Sleeping A Lot After A Car Accident: What You Need To Know

Sleeping a lot after a car accident is a primary symptom of a concussion, traumatic brain injury (TBI), or severe trauma, and requires immediate medical attention. While fatigue can result from stress or soft tissue healing, excessive sleepiness often signals a serious underlying condition that must be evaluated by a physician immediately to prevent long-term health complications and preserve your legal rights to compensation.

Common causes of sleeping a lot after a car accident include:

• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Head trauma can disrupt normal sleep-wake cycles, leading to excessive sleepiness or hypersomnia.
• Emotional Trauma: Stress, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from the crash may cause fatigue and increased sleepiness.
• Physical Injuries: Pain, inflammation, or soft tissue damage can make the body feel exhausted and require more rest to heal.
• Shock and Stress Response: The body’s reaction to sudden trauma, including adrenaline release followed by a “crash,” can result in significant fatigue and the need for increased sleepiness.
• Depression: Emotional distress or depression following a crash can also lead to excessive sleepiness.

In addition to direct physical trauma, excessive drowsiness is frequently caused by prescribed medications used to manage crash-related injuries. Common medications that cause extreme fatigue include:

• Muscle Relaxants: Prescribed for whiplash, neck stiffness, and back spasms.
• Prescription Pain Relievers & Opioids: Used for acute physical pain and severe inflammation.
• Anti-Anxiety Medications & Sedatives: Prescribed to manage immediate post-crash shock, acute stress, or panic attacks.

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While increased rest is expected during recovery, excessive sleepiness accompanied by specific neurological or physical warning signs requires immediate emergency medical care.

Seek immediate emergency room evaluation if your post-car accident sleeping occurs alongside:

• Difficulty Waking Up or Disorientation: Inability to stay awake, severe confusion, or profound lethargy.
• Worsening or Severe Headaches: Persistent pressure or pain that intensifies over time.
• Repeated Vomiting or Nausea: Clear indicators of elevated intracranial pressure or brain swelling.
• Dizziness, Slurred Speech, or Loss of Balance: Neurological impairment affecting coordination or motor skills.
• Vision Changes or Tinnitus: Blurry vision, double vision, or persistent ringing in the ears.
• Abdominal Pain or Rapid Heartbeat: Potential signs of internal bleeding or severe internal trauma masked by fatigue.

To secure No-Fault Personal Injury Protection (PIP) medical benefits and protect a potential third-party pain and suffering claim under Michigan law, take the following steps immediately if you are sleeping a lot after a car accident:

• Seek Immediate Emergency Medical Evaluation: Visit an emergency room or urgent care clinic right away to diagnose hidden head trauma, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), or internal bleeding.
• Establish an Early Medical Record: Inform emergency responders and doctors about all post-crash symptoms—including excessive sleepiness, fatigue, and headaches—so they are documented immediately in your official treatment records.
• File Written Notice of Injury Within 1 Year (MCL 500.3145): Under MCL 500.3145(1), you must submit written notice of your injury to the responsible No-Fault auto insurer within one year of the crash date. This written notice must detail the time, place, and nature of the injury (including symptoms like excessive sleepiness/TBI) to preserve your right to PIP medical benefits.
• Avoid Delaying Care or Ignoring Symptoms: Postponing medical care allows brain injuries to worsen and provides auto insurers grounds to deny PIP medical claims by arguing the fatigue was caused by a pre-existing condition rather than the crash.
• Report All Symptoms to Your Insurer Promptly: Per MCL 500.3145(4), ensure every symptom mentioned in your medical records—including cognitive difficulties or extreme lethargy—is explicitly noted in your insurance filings.
• Consult an Experienced Attorney: Speak with a personal injury lawyer before signing insurance disclosures, giving recorded statements, or accepting quick settlement offers to ensure your rights under the Michigan No-Fault Act are fully protected.

Yes. If your auto insurance company refuses to pay for, or cuts-off, No-Fault benefits related to the injuries that result in you sleeping a lot after a car accident, then you can sue for unpaid, overdue medical bills, attendant care, medical mileage, replacement services and lost wages because your injuries have prevented you from returning to work.

You can also sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering compensation as a result of your collision-related injuries, but you will first have to show that the other driver was at-fault for causing the crash and that your back pain constitutes a “serious impairment of body function” under our auto law.

Additionally, you may be able to sue the at-fault driver for other economic damages, such as excess and future medical bills and lost wages.

If you were injured and you have been sleeping a lot after your car accident, then you should seek immediate medical attention because that may be a sign that you have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Left undiagnosed and untreated, a TBI, including brain hemorrhage, could be life threatening or result in a lifelong disability.

Sleep problems, including snoozing more than normal, is one of the most common symptoms of a TBI. Research has shown that brain injury survivors are three times more likely to suffer sleep disorders and 60% of TBI survivors have long-term sleep difficulties. Additionally, research has found that up to 70% of all “mild” TBI survivors report experiencing poor sleep or excessive sleep after their injury.

Because of the violent forces involved in a collision, a person’s brain may be seriously injured even though there may be no accompanying physical signs of the trauma that has taken place. One of the ways the brain damage manifests itself is by affecting the injured person’s normal sleep patterns and routines.

If you’re experiencing any of the following, then you may be suffering from crash-related sleep disturbances:

• Always tired
• Snoozing longer (for more hours) than normal
• Feel lethargic during waking hours
• Struggling to keep your eyes open during the day
• Difficulty with waking up

In addition to sleeping a lot after a car accident, a victim may experience any of the following sleep-related disorders:

• Narcolepsy: Uncontrollably falling asleep 
• Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome: Sleep patterns are disrupted
• Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (also known as hypersomnia): Being especially drowsy or sleepy during the hours that a person would normally be wide awake
• Insomnia: Not being to consistently fall asleep and stay asleep
• Sleepwalking
• Periodic Limb Movement Disorder: Moving your arms and legs involuntarily and unknowingly while you sleep
• Sleep Apnea: While snoozing, a person’s breathing stops momentarily, which causes a person to awaken frequently 
• Bruxism: A person grinds or clenches his or her teeth while snoozing
• Restless Leg Syndrome: A person keeps moving his or her legs because they otherwise feel uncomfortable 

A collision can have a devastating effect on victims’ lives and the lives of their families. The person is injured, in pain and desperately seeking the proper medical care to recover. Frequently, victims’ crash-related injuries prevent them from working so there’s uncertainty about whether they’re going to support their families. There is uncertainty about when and if life will return to normal.

Under these circumstances, many victims suffer from depression both as a result of their injuries and in conjunction with their injuries.

One of the common symptoms of depression is when a victim is sleeping excessively after a crash. 

If these circumstances exist, then it is essential that the victim seek immediate medical attention.

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In Michigan, consider consulting and hiring a lawyer if you notice you are sleeping a lot after a car accident,especially with other injuries or symptoms,and have concerns about your legal rights or insurance benefits.

You should consider hiring a lawyer if:

• You have questions about your legal rights or what you should do next.
• You have been injured and are experiencing symptoms like excessive sleepiness.
• Your insurance company is not treating you fairly or is denying medical tests or referrals.
• You are not getting the medical care you need.
• You are unsure about deadlines for filing claims or lawsuits (e.g., No-Fault benefits, uninsured motorist coverage, or personal injury claims).

It is never too soon to contact an attorney if you are sleeping a lot after a car accident, and most lawyers offer free consultations and work on a no-win, no-fee basis. Early legal advice can help protect your rights and ensure you do not miss critical deadlines for benefits or compensation.

If you are sleeping a lot after a crash, which may be a sign that you have suffered a TBI or that you are suffering depression, and you have questions about your legal rights and the significant legal compensation that you may be entitled call now (800) 968-1001 for a free consultation with one of our experienced car accident lawyers. There is no cost or obligation. You can also visit our contact page or use the chat feature on our website.

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Unlike other law firms, our attorneys are never too busy to promptly return phone calls and answer questions. 

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More importantly, this client-focused approach leads to better and faster settlements for our clients. Michigan Auto Law has recovered more million-dollar settlements and trial verdicts for motor vehicle crashes than any other lawyer or law firm in Michigan. We’ve also recovered the highest ever reported truck accident and car accident settlement in the state.

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