I’m not sure I know anyone who isn’t tired anymore — there’s more to do in a day than any of us have time for, and enough going on in the world to make it feel like you can never really keep up with it all. But there’s a difference between being mentally exhausted and actually feeling like there’s something amiss in your sleep. If you catch yourself wondering, “Why do I wake up tired after eight hours of sleep?” it could mean that you need to make some changes — to your sleep environment, your diet, or your bedtime routine. In some cases, you might need a doctor’s expertise. Here’s where to start.
Think about how much sleep you need versus how much you’re getting, and whether the sleep you’re getting is any good.
This one seems obvious, but think about it: Are you truly sleeping for eight hours, or are you in bed for eight hours (meaning you’re spending some of that time falling asleep)? Make sure you’re building in buffer time to get comfy and doze off so you’re actually K.O.’ed for a full eight hours, says Dr. Aatif Husain, professor of neurology and chief of the division of Epilepsy, Sleep, and Neurophysiology at Duke Health.
There are also some folks who just need more Zs. Husain says different people need different amounts of sleep, with the normal range being between six and nine hours. Maybe you’re a niner.
The next thing to consider is the quality of your sleep.
“Just because you are asleep doesn’t mean you’re getting good quality sleep. Sleep quality depends on many different things,” Husai says. “One of the simpler things we often ignore is our sleeping environment. Do we have a comfortable bed? Is our environment quiet? Is it nice and dark or is there a night light if that’s what you prefer? Do you have a pet in the bed that’s disturbing your sleep? In other words, whatever it is that you prefer, is that how you’re sleeping? Those are things to think about.”
Fortunately, those are all things you can change. For parents, of course, it could be that your kids are waking up frequently at night too, which is not always in your control. “So even though you get eight hours, it’s a disrupted eight hours,” Husain acknowledges.
You know what does not help your brain get ready to shut down for the night? Watching like 50 TikToks about all the ways the world is burning before setting your phone on the nightstand and closing your eyes.
Start by putting your devices away ahead of your bedtime routine, Husain says. Don’t work right up until bedtime and then try to pass out, or exercise too late in the evening and get your body revved up. Engage in a relaxing routine that helps you wind down.
Some medications, including ones meant to help you fall asleep, can actually reduce the amount of deep REM sleep you get, Husain points out.
“Many people don’t get deep sleep if they’re on certain medications, then they may not feel as rested as they would when they were getting normal deep sleep. Many sedatives and sleep medications often give you filler sleep, or the lighter stages of sleep, at the expense of the deep sleep. And so even though you get more sleep, that doesn’t always equate to getting high-quality sleep,” he says.
There are also certain meds that can disrupt your sleep if taken too close to bedtime. Chat with your provider about your concern and ask if any of your prescriptions could be the reason you’re waking up unrested.
“If you’re drinking alcohol late at night, that could be disturbing your sleep. Alcohol will make people fall asleep fairly quickly, but it puts people into a very light stage of sleep, and once it leaves your body in about four hours, it tends to wake you up in the middle of the night. So you may end up getting to bed and getting eight hours of sleep, but it’s a poor quality sleep,” Husain says.
Your mental health can directly affect your sleep, Husain says. “With things like depression and anxiety, oftentimes as you’re about to fall asleep, you start ruminating, being anxious about what happened yesterday or what happened today, what am I going to do tomorrow? These are all things that can affect sleep quality quite a bit, and if that’s happening, that also should prompt someone to seek medical attention.”
The wonderful thing about trying to fix your sleep, Husain says, is that you should see results pretty quickly. If you find the problem, you could begin waking up feeling rested soon and feeling better overall within a month.
If you’ve checked all these boxes, it’s time to schedule an appointment with your doctor. They may be able to pin down what’s disrupting your sleep, and they can assess whether you’re dealing with a sleep disorder, like sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome.
“If you’re snoring pretty loudly and you’re disturbing not only your own sleep but also your bed partner’s sleep, that’s not going to get better with getting a different mattress or turning the lights down or something like that. If you have symptoms of restless leg syndrome, that should be evaluated too,” Husain says.
Interestingly, restless leg syndrome — a neurological condition that causes you to feel like you need to move your legs — tends to crop up for many new moms around the time of childbirth. Sleep apnea, on the other hand, can begin at any time; just because you’ve never had it before doesn’t mean it might not be to blame for your sleep issues now.
Pain can also affect sleep quality. Any persistent pain keeping you awake should be discussed with your physician. “Pain is not only there during the day. It’s there all the time, and it can affect your sleep,” says Husain.
There are so many reasons why your sleep might be lacking, but for every potential issue, there is a solution. So, don’t be afraid to experiment with blackout curtains and a new mattress topper, or to speak with your doctor if all else fails.
This article was originally published on scarymommy.com.
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