Almost every night, despite getting seven to eight hours of sleep, you wake up feeling exhausted. How could you be sleeping according to a golden rule so correctly and still feel so off?
A 2015 study found that this gap is frequently brought on by a heightened state of sleep inertia, a circadian process that affects memory, mood, reaction time, and attentiveness after awakening. After first turning off the alarm, some people feel drowsy and perform worse during this time. The effects of sleep inertia often disappear within 15 to 60 minutes, but they can linger for several hours.
The more sleep deprived a person is, the worse their sleep inertia becomes, affecting more complex cognitive abilities like evaluative thinking, decision-making, creativity, and rule usage.
But even if your profession does not involve saving lives or nighttime truck driving, hours of sleep inertia can still have a negative impact on your quality of life.
The first step in dealing with this is to evaluate your sleep using the “two Qs,” according to pulmonary and sleep expert Dr. Raj Dasgupta, a clinical associate professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. “If you’re getting a good amount of sleep, the next thing to consider is whether you’re getting a good quality of sleep.”
Dasgupta advised seeking out a sleep expert who can examine you for a primary or underlying sleep condition. The processes of memory consolidation, hormone regulation, and emotional regulation or processing, all of which must occur while you sleep, may be hampered by other, more easily changeable elements.
1. Fatigue
According to Jennifer Martin, a former president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, “There are many conditions that cause fatigue, but they don’t necessarily make people feel like they’re ready to fall asleep.”
Anemia, chronic obstructive lung disease, metabolic or thyroid disorders, and chronic pain issues are a few examples.
“An important first step might just be a routine physical with your family doctor,” Martin advised if you’re experiencing unexplained exhaustion.
You could need more than eight hours of sleep to feel rejuvenated because the National Sleep Foundation also states that healthy adults require seven to nine hours of sleep per night. According to Christopher Barnes, a management professor at the University of Washington who specializes in the connection between sleep and work, you can try sleeping an hour earlier or waking up an hour later than usual to see if that makes a difference.
2. Sedentary lifestyle
You might feel more exhausted than you should if you try to perform simple daily tasks if you are inactive since your body can become accustomed to having to utilize low levels of energy, according to Martin.
Adults should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week, according to the World Health Organization, while pregnant women should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic and strengthening activity each week.
3. Anxiety or depression
According to Dasgupta, experiencing anxiety or sadness can be physically exhausting. According to him, these circumstances can also have a detrimental impact on how long it takes you to fall asleep as well as whether (and how frequently) you wake up during the night.
Additionally, Dasgupta noted that occasionally the drugs used to treat depression or anxiety might have undesirable side effects such sleeplessness or disruptions of deeper sleep cycles.
4. Inconsistent sleep
We may have different timetables on weekdays compared to weekends, Barnes said. People who work shift-based occupations may see scheduling changes as well.
‘OK, well, it’s Friday night,’ is a very standard practice. I can stay up a little later because I don’t have to work tomorrow morning, Barnes stated. Since you have off on Sunday as well, you might stay up later on Saturday night and get to bed earlier on Sunday to prepare for the workweek.
But at this point, you’ve quickly rearranged your sleep routine to include a few hours less. Barnes added, “This is very much like jet lag.” That quick reset isn’t really effective.
5. Dehydration
According to the Cleveland Clinic, water, which makes up more than 50% of your body, is essential for many bodily processes, including the digestion of food, the production of hormones and neurotransmitters, and the distribution of oxygen. Dehydration has been associated with a decline in alertness as well as an increase in sleepiness and weariness.
The Institute of Medicine advises men to drink 3.7 liters (125 ounces) per day and women to drink 2.7 liters (91 ounces) per day of fluids. This advice covers all fluids as well as foods high in water content such fruits, vegetables, and soups. With an 80:20 fluid-to-food ratio on average, that translates to 9 cups of water for women and 12½  cups for males each day.
6. Poor sleep environment or routine
In order to practice good sleep hygiene, your bedroom should only be used for sleeping and having sex at night. It should also be dark, quiet, and cool.
Limit alcohol intake and eat heavy or spicy foods at least two hours before bed. Avoid drinking caffeinated beverages within six hours before going to bed. Both alcohol and certain foods can create digestive problems that interfere with restorative sleep by preventing deeper stages of sleep.
7. Sleep partner problems
Martin stated, “The person (or animal) with whom you share a bed has a big impact on your sleep.”
Perhaps your sleeping companion snores or tosses and turns because of a sleep condition. Or perhaps the other person has a different schedule that interferes with your ability to sleep. Since animals don’t sleep in the same ways as people do, she continued, pets can also interfere with your sleep schedule.
The most crucial thing, according to Martin, is to get your bed mate examined for sleep apnea by a sleep specialist if they snore. Snorers frequently have sleep apnea, which is a disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and starts while a person is asleep.
8. Sleep disorders
“Once you’re awake, you’re no longer in the deep sleep, and you usually don’t get to drop immediately into the deepest sleep,” Barnes said. People will often spend less time in the deepest stage of sleep if they are awakened from that deep slumber.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, narcolepsy and restless legs syndrome are two other sleep disorders that might have an impact on everyday energy levels.
Polysomnography at a sleep clinic is the best technique to monitor your sleep patterns, especially if you believe you may have a sleep issue, according to Barnes.
Barnes noted that although apps and electronic devices, such as watches or rings, that measure sleep aren’t as reliable as lab testing, they nevertheless give healthy folks enough information. I would like to know that it was created and then tested against a different, more precise instrument.
