…I’m exhausted all day long.
I can’t wait to get home after work. I swear I’ll go to bed at 9:00!
And then I can’t, or don’t want to, go to sleep at night.
And then I get back on the treadmill the next day.
Fuck.
Try playing Reveille? 
Sounds like you need some better sleep hygiene. I’ve finally gotten mine back on track after 2 years. The best thing to do is to put some kind of radical change into your schedule. If you shower in the morning, try showering at night. Change your mealtimes. Sleep in a different position. Find something entirely different to do before you go to bed. It’s a long, frustrating process, but eventually something will click and you’ll find yourself falling into a natural rhythm.
The one thing that doesn’t work is swearing night after night that you’ll go to bed at 9:00, and then not doing it. Beating yourself up over it sucks. Experimenting with different options can be fun.
Story of my life. It really sucks. But most of the normal suggestions don’t help me either (don’t use any backlit screens for 37 hours before bedtime; only use your bedroom for sleeping even though you live in a small apartment and don’t have the luxury of all these single-purpose rooms; get up at the same time every day regardless of the fact that you don’t have to get up early for once and just fell asleep an hour ago after being up for 36 hours straight, etc.).
The only thing I’ve ever found that helps me sleep is reading in bed until I pass out. I mean, I can’t even turn off a lamp or anything when I’m ready to sleep because doing that will jolt me back into wakefulness. I use a Kindle with a light that turns off after 10 minutes of non-activity and usually just read until I end up dropping it to the side in the middle of a sentence.
Well, at least you’re getting some exercise with the treadmill. Might want to mix it up with some weights or rowing machine. Or get outside for a run!
I don’t remember writing this…yet I could have. Down to the 9pm bedtime.
You might get your vitamin D level checked. They’re discovering a lot more people are deficient than previously thought and you could be one of them. Megadose supplements are available from the pharmacist w/o a prescription.
Decreasing the amount of caffeine in your diet might help, if you haven’t already tried it.
I think my diet is varied enough that this shouldn’t be an issue. I’m outside enough at this time of year too.
I quit drinking coffee and tea entirely about 6 or 8 months ago.
Tomorrow I just know I’m going to sleep in till like 11:00 AM.
Didn’t you just go through an unpleasant divorce (as if there is any other kind?)
It sounds like stress. You’re tired and there is little joy in life, so you stay up late in the hope of doing at least something you like. And that makes you more tired and when you are tired you don’t have the energy to do stuff that really makes you feel better.
It is a vicious circle and you’re the only one who can break it. Easier said then done, I know. Sleep right, eat right, try to exercise a bit outside, try to socialize with people you like and have fun with and can be yourself with.
Sounds a lot like sleep apnea to me. Not to be too personal, but do you sleep with anybody on a regular basis? Ask them if they see you stop breathing frequently while you are asleep.
Go see a doctor. I’d been feeling that way at even more than my normal levels for a couple of years, sleeping less and less, more and more tired, and increasingly irritable and acting crazy (some of you may have noticed this). I eventually found a doctor who didn’t have tunnel vision and ordered just about every blood test on earth. Turns out I have some form of erythrocytosis (too many red blood cells). Past blood tests revealed increasing hematocrit levels for the past 2 1/2 years, corresponding to when things had turned noticeably worse. I’ve had some relief from a couple of therapeutic phlebotomies, but they won’t do more of those until they figure out the cause, of which sleep apnea is a possibility.
So if this is a continuing problem, keep looking for a physical cause, it may not be all in your head, and it could be something serious.
Are you a man? Men go thru Andropause and maybe your hormones need tuning up.
Justa thought, if you’ve tried everything else. Sometimes fighting uphill against screwed up hormones is futile.
I know the feeling, and it is awful to wake up tired. I had thought something may be wrong with me physically, and I asked a handful of friends if they ever woke up tired and were tired throughout the day as I was, even if they didn’t go to bed late, and everyone that I asked said that they do indeed wake up tired, etc. I don’t wake up tired every day, just some days, mostly after a strenuous previous day. The other folks replying to your post suggested getting your Vitamin D levels checked and I agree. Could you perhaps be anemic too, as that can cause great fatigue? In addition, lack of exercise increases fatigue also. Do you wake up tired every day, or just some days? Perhaps you could give us more info. about your fatigue.
Did you bump your head?
Unless there’s something I absolutely have to be up for, I don’t bother trying. I also don’t bother trying to get to sleep. Even with sleeping pills they just help me stay asleep, not put me out. Cold medicine will put me out but I’m not about to take that regularly. Anyway, I just stay up until I get sleepy, no point in just lying in bed futilely trying to sleep instead of doing something else.
Fuck morning people.
I’m not sure if this will help but, have you tried vitamins? Okay, I know, I know. I used to be THE most skeptical person when it came to vitamins. They “Help with energy??” yeah right! About four years ago I was going through the same thing you describe and finally went to the doctor after a morning that had me searching for my car keys for probably 20 minutes. My mind was absolutely completely BLANK on where the heck I could have possibly laid them down. As in, someone erased even the faintest memory of it with a scifi raygun type blank.
I ended up completely in tears, (am I showing signs of early onset Alzheimer’s?). On the way to work (after I finally located my keys in some bizarre spot), I stopped by my doctor’s office and just spilled it, along with my tears. My doctor at the time had been our family doctor for years and years and was kind of a friend of the family. At any rate, she sent me off for a test for vitamin D deficiency, and it turned out that I was drastically deficient.
She also suggested some other vitamins like B. I started taking L-Tyrosine on my own since I have low thyroid function (but just borderline and not low enough for synthyroid). It took some time to build it up, but it helped hugely with the lack of energy.
On a re-read, I see that you addressed the vitamin D issue. At the time I was diagnosed, I was still working in the field and got tons of sun, and had a good diet as well (I love spinach etc…). Might be worth a visit.
This made me laugh out loud. Probably more than it should have.
Still going through it. Still trying to get the house cleaned up and on the market.
No one to check at this point. See above.
Yeah, I know. I haven’t though, and I have a million excuses why I don’t have the time.
Male, yes. Well, considering my sex drive is pretty much non-existent (I’m 51) this may have some merit.
Every day. I dread the thought of getting up at 5:30 AM, but I dread the thought of going to bed early, even though I should. I can’t fall asleep and subsequently get about 5 or 6 hours sleep on weeknights. That sounds OK, but it’s not enough for me. I need 8 or 9 hours sleep every night to feel well.
Agreed. But I need to be up at 5:30 for work, five days a week.
No, because I think my diet is more than adequate, although my red meat consumption has dropped off the face of the earth since my separation 6 months ago. My ex was a red-meat-aholic and I’m happy if I never see another steak or roast in my life at this point. What are the symptoms of iron deficiency?
Symptoms of iron deficiency: Well, fatigue for one. But dont go diagnosing yourself with iron deficiency. Too much is as bad as not enough esp in men. Get tested.
Protein:
Doesnt have to be red meat, but do you get enough quality lean protein, like chicken, fish, beans, etc?
Dude, ya gotz da bluez. Can you think of anything you’ve been wanting to do for the longest time? Anything to get out of dat rut? Do EET!