Sleep inertia, or wake-up grogginess, is the main reason you're unable to fully wake up in the morning or after a nap. It's a completely normal part of your sleep-wake cycle that's intensified by factors like high sleep debt and circadian misalignment (caused by sleeping in, social jetlag, and travel jet lag).
There are also a number of common health conditions that can lead to ongoing tiredness. Just a few include diabetes, anemia, depression, anxiety disorder, food sensitivities, hypothyroidism, hepatitis C, obstructive sleep apnea, heart disease, and nasal congestion.
So when you're getting eight hours and still feeling tired the next day, it's frustrating. There are four likely culprits behind your low energy: your sleep need is more than eight hours, you're getting less sleep than you think, you've got sleep debt to pay back, or you're out of sync with your circadian rhythm.
People with ADHD frequently report having trouble waking up in the morning. For help getting out of bed, try using light therapy or plan something enjoyable for when you get out of bed, such as exercise or a nice breakfast.
If you aren't feeling rested when you wake up, despite getting to sleep at least 8 hours prior, then it might not be the quantity of your sleep that's the problem. It could be your sleep quality that needs some attention. The amount of sleep you get is important, but equally important is the quality of that sleep.
Your body has a sleep deficiency or sleep deprivation. Mental health issues like depression, stress, and anxiety interrupting sleep. Medications like beta-blockers and certain muscle relaxants interfere with your sleep cycle. Your circadian rhythm (your body's internal clock) being out of sorts.
Many cases of tiredness are due to stress, not enough sleep, poor diet and other lifestyle factors. Try these self-help tips to restore your energy levels. If you feel you're suffering from fatigue, which is an overwhelming tiredness that isn't relieved by rest and sleep, you may have an underlying medical condition.
A person with an 8-hour sleep need who gets 6 hours each day for 5 days builds a sleep debt of 10 hours. As sleep debt builds, brain and body functioning deteriorate. Sleep is needed to “pay down” this debt.
After awakening from a nap or a long sleep episode (for example, 7 to 8 hours of sleep at night), people tend to feel groggy from sleep inertia. Sleep inertia is a temporary disorientation and decline in performance and/or mood after awakening from sleep.
Sleep inertia is the feeling of grogginess, disorientation, drowsiness, and cognitive impairment that immediately follows waking. View Source . Sleep inertia generally lasts for 15 to 60 minutes. View Source but may last for up to a few hours after waking.
Sleeping a lot isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sleep is important. Not getting enough sleep puts you at risk for health problems, from heart disease to obesity to diabetes. However, sleeping a lot all of a sudden when you didn't before might be a reason to look closely at what is going on with your health.
The quickest ways to wake yourself up include getting natural light, taking a cold shower, doing a burst of exercise, and playing your favorite music.
"As soon as you wake up after a night of sleep, you should get out of bed. If you lie awake in bed, your brain links being awake to being in bed," according to Professor Matthew Walker from University of California Berkeley.
If you get up early, you're not only depriving yourself of sleep, but you're also robbing your body of the majority of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep — the stage of sleep that, according to the National Sleep Foundation: Provides energy to brain and body. Supports daytime performance.
“It becomes kind of like jet lag,” says Dr. Winter. “You wake up feeling kind of groggy, like you have a dull headache, maybe a bit of nausea, and lethargy—you just don't feel like doing anything.” Your best bet is to resist the urge to nod back off after you wake up.
What is sleep drunkenness? Sleep drunkenness is a casual term for confusional arousal, which is a type of parasomnia. A parasomnia is an unusual behavior that happens while you're asleep or just waking up. Confusional arousal is a problem with sleep inertia when your brain transitions between sleeping and waking up.
Napping can both help and hurt sleep debt. If you didn't get enough sleep the night before, a nap can help you feel less sluggish during the day. Keep your naps short. Aim for 10 to 20 minutes.