Why is it when you sleep for 10-12 hours you end up more tired throughout the day than if you had 8 hours of sleep?
In: Biology
The most likely answer is that even though you slept longer you woke up in the middle of a sleep cycle.
Your body produces two chemicals related to sleep. The first is what puts you to sleep and your body gradually releases more and more of the chemical allowing you to eventually reach REM sleep. The second chemical is what wakes you up and that chemical is released slowly and if your body needs more sleep your body will release more of the first chemical so you fall back into a deep sleep. If your body thinks you had enough sleep more of the second chemical is released until you wake up naturally.
When you are sleep you will have periods where you are neither asleep or awake and in that state your body will register some stimuli (light level, a sound, temperature change, air pressure change, being touched etc)that your body will think it needs to wake up for because your body thinks it’s in danger. Now if you’re really in danger adrenaline will counter act the sleep chemical you’ll be awake but if when you regain consciousness you realize you’re not in danger you won’t have enough adrenaline or wake up chemical to counter act the fall asleep chemical so you will still feel tired.
Note: sorry I forget the exact names of the two sleep chemicals your body produces
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