ELI5- why do you feel groggy after two sleeps with a long gap?

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Why do you feel groggy/like a hangover if you are awake for 2-3 hours then go back to sleep as opposed to just staying up?

Eg you sleep 10pm-2am then 5am-7am, waking up second time is like a hangover.

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

That second sleep session is too long to be a nap, and too short to go through an entire sleep cycle. You end up waking up in the middle of one, and being woken from the depths of a sleep cycle is when you have that “I’m not supposed to be awake”, groggy feeling.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I’m more interested why sleeping 12 hours feels like I didn’t sleep at all and taking that 1-2hr nap after sleeping that long wakes you up.

Anonymous 0 Comments

You are entering full sleep cycles but interrupting them.

Throughout the night you need to move between light, REM, and deep sleep in a particular pattern (unique to you). This process is failing to complete.

Some people can reset a sleep cycle over and over again and ride that sleepy feeling constantly. Depressed people often use this a comforting place to hide from the world.