Sleep = Rest and Rest = Rejuvenation, right? Yesterday I had a wonderful night’s sleep. I slept for about twelve hours and I woke up quite refreshed. Then after being up for about three or four hours I passed out in the recliner in my living room and when I awoke five or so hours later I was dreadfully tired. Does that make sense? How could I possible be tired after getting more sleep? If anyone knows I would love to know.
Thanks,
Omega007
You can get too much sleep. If you do, you may feel tired later in the day. If you don’t get enough sleep, you may wake up tired, but feel better as the day progresses. If you get too much sleep, the reverse can happen.
I don’t know why. But first, you did not state what your sleep pattern was for the previous days. Were you sleep deprived prior to your 12-hour sleep? I suspect you were, or you would not have slept so long.
I’ve always had problems with sleep. I’ve got to be either exhausted (from physical activity or sex) or drunk to fall asleep within of 10 minutes of lying down. Then, if I sleep longer and 8 or 9 hours I have a headache and am sluggish all day. I don’t know if this has anything to do with any of that, but I also get migraines.
My ex-wife could sleep for over 12 hours straight. It scared me.
Omega, do you normally sleep for 12 hours at a time?
I just spent a few minute looking around the web for info and didn’t come up with much. Hopefully Duck Duck Goose will come along soon and shed some light on the situation, he/she seems to be the master of the search engine. I did find this one sight
http://www.sleepnet.com/forum1/messages/1271.html
Check into that and see what you get.
I sleep for about 12 hours a day, everyday. I’m always tired. But I can’t seem to force myself to sleep only 8. Any ideas?
–Tim
Homer -
You say you sleep 12 hours a day and always feel tired. I had this problem as well. In my case it was Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (or fibromyalgia, depending on what kind of doctor I went to).
I’m not posting this to alarm you. I’m posting this to let you know there is a treatment for this illness. http://www.guaidoc.com explains this treatment. I used to sleep as much as 20 hours at a time. The few hours a day I was awake I was so tired I couldn’t function. But now I usually only sleep 8 hours a day, and feel much better when I’m awake.
This may not be your problem. Please feel free to e-mail me if you want to discuss this. I would e-mail you, but I can’t figure out how to find addresses.
I heard that the (average) sleep cycle was in 4 hour ‘chunks’ That is from light sleep to deep sleep back to light seep, or whatever.
So if you sleep for 12 hours, you’re ok. If you took another 2/3 hour nap, then you awake straight from deep sleep and are knackered.
It varies slightly form person to person.
There IS such a thing as too much sleep. And 12 hours for the average adult is too much. Just as your body produces adrenaline to get you moving, it also produces chemicals to help you sleep.
By sleeping too much, I suspect you temporarily altered your body chemistry so that you are producing too much of the “downer.” This is why you feel tired and lethargic.
However, for most people, their body will regain balance once they return to their normal sleep/wake pattern.
Occasionally there are people whose bodies do NOT regain balance. They may suffer from clinical depression – which is like having a day like you described (lethargic, tired, depressed) – every day. For them, drugs are needed to simulate the chemical balance.