Why does it sometimes take an hour for me to feel fully awake even after a good night’s sleep?
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There are too many possibilities to even mention lol. Some people actually need more sleep than they’re getting but because it’s eight or more hours they feel that that should be enough when for their body it’s not. Some people are clinically depressed and the morning time is when it is most expressed which shows in fatigue. Some people are biologically wired to just wake up a little more slowly for whatever reason. My husband would be one of those. Some people really, really hate their jobs and don’t want to go to them and that alone makes them feel exhausted. Just the thought of going. I have no doubt that others can add more reasons. As a nurse when someone complains to me of this the first thing I tell them is to sleep a little more and see if that changes it. I have five children and two of my children absolutely have to have at least 9 to 10 hours of sleep a night and they are adults. They have always been like that, even when they were small. My other three children are like me who act like rockets when they get out of bed and start running immediately. We also need only 5 to 7 hours of sleep.
Brain fog/grogginess can have lots of factors and scientists don’t know the EXACT cause but they have some theories.
– Reduced blood flow to the brain after waking up.
-An increase in delta brain waves (which are linked to deep sleep)
-Slower brain reactivation when you wake up.
-Deficiencies in certain neurotransmitters that are responsible for the feeling of alertness/wakefulness
-Increased levels of other neurotransmitters that cause sleepiness
Lots of theories, no clear answers. Some folks believe waking up during a certain phase of sleep causes this, which is why alarms and rigid start times in work shifts are toxic to humans. For others it’s dehydration. And no, coffee doesn’t fix that. It may also be an accumulation of sleep hormones and neuroregulators, which you need to pee out by peeing, pooping, washing your body, and drinking lots of water. Kind of like an engine flush.
And yes, there’s also depression and anxiety that interacts with this. Something related to the diurnal cortisol system, which impacts level of alertness when you wake up.
For others it’s a cognitive system, where you believe it’s okay to be a troll in the morning, you hate your job, and those few hours are a free pass to be a dick burglar.
One thing I haven’t seen brought up yet is sleep apnea, which affects how much deep sleep your body is actually getting.
What happens is your body has an “event” where you stop breathing for at least 10 seconds, multiple times per hour, and your body awakens to kickstart your breathing again. This happens throughout the night and causes your body to not get proper rest.
The chemicals that make you sleepy haven’t been flushed out of your system yet.
Pro tip: Wait 1-2hrs before consuming caffeine for the best and longest effect. Caffeine blocks the production of sleep chemicals but doesn’t get rid of them. If you give your body time to flush them out you’ll feel even less groggy after your coffee.
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