Waking Up Tired: How To Make It Through The Day And Improve Sleep
You follow all the right steps to obtain enough rest. You maintain decent sleeping habits. Every day, you wake up and go to bed at the same hour. You reduced your intake of alcohol and coffee. You limit your exposure to blue light and follow a restful bedtime regimen. Still, you feel exhausted when you awaken.
According to Statistics Canada for adults ages 18 to 64 and adults ages 65 and beyond, the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults, published in October 2020, recommend 7 to 9 hours of high-quality sleep on a regular basis with regular sleep and wake intervals. This study examines Canadian people’s sleep habits and how closely they adhere to the guidelines. Are already you among these lucky people? However, it's not just amount of hours; it's also about the quality of hours.
As it turns out, feeling rested involves more than what we've been told. Here, we provide the causes and the fixes that can enable you to get the rest you require.
Why Do I Feel Tired When I Wake Up?
Even if you've gotten enough sleep, there are a number of reasons why you can still feel exhausted when you wake up. Even little disturbances in our sleep patterns might cause us to feel drowsy and sleep-deprived during the day.
Your quality of sleep is influenced by four variables. As follows:
- Sleep latency: the amount of time it takes you to nod off
- Sleep waking: refers to how frequently you wake up during the night.
- Wakefulness: refers to how long you stay awake after falling asleep.
The National Sleep Foundation states that you are probably not obtaining good-quality sleep if you wake up exhausted despite getting a full night's rest. The following are typical causes of poor sleep quality and morning tiredness.
Sleep Inertia
Sleep inertia is the typical grogginess you experience in the morning when you first wake up. This occurs when we awaken, or when our alarm clock wakes us before we have fully recovered from a deep sleep cycle.
This time frame is typically only 5 to 60 minutes long. You can tell if you only have a slight case of sleep inertia by a few signs. As follows:
- Drowsiness
- Poor decision-making;
- Poor fine motor abilities;
- Disorientation
Sleep inertia isn't a problem unless you have specific duties that you must complete first thing in the morning, although you might not appreciate waking up feeling foggy.
Sleep Hygiene
It's crucial to get enough sleep if you want to wake up feeling rested. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine advises individuals to get at least seven hours of sleep every night. A third of Americans, though, are receiving less.
Sleep hygiene is a set of excellent habits you can adopt to set the stage for a restful night's sleep.
These include maintaining a regular sleep routine that involves going to bed and waking up at the same time every day (even on weekends), keeping your room cold and cozy, and refraining from drinking alcohol, caffeine, or eating too close to bedtime.
It is advisable to take precautions to ensure that you do not interfere with melatonin, a hormone that is naturally released in your brain after dusk to promote sleep. This includes wearing an eye mask, keeping your bedroom dark at night, and decreasing the lights in your home once it gets dark. Of course, we should also switch off our electronics at least an hour before bed. These devices' blue light emissions not only stimulate the brain when we are attempting to unplug, but also interfere with melatonin synthesis.
You might also make an effort to keep your bedroom as a haven for sleep. Create a calming nighttime routine, invest in a comfy mattress and pillow, and instruct your mind that this is the time and place for rest.
Breakfast meals rich in proteins, whole grains, nuts, and fruit with lower sugar content can assist battle morning weariness. A quick afternoon sleep, ideally lasting between 10 and 20 minutes, can also help you feel rested all day.
Circadian Rhythm Out Of Balance
It's also possible that your circadian rhythm contributes to your morning sleepiness. Your biological clock could work against you if you're crossing time zones or a night owl attempting to get up earlier.
Make sure you receive natural light in the morning to aid in your circadian rhythm. It can assist you in quickly resetting your internal clock and sleep patterns as well as signaling your brain to wake up.
Food That Disturbs Sleep
Your ability to sleep can be affected by the meals you eat before bed. High-acid or high-sugar diets can make it difficult to fall asleep. According to AARP, common foods that disturb sleep include:
- Tacos
- Steak
- Broccoli
- Chips and Salsa
- Dark chocolate
- Candy
- Celery
- Tomatoes
- Cheese pizza
- Black bean chili
Try avoiding these foods in the evening if you frequently wake up exhausted.
Nightmares
Sleep problems might also result from nightmares. Even if you don't wake up or if you do and understand right away that you were only dreaming, the unsettling feelings may persist and make it challenging to go back to sleep or have good sleep.
Unstable Mattresses Or Pillows
Your mattress and pillow may be the cause of your following morning's fatigue and aches and pains. Your spine should remain naturally aligned and unburdened by pressure points on your shoulders or hips if you have a supportive mattress and pillow.
How To Handle A Tired Wake-Up?
Now that you are aware of how important good sleep is for feeling refreshed, what should you do if you wake up feeling exhausted? You can avoid crashing by using the following techniques:
Stretch
Stretching naturally causes you to breathe more deeply and slowly. Long, calm breaths might help you battle fatigue by bringing more oxygen into your body.
Stretching helps alleviate morning fatigue by boosting blood flow throughout your body. It signals to your body that it is time to move.
Meditate
When you don't get enough quality sleep, meditation won't always make you feel more rested, but it can help you deal with the symptoms.
You can study your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations with the use of meditation. When you're feeling drowsy, it can help you focus your mind.
Utilize A Weighted Blanket.
You can feel better if you take a short nap under a weighted blanket after waking up fatigued. Breathing and pulse rate are slowed down with deep pressure therapy. Your body is telling you to unwind. You can feel better by taking those long, steady breaths that raise your body's oxygen levels.
You feel better as you go about your day because you are more at ease.
Go For A Walk
A quick, brisk stroll can give you extra energy. Your body's oxygen flow is increased by it. Additionally, the motion helps remove knots and tightness that could otherwise make you feel even more exhausted.
Even 10 minutes can feel like a cup of coffee during a short walk.
Nap
You might need to take a nap if you can't get through the day. Midday rest can be achieved by taking a nap. According to the Mayo Clinic, here are some tips for taking a nap that won't interfere with your sleep:
- Limit naptime to 10 to 20 minutes. While not too long to interfere with other sleep, this period of sleep is sufficient to recharge.
- Sleep in until 3pm. Any later and you risk interfering with your regular sleep patterns.
- Create a cozy sleeping environment. Use a weighted throw blanket and take your nap in a cool, dark space to help you nod off quickly and get the most out of your brief rest.
The best thing you can do to wake up feeling refreshed is to make sure your day is set up such that you receive good sleep.
Stop Waking Up Tired
You can stop waking up exhausted with good, deep sleep, but you still need to plan your day. What you do today improves your tomorrow's mood and helps you sleep tonight. Here are some methods to attempt in order to avoid getting up fatigued.
Prevent Dozing
Don't use the snooze feature in the morning. Get up when you first awaken. Even though you may not feel like you need them, short bouts of sleep, especially in the morning, can mess with your sleep patterns.
Your body will become accustomed to feeling awake at the same time each day if you get up when your alarm goes off.
Get Exercise
Your body will sleep better if you move it. Your body becomes fatigued at night by using its muscles and by working harder. Because our bodies were made to exercise and function during the day and relax at night, it maintains our natural circadian cycle.
Exercise is necessary to establish that natural rhythm because those of us with desk jobs have a tendency to remain inactive. We naturally have more energy during the day and less energy at night when we exercise regularly.
Avoid working out in the evening if you tend to release a lot of endorphins when you workout. Endorphins might take many hours to exit your body, which may make it more difficult for you to fall asleep.
Increase Natural Lighting
This also relates to sustaining your circadian rhythm. Your brain is given a boost in the morning by exposure to natural light. It aids your body in realizing that it is morning and that you should be up. Your body then begins counting down till the next time it should feel fatigued.
You can tell your body when you want to sleep and when to start producing melatonin by exposing yourself to natural light. When you finally do go to sleep, you'll be able to do so more quickly, get better sleep, and stop waking up exhausted.
Drink Enough Water
You'll sleep better if you keep yourself hydrated. Leg cramps and other bodily discomforts that keep you awake might result from even mild dehydration. Remember that you should drink the majority of your water during the day. Water consumption soon before night may not be a good idea. You'll drink plenty of water, but you'll need to get up at night to use the restroom.
Maintain A Healthy Sleep Habit
Use appropriate sleep hygiene to ensure you're getting high-quality rest. The combination of your sleeping environment and routines that promote restful sleep is known as sleep hygiene. Start here if you want to improve your sleeping habits and stop waking up exhausted.
Make a Dark, Cool Space
The environment in which you sleep matters. Most people find that their sleep is most comfortable in somewhat cooler environments, which are typically between 60 and 67 degrees. Your body temperature will drop as a result of the cooler environment, telling your body that it is time to slumber.
Additionally, a colder bedroom allows you to cuddle up under your blankets without worrying about overheating.
Why You Could Be Having Trouble Falling Asleep?
All of us have been there. You follow all the rules: you go to bed on time, put away all electronics an hour before lights out, and are completely rested and prepared to fall asleep at any time. The mind then goes into overdrive as sleep becomes elusive.
Why? Because once the daily distractions—work, family, housework, and the news—are no longer an issue, a busy mind becomes suddenly free of diversion and surfaces all of its thoughts as if a filter had been lifted. So many people who have trouble falling asleep are actually having trouble calming their minds. A restless, overactive mind can also wake you up when your body is resting and make it difficult for you to fall asleep again.
Utilize A Weighted Blanket
A weighted blanket encourages deeper slumber. You can stay in REM sleep longer because to the moderate pressure. You require this amount of sleep in order to wake up feeling rested.
A weighted blanket might still help you if you have a warm sleeper. By providing deep pressure stimulation and dispersing your body heat, a cooling weighted blanket will keep you cool and cozy all night.
Every Day, Go To Bed At The Same Time.
You'll get better sleep and quit waking up exhausted if you establish a regular sleep regimen. Our bodies enjoy consistency. When you establish a sleep schedule, you'll begin to feel sleepy at the same time each day. If you go to bed at that time, you'll begin to wake up every day at roughly the same time.
Your sleep will get better with the program, and you'll wake up feeling rejuvenated.
Boost Your Sleeping Conditions With Better Sleep Weighted Blankets
Tiredness in the morning doesn't have to be your reality. You may enhance the quality of your sleep and wake up feeling rested by making a few minor adjustments to your daily routine, such as letting in more natural light and practicing better sleeping habits.
Your respiration and pulse rate are slowed by a weighted blanket, which improves your quality of sleep. Your quality of sleep is better since you can fall asleep more quickly and deeply. The Better Sleep Weighted Blankets are a terrific choice because you can switch between getting extremely toasty in the air conditioning and having the windows open on balmy summer nights thanks to the removable covers.
Support the quality of your sleep with Better Sleep weighted blankets so that you may stop waking up exhausted and start feeling energized. This is how you can improve sleep.
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