Why is it that when you sleep longer than usual, your body (or at least your mind) stays tired? Hmm… usually, I have more to a question than that, but well that’s about it.
I can’t quite wake up…I’ll get back to you on this after my nap.
but I can’t find it.
I seem to remember that whatever it was that I read on this subject, (Cecil column or a more unreliable source) said that there is no reason you feel tired after too much sleep, because you don’t feel tired after too much sleep.
Or at least that getting extra sleep doesn’t make you feel more tired than you would have if you had gotten less sleep. It may seem that way, and you may have been told that a thousand times, but it ain’t true.
If you’re describing the feeling I’m familiar with, Jophiel, it’s not so much feeling tired as it is feeling a bit groggy. A WAG would be that you’ve had a bit too much of whatever mix of neurotransmitters are associated with a sleeping state. Just a WAG, though; I’m having a little trouuble waking up this afternoon.
I could have sworn I read a column by Cecil on this, too, Lance. But I could not find it either.
I know that feeling all too well. My head aches, my bones ache, I just want to sit around and do nothing. Well, that last part is pretty common, too much sleep or no.
If you eat certain foods before taking the nap the food can have that effect. Chocolate for example.
I could have sworn there was a column on this too, but here we are.
But at any rate, yeah – I’m talking about the sort of situtation where you have a day off, for example, and sleep in past the typical eight hours. In fact, you generally wake up, look at the clock, notice it’s 10:45am, notice your head feels heavy as a rock, drop back asleep and repeat every one and a half hours until it’s suddenly 2:00ish. It seems that if the body requires 6-8hrs of sleep, after that 6-8hrs you should be ready to go, not feeling like more crap than you felt after sleeping 5 hours.
This the column y’all are looking for?
Why do you feel groggy after oversleeping? Plus more on how Mr. Ed talks
Yep, that’s the one. Although, I have to say that it all sounds like a crock to me. I feel like crap after ten hours of sleep because I thought I’d feel extra-great and instead only feel great? Give me a break. Well, I can’t blame Cecil – it’s not his fault the scientists can’t come up with a better reason than that.