked out by a doctor. It is important to catch signs of serious brain damage quickly, and that can't happen while you're asleep. Most likely, sleeping after you get a concussion will just mean you will get some rest that will help you recover.

People used to believe you could slip into a coma or die if you went to sleep with a concussion, but we now know that's not true. Yes, it can be hard to sleep after a concussion. It's the second most frequently reported side effect, after headaches. Most of the time, it's not an immediate symptom but one that may crop up during your recovery. Sleeping isn't dangerous when you have a concussion. You won't slip into a coma or die if you go to sleep after getting a concussion.

It's safe for a concussed person to sleep if they are awake and can hold a conversation, and they don't have obvious concussion symptoms. Any injury to your brain should be taken seriously. While the old beliefs about the dangers of sleep after a concussion are false, it is true that sleeping could conceal signs of a serious brain injury.

Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Debunking the myths about sleep and concussion. Updated December 18, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heads up: What is a concussion?

Updated February 12, American Association of Neurological Surgeons. If you have significant head pain and are considering taking over-the-counter medication, talk to your healthcare provider first. Medications containing aspirin, ibuprofen, or naproxen could increase your risk of brain bleeding if you have a more severe concussion. In these cases, acetaminophen Tylenol may be a safer option. Symptoms that linger for more than a few weeks can indicate post-concussion syndrome. Concussions are typically mild, but they can occasionally cause more serious complications.

If a child with a head injury has any of the above symptoms, cries continuously, or refuses to eat or breastfeed when they normally would after any kind of head injury, seek immediate medical care. What does concussion recovery involve? A head injury is an injury to your brain, skull, or scalp. This can range from a mild bump or bruise to a traumatic brain injury.

Common head injuries…. There are many types of skull fractures, but only one major cause. Get the facts on fractures and learn about diagnosis and treatment. Your doctor may find a choroid plexus cyst during a routine prenatal ultrasound. These cysts usually resolve on their own and rarely lead to…. Dysmetria is a lack of coordination caused by the cerebellum not functioning properly. Discover its causes and…. In the body there are two deep temporal arteries.

These arteries are called the posterior and anterior deep temporal arteries. Theta brain waves are slower than gamma, beta, and alpha waves, but faster than delta waves. Medical experts once warned that people should stay awake if they had a concussion. They based this advice on the theory that sleeping with a concussion could cause a person to fall into a coma or even die.

However, medical experts now agree that it is safe for a person to sleep if they have a concussion. As long as somebody wakes the person regularly to monitor their symptoms, there is no harm in them sleeping.

This article outlines what happens in the brain during a concussion. It also lists some possible concussion symptoms in adults and children and offers advice on what to do while recovering from one. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC , a concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that typically occurs due to a bump, blow, or jolt to the head.

A concussion can also occur due to a strong force to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. This sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around or rotate inside the skull. The CDC also explain that a concussion can create chemical changes inside the brain and can even stretch and damage brain cells.

However, the effects of a concussion can be very unpleasant, and they may last for weeks or even months. In most cases, the symptoms of a concussion will present in the first 48 hours following a head injury.

In some cases, however, the symptoms can be delayed. According to the CDC , the symptoms of a concussion fall into the following four categories:.

The following sections will look at each of these categories in more detail, as well as some possible symptoms in children. Symptoms within this category may include:. Some concussions may cause a temporary loss of consciousness. Unconsciousness that lasts for longer than 30 minutes may indicate a more serious form of brain injury. Sleep-related symptoms may include:. A concussion can be more difficult to notice in infants and young children.

This is because they may not be able to effectively communicate how they are feeling. If an infant or young child experiences a blow to the head, parents and caregivers should look to their behavior for possible symptoms of concussion.

Infants and young children who display any of the above symptoms require immediate medical attention. A person with a suspected or confirmed concussion will require monitoring throughout their recovery. If a person goes to sleep following a head injury, they and those around them may miss the possible signs and symptoms of a brain injury. For this reason, medical experts used to advise that people stay awake throughout a concussion. Now, however, medical experts have access to sophisticated imaging techniques that allow them to check for any physical signs of head trauma.