Does more sleep really help you feel less tired?

Do you feel like no matter how much you sleep, you never feel refreshed when you wake up?

This week, I'm going to break down why your sleep might not be the reason you feel tired and one thing you can do that will make you feel great every single day.

Sleep duration is not always the problem

Most of us think we need more sleep and if only we could get enough hours, we would finally stop feeling so tired all the time. But even when we sleep for 8 hours or longer, we can still feel exhausted or even more tired than when we have less sleep.

We often obsess about our sleep and blame our perceived lack of sleep for how we feel and function.

But did you know that the duration of our sleep doesn't actually predict our level of fatigue during the day?

Multiple studies over the past few years have shown that objective sleep measures (length, efficiency, ration of light vs. deep vs. REM sleep) don't really correlate with fatigue.

How long you sleep does not impact how tired you feel. In fact, they found that people who sleep longer felt more fatigued.

Speaking from my own experience, I can attest to this - I sometimes feel more tired when I sleep longer than 8 hours and it feels like my body is craving more sleep and taking longer to wake up.

Why we feel more tired the more sleep we get

The studies have not found a clear reason why this is happening but I have my own thoughts and theories on this.

When we give our body more sleep than usual, we are going into "recovery mode", similar to what happens when we get sick as soon as we are on holiday.

After weeks of constantly being on the go, your body can finally relax and give in.

I believe the same happens with our sleep. We often deprive ourselves of restful sleep during the week or when we are particularly busy with work or life's responsibilities but as soon as we relax and we give ourselves a break, our body uses the chance to recover and therefore starts to crave even more sleep.

Also, when we are in a state of constant stress, our sleep is less restful even if we think we get the "right" amount of sleep. This is because our heart rate needs to drop significantly in order to get a deep restorative sleep - something that doesn't happen if we don't build recovery into our routine.

So if you are stressed and find it hard to relax in the evening before bed, your overall sleep quality might be reduced and you will feel less energetic the next day.

What to do about feeling exhausted all the time

So what can we do to feel less fatigued and more "refreshed" on a regular basis?

First, we need to accept that sleep duration is not everything. The idea that you need to have at least 8 hours of sleep every night is working against you and making you feel like sleep is something you need to optimise and perfect like your work and it simply doesn't work like that. Sleep duration does not correlate with feeling less tired.

Sleep is hard to measure, even with trackers and devices and we often need to rely on subjective measures. The answer to "how did you sleep last night?" is very personal and individual and often can reflect our beliefs instead of how our body truly feels.

We need to accept that sometimes we wake up and we don't feel great and it might have nothing to do with how we slept. There are many factors at play including overall health, stress levels, diet, exercise routine and more so we cannot blame our sleep alone for how we feel.

How your morning can make your day

The best thing you can do for your body when you wake up is get up immediately and get on with your day.

Get sunlight exposure within 30 minutes of waking up, ideally by going out for a walk for at least 15 minutes - you will instantly feel better and more alert and this helps you regulate your internal body clock which in turn helps you sleep better at night.

If you feel sleepy as you wake up and it takes you a while to "fully wake up" - don't worry.

This is called sleep inertia and is pretty common in people with ADHD or if you are a late chronotype (meaning you prefer to go to bed and wake up later - a lot of people use the term "night owl").

You will especially benefit from getting up immediately as it will help you feel alert more quickly than if you snoozed and stayed in bed longer.

One of my sleep coaching clients who is self-employed working in real estate shared with me that focussing on a consistent and simple morning routine was truly life-changing for her and was the one thing that made the biggest impact in improving her sleep quality and overall wellbeing.

Even during stressful weeks with late night meetings that she can't always avoid due to the urgent nature of her work, she can get back into a healthy sleep pattern quickly by following a simple but impactful routine, every day:

• She gets up between 7-7.30am every day - with a little bit of flexibility on weekends

• She immediately goes out with her dog for about 30 mins

• She has coffee and breakfast and starts her day

• At this point she feels really productive and will often do a workout as well

Previously she would wake up, have coffee and breakfast and then "waste" a lot of time just sitting around scrolling on her phone, checking emails and feeling like it's taking her ages to wake up properly.

This was making her feel more tired and less motivated to follow an exercise routine- even when she was getting adequate amounts of sleep.

Making daylight exposure and movement the first activity and priority in her day was the key in improving her sleep quality but more importantly, her overall mental and physical health and keeping her more balanced during stressful periods in her life.

So remember:

• Feeling tired may have nothing to do with how much you sleep

• Sleeping longer can sometimes make you feel more tired because your body is craving rest and recovery from ongoing periods of stress.

• When you wake up - get up immediately, go outside and move - even for just 15 minutes.

• A consistent morning routine can be life-changing and the key to a more regulated body rhythm so you can feel great no matter how much you sleep.

What is one thing you can change tomorrow morning that will kick-start your day the right way? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch anytime. Simply comment or if you want to chat with me, book a free 30mins consultation: https://tidycal.com/thesleepnerd/freeconsultation

Sleep well,

Anne - The Sleep Nerd 🛌🌟😴