How do you feel when you wake up? Do you spring out of bed or feel like a bag of shite, or somewhere inbetween?

[MonsterMunchforbreakfast]

DH's alarm goes off around 5.30am. He never presses snooze, as soon as it goes off he's awake and alert, he leaps out of bed and he's good for the day ahead.

I have never been a great riser, from as early as young childhood I have found getting up to be a mammoth task (I do love sleep and love my bed so very much). I feel deep in slumber when my alarm goes off at 6.45am. I have to stand under a hot shower for ages just to feel any resemblance of a human being and even then it takes me several hours to come round. I often feel achy, nasally and slightly headache/woolly headed and my body feels anything but awake.

I do have some chronic health issues. Nothing serious but my decades long IBS means an uncomfortable tummy and frequent toilet trips first thing. I also have endometriosis and adenomyosis which will often flare up and perimenopause definitely isn't helping the issue. I am also going to look into joint hypermobility.

I keep my bedroom at a comfortable temperature, the mattress is fine and we also have a comfy topper. I eat well, I don't drink any alcohol, walk lots and wind down every night with the Calm app yet I always feel like a bag of shite when I wake up and I have no idea what more I can do to feel better. I won't start work until later as I always feel so rough for the first few hours of waking.

Does anyone else feel like this? Have you been able to improve things? I would love to be able to enjoy my mornings more moving forward.

I have really bad insomnia since childhood, it's a nightmare. I cannot sleep until 2/3/4am even if I try. It's painful waking up at 7 for my day when I've only managed 3 hours sleep. I suffer very bad with my mental health so it's a constant loop of no sleep making it worse but can't sleep because my MH

Sometimes if I fall asleep by 1am I actually wake up with a spring in my step 🤣 but any other time im grouchy

I really feel for you. I suffer badly with anxiety and depression too and not sleeping well just makes everything so so much worse, doesn't it?

Depends on the day, and how much sleep I've had seems to have absolutely no bearing on it. Today I was up and raring to go at 4:30 after a grand total of two hours sleep. The day before I had a full 9 hours and couldn't drag myself out of bed for half an hour after waking.

Shite. Always. 💯

I used to spring out of bed, down a hot drink and be ready for the day. Now I take sedative medication that acts as pain relief and gosh it's painful to wake up now. I can definitely see how night owls struggle.

I had suffered from insomnia since childhood, along with anxiety. A couple of years ago my GP put me on Escitalopram. Now I have zero anxiety and perfect sleep.

As for the morning, if I haven't drunk alcohol the night before I spring out of bed. If I have drunk alcohol, my head is foggy and it takes me ages to wake up properly.

I’m a morning person, always have been and get straight up about 6am despite being retired. Always need a wee so can’t lie there very long anyway.
A lifetime of having horses to see to may have influenced this waking time although I no longer have any.
Plus my cat will be telling me it’s breakfast time too because she’s a morning (noon and night!) person when it comes to food.

I am the same, lovely bed and room, I love my sleep and I generally sleep well and need about eight hours which I get. I do have some chronic illness including migraines which can often hit first thing in the morning, or I get rebound headaches in the morning from painkiller use which do shift with lots of water and a coffee.
i would love to be the type of person to just get up and be awake but i feel the transition from sleep to awake is very hard for me!
i am following for any tips as I desperately need them!

It takes me a long time to really feel awake and ready for the day, around an hour. I've always assumed it was because I'm a deep sleeper.

My alarm goes off at 5.15, often I am awake before it. I never feel great, but I am very fat and drink too much.
I actually love the hours before I have to wake the rest of the house, it is my time and I spend it unwisely drinking far too much coffee and watching or listening to the news. I could do some exercise I suppose as this would be the ideal time.

That's interesting. I did try Escitalopram a year or so ago but couldn't tolerate the nausea. Maybe I should give it another go?

I do envy you, I'd love to be able to get out of bed and just get on with things. Even my dog doesn't rise until 10am lol

Wish I could wake up full of joy and embrace the day. I dread every day.

I often wonder too. I dream heavily and a lot, I'm not sure if that means I sleep heavily or not though?

Varies. If it's an alarm day during the week, I think it depends where I am in my sleep cycle - if I get woken up directly from a dream, that tends to throw me all morning, sometimes all day and it's really hard to pull myself together. If I'm in light sleep when it goes I wake up pretty easily.

I think that's an indicator that you often wake during a REM cycle, which does make you feel groggy and confused.

I also think there are ways to work out the length of your cycles and adjust your bed/alarm times so you wake up at the end of a cycle - maybe worth looking into?

100% shite. I have a longstanding neck pain issue that means I rarely sleep well, am itchy in various places due to menopause, and have a dog that likes to get me up between 5am and 6am (she's elderly and needs a wee as soon as she wakes now). Most nights I am awake several times, and then when the dog 'finally' wakes me I feel like a zombie. I literally cannot remember the last time I felt refreshed and I don't think I've 'sprung' anywhere in 20 years!

Hi. Is that the the rush of cortisol in the morning? I had that. I dreaded yet another day. I’m now on citalopram and I don’t have that awful feeling

I always use to wake up in great form ready to start the day .
Now since perimenopause hit , I wake up feeling anxious , down & out 😔 & that’s every morning.
It sucks , I miss the old me so much .
I’m 50 now , going on since 47 .
I will say once I’m out of the bed , I am fine again . I’m not as motivated as I always use to be either , I hate that !.
I still go to work , look after the lads well, & do everything I should be doing but I’m still not the same me 🤷🏻‍♀️

I am absolutely a night owl. I have never been a morning person, always struggled. I now take ages to nod off.
DH was commenting yesterday that " its so wierd, my alarm went off at normal time but I was still asleep!! Then I just didn't want to get up.IWhen I did I felt really groggy for ages. I think I'm coming down with something..." I'm always like that.

I can remember my DM telling me that every problem feels worse at night, so write them down so you can worry about/solve/talk to someone about them the following day. It does work, but then they just get replaced with something else to think about - eg tomorrow's dinner, or whatever.

I have to set three alarms on my phone as I’m often so deeply asleep that the first couple don’t rouse me. I usually have to take a few minutes lying in bed trying to wake up properly and often still feel tired.

Oddly, if I wake up in the middle of the night because my child has got into my bed, or I’ve woken up needing the loo, I’m wide awake, ready to get straight up, and can’t get back to sleep for hours!

I never hit snooze as I always feel a million times worse if I do. I go to sleep around 11/11.30 and wake up at 7 with no issues.

I do feel rough this morning as had trouble dropping off last night. Probably got to sleep about 1.30am. Up at 7.30. Lately my digestion is bothering me, and had strange very hot feet in bed.

(Preface - I'm a big sleeper. Love my bed, love to sleep, ideally a 9 hours solid kid of gal.) So, I listened to a podcast about sleep, and it was talking about how when most of us wake up, we are not only dehydrated, which makes us feel rough anyway, but we are also in the midst of fairly serious caffiene and sugar withdrawals which is why so many of us feel horrifically sluggish but then better after our first tea or coffee. Not sure if it's relevant for you, but after some experimenting, it deffo is for me. Something to think about! My other tip is to use an app to track your sleep cycles. Waking up in the right part of a cycle helps a lot, too.

I used to be the same but a few suggestions that might help.

Look at and read into sleep cycles - everyone has different sleep cycles - it might mean you’re getting too much or too little sleep or being wakened in the middle of a sleep cycle which is making you groggy. If I’m reading this correctly, your DH gets up at 5.30 and his alarm is also waking you up but you don’t get up till 6.30? If that’s the case, you’re wakened by DH’s alarm then you probably fall asleep and go back into a deep sleep again and are mid deep sleep cycle when your alarm goes off at 6.30 resulting in tiredness/ grogginess. Could you go to bed earlier and both get up at 5.30 together or DH sleep in a different room for his days that start at 5.30? Just a suggestion.

Also get tested for coeliac disease - everyone with IBS should be tested for this now before being diagnosed with IBS. This could cause fatigue as well as a lot of your gut symptoms. Hope you find a solution x