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 wake up between 5am and 6am with loads of energy and I have not had to set an alarm in over 10 years.

I went through a stage of waking at 3 to 4am last year though when I felt exhausted. Happily sorting out my HRT resolved this.

I’m in the bag of shite category. Never feel rested or like I had a great sleep. Don’t want to get up and spend all day thinking about going to bed. I love bed!!!

I could be going on a dream holiday and I'd still struggle to get out of bed. It's always been that way when I have to be up before 9am (which is pretty much every single day). It doesn't matter if I've slept well or not, or how long I've slept. I wish I could just spring out of bed, but when my alarm goes off I feel dead to the world.

When I was young up till middle age I slept well and would instantly be good to go on waking. Not now, thanks to chronic ill health. Takes me awhile to get going and I am perpetually tired. I am often quite dehyrdated on waking and find the best way to 'resume normal service' is to have a big glass of water (and if need be, added electrolytes), that very quickly perks me up. Still have to deal with stiff joints and so on, but at least my brain is reasonably operational!

I used to wake up and first thought was ‘oh no’! I just needed another hour in bed. Now with last kid at uni and my last dog (needed to go out for a wee about 7.30) passed away I don’t have to be up at any certain time. So I can wake up and lay in bed for a while, or go back to sleep. But I still wake up feeling a bit groggy.
My late DH was super disciplined and was up at 5.30am to get to the gym by 6am six days a week. Once he woke up he was up. My son (22) is like that too - rarely sleeps in and is usually up and fitting a run in before work. My DD (20) could sleep for Britain and while disciplined is always tired. She does have MS, and fatigue is a huge symptom, but she says she’s a low energy person by nature (albeit one who walks at least 10k steps a day and is in the library working most nights past 11pm). At home she could stay in her jammies all weekend and not venture further than the fridge, my son would be bouncing off the walls!

Being honest, I didn't even realise people woke up raring to go, such is my grogginess. I have memories of a handful times in teenage years where I woke up with the sun streaming in and feeling good. Otherwise even when I've stayed in bed late, the process of waking up is gradual and I still feel crap.

As an adult, I've rarely had enough sleep. I'm a night owl but my previous job meant getting up very early and travelling, and kids now wake me up early. They also don't reliably sleep through even though they're six and eight. And I have a lot of stress, which means I don't fall asleep until my body just hits exhaustion.

So at the moment, an average night is falling asleep between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m, and waking up around 6:30. It's been about 20 years since I reliably had more than 5 hours sleep a night, though before kids I would binge on the weekend.

And functional, but I know I'd be better with more rest. Even with all the rest in the world, I could never see me do anything other than roll out of bed and groan though 😂.

I'm fine if I don't have to set my alarm. I wake up naturally between 6-7 (occasionally later). I have a slow start to the day with coffee in bed which helps. I actually look forward to those mornings!

If I have to set my alarm and it wakes me, then I feel slightly less willing to get up, but again, the coffee in bed helps.

Bag o'shite over here

I also went through a chronic insomnia phase with perimenopause - thankfully now sorted (or at least sorted for now). I had a very different waking and morning experience then!

Neither. When I wake up I feel a bit fuzzy for 5 minutes and when I’ve committed to waking up the I’m on like a light.

I don’t spring out of bed because my bed is warm and my house is cold lol. But my energy levels in the morning are high and I feel happy. I wake between 7am and 9am.

When I used to have to get up at 6am for work I felt like shit. Ditto when I drank alcohol I didn’t have such a stable sleep-wake cycle as it would’ve disrupted at weekends and take ages to return to normal. I used to have insomnia when I drank and worked but now I don’t.

I do notice on the every odd time that I've experienced a dreamless sleep that I feel a whole lot better the next day. I will need to look into that.

I’m fine if I wake after 9am, otherwise it’s rotten. Night owl. Brain not on until 11am really.

I absolutely hate getting up. I’m so happy in bed, I sleep really well and it’s my happy place.

every morning without fail (and it’s been like this since I was a kid) I feel like death physically and the feelings of emotional dread just wash over me.

my husband is very chirpy in the mornings and I have to ask him (repeatedly) not to talk to me or embrace me in any way which I know he thinks is very odd but I can’t bear it.

I’m mostly fine after about an hour and can engage with the rest of the world but before then everyone can fuck off

Bag of shite here, I think it stated with peri but I’m now what I think is post menopause ( roughly 6 years since last period) and it just gets worse,
I had to change jobs so I start work 2pm which makes life more bearable.
wake up ( no alarm) approx 8-9am spend about 3 hours sitting and trying to work up the energy to shower etc. frequently feel nauseous, headachy and dizzy. I have ibs and I’m sure it’s linked…
cut out caffeine years ago, very rarely drink alcohol. Although I know my sugar intake is bad so really need to sort that out.
I know I sound like a twat whenever I’m trying to make an appt ( GP, hairdresser, plumber, meeting a friend for coffee whatever) and I have to say I can’t do anything before midday😱

I wake up desperate for a wee so that gets me up sharpish.

Once I'm up I really want a cup of tea and then I get hungry and want breakfast.

So, whatever my head feels like, my body kicks me out of bed and into the day.

I'm somewhere in between, feel a bit slow first thing when I wake around 7am. I'm a very light sleeper and probably get up to go to the loo and least twice a night. I can manage to do most things after about an hour of waking and some coffee, including going for a run, and am reasonably energetic by then.

I thought this too while reading the OP about the DH alarm.

If someone’s alarm woke me up (even if not fully) then I went back to sleep for an hour, I would def feel like bag o crap on second waking. Absolutely wrong point in my sleep cycle!

When I was younger I was always an early riser, I would always naturally wake up just before my 6am alarm no matter what time I went to bed. I had a zest for life. Then my life actually happened. Lots of horrible life events and health issues etc and medication. Now I can’t get up at all. Hit snooze continuously etc and feel drained.

My DH jumps straight out of bed when the alarm goes off and is raring to go.

I err on the side of struggling out of bed in the morning, especially on a work day and if it’s dark and cold. But I’m not too bad (probably functioning fully quite quickly, most days).

Some days disappointed to have woken up at all.

Dymaxion
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.
This morning was my first time in ages to get up before everyone else and had the loveliest cup of tea. I forgot how good it was to be up at that time!! (Went on mn then made lunches, it was so satisfying!!)

I hate it, but still get up as soon as the alarm goes off. I walk my dog within 10 minutes of waking up and that seems to make me feel more human.

I go to bed at 10 every night, often still awake reading at 2am. Woke at 3am this morning and was raring to go, despite not falling asleep until 1, may well sleep til 7 tomorrow and feel like shite.

If I wake before dhs 5am alarm I'm jumping outta bed and running downstairs for some nice peaceful time alone.

I seem to only sleep in 2 hourish bursts the now unlesss I've had a few drinks.

I don't want to be alarmist but some of the things you've mentioned sound like sleep apnea and I'd recommend chatting to the gp. Headaches in the morning are one of the main symptoms. Untreated it can sometimes lead to a stroke. My disability often comes with sleep apnea so I'm regularly asked if I feel groggy in the morning or have headaches. I'm sure it's nothing and just normal for you but there's no harm in getting checked out.

I'm 56 and have never sprung out of bed in my life! Apparently, even as a small child I loved my sleep and never got up until I had to.

When I was working in an office, I needed to be awake 1 and a half hours before I had to leave, 45 minutes to drink coffee and wake up, 45 minutes to get ready. And that was the minimum! I felt "rushed" on that. My ideal is more like an hour for each part, which I can do now I wfh all the time.

It amazes me that some people can be up and out of the house within half an hour. I just can't move that fast when I've just woken up and my brain takes time to engage. Even for things like a super early flight, I need at least an hour before leaving the house.