Why Wake Up Tired When You Can Wake Up Refreshed?

You know the feeling. You drag yourself out of bed, still exhausted, and confused because you just sleep for eight hours. It doesn’t make sense. You can’t seem to shake off the grogginess, no matter how much coffee you drink. You wish you could wake up feeling refreshed and ready to rock the day, but you don’t know how.

Well, guess what? You can. And it’s not all that hard. All you need to do is follow some simple steps, and you can start waking up to vibrant mornings and relaxing evenings. We’ll go over a few tips that’ll improve your sleep, and a few more that’ll help you make your mornings more exciting and energizing. Let’s discuss.

Waking up tired after 8 hours of sleep: How does it happen?

Eight hours of sleep is not always enough to feel well-rested and refreshed come morning. Plenty of us have experienced waking up tired, groggy and unmotivated after sleeping the recommended amount. There are several factors that may influence your grogginess upon waking up, such as:

• Poor quality sleep. The quality of your sleep is actually more important than the quantity. If your sleep is interrupted constantly, fragmented, or too shallow, you’re not getting enough of the deep and restorative stages of sleep that you need in order to feel refreshed. Every stage of the sleep cycle is crucial. Each cycle contains the following stages: N1, N2, N3, and REM sleep. Poor quality sleep may compromise your sleep cycles, barring you from reaching the deepest phases of sleep, such as REM. Poor sleep quality can be caused by various factors, such as stress, noise, light, temperature, or medical conditions.
• Sleep debt. That’s what you get when you don’t get enough sleep over time and your body starts to feel it. When you sleep less than your optimal sleep needs regularly, eventually it’s going to catch up with you. Sleep debt can mess with your brain, your mood, and your health, and make you drag yourself through the day. You can rack up sleep debt by staying up too late, traveling across time zones, working crazy hours, or having a messed-up sleep schedule.
• Circadian rhythm misalignment. Circadian rhythm is your body’s natural timer that tells you when to sleep and wake up. Your circadian rhythm is affected by things outside, like light and heat, and things inside, like hormones and genes. When it’s misaligned, it means your body’s clock is not matching up with your surroundings. This has a cascading effect across your body, and can mess with your sleep quality and quantity. If your sleep schedule is random, or you’re pulling too many all-nighters, your circadian rhythm will get thrown off.

How to improve your REM sleep: Start from the top

REM stands for rapid eye movement, and it is the stage of sleep where you have the most vivid and memorable dreams. While REM sleep is probably the most well-known stage of sleep, it’s actually equally as important as the rest of the stages: N1, N2, and N3. The N stands for Non-REM, and those stages account for about 70-75% of your total sleep time. If you want to improve your sleep, you need to improve every aspect of it.

There are a lot of things that can affect how much and how well you sleep, such as your sleep schedule, your environment, your lifestyle, and your health. Here are some tips to optimize your REM sleep and wake up refreshed:

• Keep it consistent. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends, if you can. This will help your body and brain get into a natural sleep groove and make it easier for you to fall asleep and stay asleep.
• Ditch the caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine. At least for a few hours before bed. These things can keep you wired and alert for hours after ingestion, so try and avoid them before winding down.
• Make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary. Make sure your bedroom is cave-like in its qualities: quiet, cool, and dark, and free of any distractions. This creates an association in your head between your bedroom and sleepiness, whereas now it might be associated with social media and binge-watching. You can also use aromatherapy, such as lavender or chamomile, to make your bedroom smell nice and relaxing.
• Stay away from screens before bed. They emit blue light that disrupts your melatonin, the hormone that regulates your sleep. Melatonin makes you sleepy and improves your sleep quality. Blue light at night tricks your body into staying awake, which lowers sleep quality. So turn off any screens an hour before bed, and relax with something else.
• Exercise regularly, but not close to bedtime. It boosts your health and sleep quality, while lowering stress, anxiety, and depression levels, which are natural enemies of sleep. But exercising late can keep you awake, as it increases your body heat, heart rate, and adrenaline. So work out in the morning or afternoon, and you’ll be sleepy by bedtime.

How to take back your mornings: No more waking up tired

Waking up refreshed is not only a matter of getting enough high-quality sleep, but also of how you start your day. Here are some tips and tricks to make your mornings more enjoyable and stimulating:

• Use a gentle alarm clock. Instead of using a loud and annoying alarm clock that jolts you out of your sleep, use a gentle and gradual alarm clock that mimics the natural sunrise. This can help you wake up more naturally and avoid the grogginess and irritability that can result from being abruptly awakened.
• Drink a bunch of water. When you sleep, your body can become dehydrated, which makes  you feel even more tired. Drinking water as soon as you wake up can help you rehydrate and feel ready to take on the day. You can even add some lemon, cucumber, or mint if you’re feeling bold.
• Stretch your body. Stretching your muscles and joints is one of the best ways to shake off the stiffness of sleep. It increases blood circulation to your brain and body, and helps bring you back to center. This gives you a boost of energy that flows through your body.
• Eat a healthy and balanced breakfast. Breakfast is actually the most important meal of the day. If you treat it right, the fuel and nutrients you get from breakfast can improve your mood, memory, concentration, and energy levels. You should be looking for a balanced combination of carbs, protein, and healthy fats, like oatmeal, eggs, yogurt, avocado, fruits, and vegetables.
• Do something that makes you happy. One of the best ways to refresh yourself is to do something that makes you excited for the day ahead. This can be anything, but no matter what it is, it should spark your passion. Reading a book, listening to a podcast, learning a skill, or working out are all wonderful ways to refresh yourself and boost your serotonin levels.

By following these tips, you’ll wake up refreshed and energized every morning, and enjoy the benefits of a good night’s sleep and an energizing morning routine. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, try them out and see the difference for yourself. And if you find yourself wanting to take your sleep even further, our six-week Sleep Bootcamp is just the thing for you.