3 Facts About Sleeping After a Car Accident

Car accidents happen every day. They can cause injuries ranging from mild soreness and achiness to long-term debilitating pain. The physical impact from an accident is often obvious, but there are also plenty of side effects that are less easy to see. One of those is changes to someone’s sleeping patterns. Sudden changes to your sleeping routine after an accident can be a little scary and impact other areas of your life. Here are three facts that you should know about sleeping if you’ve been involved in an accident.

It’s common to have adjusted sleeping habits after an accident

Don’t be too alarmed if you find yourself sleeping in later or struggling to stay awake during the day following an accident—it’s common. However, you should still be wary of certain effects since they might be signs that you suffered a head or brain injury. Some soreness and tiredness are common after an accident, but if they remain for more than a week, or the sleepiness feels extreme, it could be something a bit more serious and then getting proper medical guidance will be key. 

Post-accident sleepiness can be sparked by different head injuries

People may experience a change to their sleep schedule in different ways after an accident. Most stem from a head injury, so it’s important to understand the type of injury you may have suffered. Here are three different types of head injuries to help you out.

• Whiplash is a common injury resulting from an accident. It happens when someone’s head jolts suddenly because of the impact of a crash. It means muscles and tendons become stretched in ways that aren’t natural. It can cause headaches which lead to tiredness.

• Concussions are also common after a crash and can be dangerous if not treated properly. You may be familiar with concussions as a common sports injury, but just like a football player who suffers one after a hard hit to the head, you can too if you experience an extreme blow to your head during an accident. The impact can cause the brain to move, setting off a chemical change and hurting your brain cells. Increased head pain and sleepiness are a side effect of concussions.
• Hemorrhages are one of the most serious types of head injuries and occur when there is internal bleeding between your head and the exterior layer of your brain. Hemorrhages can be caused by a serious blow to the head. As with whiplash or a concussion, you’ll experience headaches and sleepiness if you have a hemorrhage. It’s also common to have trouble looking at direct light and suffer vision problems. 

You can get better and sleep comfortably again

If treated properly, injuries and pain from a car accident, and their side effects, can go away. After any accident, it’s smart to visit a doctor. In many cases, it can also be helpful to visit a chiropractor. The right one will be able to design a recovery plan specific to your needs, including recommending specific sleeping positions and breathing exercises to remedy pain caused by injuries from the car accident. Taking the extra step to get some help can help expedite the recovery process. 

Getting your sleep schedule back

Feeling constantly tired can begin to impact so many parts of your life: your job, your relationships, and your overall health. Trouble staying awake after a car crash should be treated like the side effect of any major accident and be addressed quickly to help you get better. Know that you’re not alone and that a number of head injuries can cause your sleepiness. Also know that with the right help, like guidance from a chiropractor, it’s treatable. 

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