A university student has told how she suffers from a rare syndrome which makes her sleep for weeks at a time – and even napped through her exams.

Rhoda Rodriguez-Diaz, 21, from Leicester, has ‘sleeping Beauty syndrome’ and can nap for up 22 hours a day, only waking in a dream-like trance to eat junk food, drink and go to the toilet.

Dailymail.uk reports that Rhoda’s sleeping episodes can last three weeks, and it meant she failed the second year of university after she slept through her crucial end-of-year exams. 

“It’s really annoying when people call me lazy,’ explained Rhoda. ‘I do struggle to deal with the effects of it.

“But I’m determined to not let it have a big impact on my life. It is one part of me and not who I am. It’s frustrating because I can’t help it”, she said.

As a child Rhoda was diagnosed with hyper insomnia – characterised by extreme tiredness – by her GP.

But it wasn’t until September last year that doctors finally discovered the psychology student had the one-in-a-million Kleine-Levin Syndrome.

Rhoda goes months at a time without experiencing an episode, but when they strike, she is totally wiped out.   

‘Life goes on whilst I’m sleeping,’ she explained. ‘Reality hits me when I wake up and realise I’ve missed like a week of my life.’ 

Rhoda last experienced an episode around three months ago when she slept for over 60 hours in just three days.

The psychology student typically snacks on junk food during nap breaks and often puts on weight during an episode. She has now re-enrolled to resume her studies, and is sitting her second year again. 

‘I missed so many exams,’ she explained. ’60 per cent of my course is exams and I missed half of them. It wasn’t my fault. But they said this is an ‘exceptional case’ so I am allowed to go back. It’s a big relief but I have to redo a lot of work I did in second year. It was difficult for me.’

Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS) is a rare disorder that causes recurring periods of excessive sleepiness

In some cases, this means up to 20 hours a day are spent sleeping. For this reason, the condition is commonly referred to as “sleeping beauty syndrome.”