Hypersomnia, insomnia, sleep apnea, anxiety or depression, a medical condition, pregnancy, or poor sleep hygiene could also be to blame. Use the RISE app to find out how much sleep you need and get personalized recommendations to help you get it. 80% of RISE users feel more energy within five days.
In a situation like yours, where you feel like you're getting plenty of sleep but don't feel well-rested in the morning, it's possible that your morning grogginess could be a symptom of a treatable sleep disorder. Make an appointment to see a health care provider who specializes in sleep medicine.
So, if you get sufficient sleep (at seven to nine hours), but you wake up still feeling exhausted, it's a good idea to check in with your doctor. “Sleep apnea upsets the restorative nature of sleep, so fatigue is often seen with poor quality sleep,” Dr. Wider explains.
Causes of tiredness and fatigue
an unhealthy lifestyle (such as having an unhealthy diet and not getting much exercise) stress, depression and dealing with life challenges, such as bereavement or looking after a new baby. hormonal changes (such as during puberty, pregnancy or the menopause)
You may feel sleepy after a full night's sleep due to a medical condition. Medical conditions that can make you tired, or make it hard to meet your sleep need, include: Sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and restless leg syndrome. Iron deficiency anemia.
It could be due to poor sleep quality, lifestyle factors such as stress, poor diet, lack of exercise or an underlying health condition. It is also possible that you may not be getting enough deep sleep or REM sleep, which can leave you feeling tired even after a full night's sleep.
If you or a loved one feel sleepy or fatigued, despite having 7-8 hours of sleep, it could indicate poor sleep quality or be a sign of an underlying sleep disorder. If you have questions or concerns about your sleep health, please speak with your primary care provider.
If you have built up sleep debt, allow extra time for sleep: go to bed early. You sleep more deeply when you are sleep deprived, so you do not need to “pay back” hour for hour the lost sleep. However, if you have not had enough sleep for many days, it might take several nights of good-quality sleep to recover.
You're most likely waking up tired every day because of sleep inertia, the natural grogginess you get when you transition from being asleep to awake. Sleep debt, being out of sync with your circadian rhythm, a sleep disorder, or an underlying medical condition could also be to blame.
The bottom line is that feeling groggy after what you thought was a well-rested slumber is not unusual. In fact, there can be many underlying reasons why you feel so fatigued, including nutrient deficiency, high stress and anxiety levels, hormonal imbalance, and other medical conditions.
You may also feel symptoms of sleep inertia if you didn't get enough hours of sleep. Everyone needs a certain number of sleep hours, and if you don't get what you need, you may find it difficult to hop out of bed feeling refreshed. Finally, sleep disorders could be the cause.
Medical causes– unrelenting exhaustion may be a sign of an underlying illness or condition (such as flu, glandular fever, chronic fatigue syndrome, thyroid disorders, heart disease or diabetes). Lifestyle-related causes – alcohol or drugs or lack of regular exercise can lead to feelings of fatigue.
Some individuals find magnesium supplements to promote sleep, and a few studies have demonstrated a sleep benefit. Consult with your doctor before adding any supplements to your diet.
Common underlying issues that can make you feel tired after waking up and persist throughout your day include sleep inertia, sleep disorders, bright light exposure, and a poor bedroom environment, to name a few.
Short naps generally don't affect nighttime sleep quality for most people. But if you experience insomnia or poor sleep quality at night, napping might worsen these problems. Long or frequent naps might interfere with nighttime sleep.
While sleeping in for a morning or two may help ease symptoms like fatigue or daytime sleepiness, this is often not enough to adequately recover from sleep debt. Research has shown that it can take up to four days to recover from one hour of lost sleep and up to nine days to completely eliminate sleep debt.
That means on average, we're losing one hour of sleep each night—more than two full weeks of slumber every year. The good news is that, like all debt, with some work, sleep debt can be repaid—though it won't happen in one extended snooze marathon. Tacking on an extra hour or two of sleep a night is the way to catch up.
Parasomnias are a sub-category of sleep disorder. They involve abnormal and unnatural movements, behaviours, emotions, perceptions and dreams that occur while falling asleep, during sleep, between sleep stages or upon waking. Most people experience a parasomnia during their lifetime.
Extreme fatigue in women can be caused by high sleep debt, being out of sync with your circadian rhythm, your menstrual cycle and period, pregnancy, menopause, hormonal contraceptives, poor diet, lack of exercise, stress and anxiety, medication side effects, and medical conditions like thyroid issues or anemia.
The longest recorded time a person has slept is 11 days, set by Randy Gardner in 1964. Gardner was a high school student at the time, and he stayed awake for 264 hours (11 days and 24 minutes) as part of a science fair experiment.
The benefits of magnesium supplementation in healthy individuals aren't clear, but Dr. Nassar says that taking a magnesium supplement every day likely isn't unsafe for most people. Just be sure you're not taking too much magnesium. The maximum dietary allowance for most adults is around 400 mg or less.