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From caffeine to chronic stress, here is why your body is struggling to get the quality of sleep it needs.
Have you ever felt like you've slept for a decent amount of time, made an effort to get enough sleep, only to wake up feeling unrested? If you are wondering why this is, this is the place. In this article we will describe five reasons you feel tired in the morning.
Medical Disclaimer: While we do our best to provide you with accurate information, unfortunately our team does not contain any certified medical professionals. Do not take this information as medical advice, and use your best judgment on whether or not your condition requires medical care. Vitallis Blog only provides an informational resource, and the information should not be used for other purposes.
Five Reasons You Always Feel Tired In the Morning
Lack of Sunlight
If your room lacks natural light, you may have trouble waking up. Our body's circadian rhythm relies on the morning sun to wake up our bodies. While some scientists are proponents of sleeping in total darkness, this often requires the use of blackout curtains or a sleep mask. While this can be effective for getting quality sleep, it may also have an impact on our ability to wake up on time.
Sunlight acts as a cue to begin the day, and the body has a natural response to this stimulus. Aim to get sunlight exposure in your room or within half an hour of waking up in order to allow for best results and energy benefits.
What I find helps me is using a sleep mask with a window that provides natural light facing my bed. I know that in the night I will toss and turn, and the sleep mask will eventually come off. That way I can fall asleep in darkness but wake up in the light. However, this requires you to know yourself and what works for you.
Another way is to consider getting a timed lamp alarm. You can set the light to gradually increase before fully turning on at the designated wake-up time. This can mimic a sunrise. From there, consider getting natural light soon after waking as this is more effective than artificial lighting.
Schedule
You go to bed or wake up late often, at inconsistent times, or sleep in late on the weekends. While there is a common myth that sleeping can be "made up" on the weekends, this is really just disrupting your ability to get quality sleep during the week. Aim to get 8-10 hours of quality sleep every night. Try to keep this consistent between weekdays and weekends Furthermore, aligning your sleep schedule with daylight hours can help us maintain a steady and natural rhythm which will help you naturally awaken refreshed and ready to face the day.
This is pretty common advice, but honestly is not realistic for a lot of people. Some of us work late nights, and others may want to enjoy their college experience. Life can't be entirely about routine because other responsibilities and obligations exist. Realistically try your best to stay as consistent as possible, while understanding that it won't be perfect and that is not your fault. Important key points are that you try to keep a consistent wake up time, and if you can plan for it, take a nap (ideally before 3pm) on nights you will be up late.
Caffeine
Long term or late caffeine use can change your sleep cycle and limit the quality of rest you get. You may sleep enough, but feel tired due to quality. Studies have shown that caffeine can have a significant impact on the amount and quality of sleep even if taken 6 hours before. Caffeine use may reduce the amount of REM sleep you are able to get, which is considered restorative sleep. You should aim to get as much REM sleep as possible because this is the type of rest that makes your brain feel restored and awake at the beginning of the day. As a guideline, it's a good idea to stop drinking caffeinated products 8 hours before you go to sleep.
Additionally, consistent use can also have an effect on your sleep cycle. Caffeine use before bed can lead to problems falling asleep, which may mean you fall asleep later than usual. Assumingely, you will have to wake up in the same time in the morning, meaning you will get less overall rest, which contributes to tiredness. You may be tempted to use caffeine to combat this tiredness, which can create a positive feedback loop of sleep disruption.
Screen Time
Using a screen before bed can dysregulate our system, often leading to trouble or delays falling asleep. This can reduce the amount of time and quality of sleep. On this note, screen time can also be detrimental in the early morning, especially when social media use is involved.
There are a variety of reasons this is disrupting your sleep. The first is blue light exposure. Blue light interacts with the eyes and the brain in a way that mimics daytime. This messes up our circadian rhythm and limits the amount of melatonin we produce before bed. This is the hormone that let's us fall asleep naturally and sleep well. Therefore, using screens before bed can be detrimental to our natural sleep cycles, and this disruption can make us feel tired and unrested.
A similar effect happens with artificial lighting in general. Try to have dimmer lights and avoid screens as much as possible after sunset to get better sleep. You could replace a scrolling habit with reading a physical book or use the nighttime hours to pursue an off-screen hobby.
The second reason is that social media usage before bed can mess with our dopamine systems. This excites our brains. In the morning, using social media can be dysregulating because of the unearned dopamine response. It was also found that people who post on social media near bedtime can have problems falling asleep as they have an anticipatory response to other user's reactions. In general, avoiding use of social media before or after sleep is a good idea and can make you more refreshed.
If you have an iPhone, you can adjust your screen time settings to reflect this change. Consider setting downtime for socials between sunset and an hour or so after waking up. This may help you better regulate your sleep and dopamine systems in the morning or late at night.
Chronic Stress
When dealing with chronic stress, our bodies hormonal systems and HPA axis can be disrupted. This is the system that your body activates when it is under stress and needs to respond. Historically, this would be when the body was physically endangered. In the scope of modern society, there is an increased activation of this system for non-life threatening events. This can be a rude comment by your boss, or rushing to get somewhere on time, etc. We all know the feeling.
Rates of anxiety and depression are increasing. This is partly due to increased demands on an individual. Unfortunately, managing these feelings of chronic stress falls on us. Though a widespread societal/cultural change may be beneficial in improving quality of life across the board. What's more, is that chronic stress is terribly bad for your health.
A poorly regulated HPA axis can lead to an overproduction and retention of cortisol, which can disrupt sleep patterns. A common symptom of excess cortisol is waking in the night around 2-4am without cause. This can also influence sleep quality, which may make you feel tired in the morning.
This is a cause that requires holistic intervention and restructuring of your life. Seeking out a certified coach or doing an analysis of what causes you stress may help you remedy this cause, and you may need to seek out a holistic or medical provider if your symptoms become uncomfortable or severe. If you are looking for a more short term way to get back on track, you can explore supplements for reducing cortisol in the body.
Conclusion
There are a variety of reasons your sleep may not be where you want it to. Unfortunately, there are a lot of common reasons that can set this in play. While society may not support healthy and regulated sleep cycles, the first step to fixing them is educating yourself and making small lifestyle changes and seeing if they make a difference. If you have trouble sleeping consistently, please check with a doctor because it may be due to a medical issue that you should address.
Check out the rest of our posts for more health and wellness tips. Let us know if you've tried any of these tips and how they've worked for you.
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