'Sleeping Beauty' In Real Life: Meet This UK Woman Who Sleeps 22 Hours A Day

There have been many times when you would have thought of sleeping for a bit more or days when all you want to do is sleep. Well, this woman from the UK doesn't seem to have any option in deciding her sleep cycle as her rare condition makes her sleep for 22 hours every day.

38-year-old Joanna Cox hailing from England's Castleford town is often referred to as a real-life sleeping beauty, not because an evil witch cursed her and she slept patiently waiting for her prince to rescue her but because she suffers from a rare health condition called idiopathic hypersomnia that forces her to sleep for about 22 hours in a day. The condition is so severe that she loses track of how much she slept in a day or what day it is. Because of this she can't even have a job or live her life normally.

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UK Woman Sleeps For 22 Hours

Idiopathic hypersomnia is a rare sleeping disorder which makes a person feel sleepy even after having a full night of sleep. The disorder makes people tired, have brain fog, fall asleep in odd places for long hours and not able to function properly when awake. Though there are treatments for the disorder, no cure has yet been found for the condition. Joanna Cox, too, started exhibiting these symptoms back in 2017 when she would fall asleep while driving her car or partying in a bar.

She went to many doctors who diagnosed it as depression or some other condition and received several ineffective consultations and treatment until, on the consultation of a doctor, she went to a sleep clinic in 2021 and was diagnosed with idiopathic hypersomnia. She has been struggling with the condition for six years and still doesn't know what triggered it. Cox has two daughters and because of her condition, she can't spend time or even plan trips with them.

She reportedly told that the longest she has ever been awake was for 12 hours and the shortest was just about a few minutes. Her condition has made it worse for her to live a normal life and she has even started getting hallucinations and terrifying dreams if she tries to stay awake for long. She is spreading awareness about the condition and her own struggles on social media by making videos of her daily activities.