I go to bed at 10, wake up at 7;15. Why is that so hard?!?

[Whysoootired]

I think I go to bed and wake up at quite “normal” times. I get in bed at 10, it maybe takes me half an hour or so to fall asleep. Then I get up at 7:15.

But I am SO TIRED every morning and then really slump around mid afternoon every single day. I WFH and, if I have time, I often take a cat nap on the sofa for 30 mins! (Rarely have time for this though.) I don’t drink caffeine.

I eat well - lots of homemade food with fruit, veg, legumes etc, I take a multivitamin. I’m peri menopausal but take hrt (but, tbf, I’ve been like this most of my life).

Left to my own devices, I’d probably wake up at 9am. I wouldn’t be tired that day at all (this is what I do on the weekends sometimes).

That can’t be healthy, right?! (YABU - that’s normal, YANBU - that’s not right!)

Please help - why am I so tired?!

I'd get your thyroid levels checked. Although, before I started taking thyroid medication, no amount of sleep made me less tired.

I take these ones - the ordinary ones rather than advance or womens https://www.activeiron.com/all-products/?utm_medium=ppc&utm_source=adwords&utm_term=active%20iron&utm_campaign=&hsa_src=g&hsa_kw=active%20iron&hsa_mt=e&hsa_acc=8468735630&hsa_grp=145894880346&hsa_ad=649091024543&hsa_cam=19728224116&hsa_tgt=kwd-312330651786&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gbraid=0AAAAADicPx-CR_SFo4cJ1fULYcZE-JIWf&gclid=Cj0KCQjw06-oBhC6ARIsAGuzdw2nDXG1QLFmfjD_w64BffBdiBjvglXOUa9BWWihFFMoqV8qg2wHSfQaAvGiEALw_wcB

How old are you OP? Perimenopause knocked me for six and was constantly exhausted despite an active life like you.

I’m a teacher. In school holidays I was going to bed around 11 and naturally waking around 9am. So that’s 10 hours sleep. I have kids but they are old enough now in holidays to let me sleep. On school nights it’s still 11 when I get to bed most nights as there’s stuff to do and wind down. If I try earlier - say 10 - I struggle to get to sleep. But I’m always shattered for the work get up at 6:30pm, or the 7am getting the kids up on my job work days. Weekends vary as kids activities still mean an 8am wake up on a Saturday but an9am on a Sunday. I definitely just need my sleep and would love a job that starts later in the day!!

Do you drink any alcohol? I am peri-meonpausal and I have found that alcohol wreaks havoc with my sleep - sadly even alcohol just at weekends these days has a knock on effect into the week for me. I feel at my best if I drink herbal tea and take a magnesium tablet 30mins before bed, no phone 1 hr before and no caffeine after 12pm

I go to bed at 11pm, wake up at 8am, which is 9 hours of sleep. Or it would be, except I wake up at least 3 times a night for various reasons. I’m also anemic so my energy levels are non existent as it is, and I seem to have a mild form of sleep apnea so that also impacts the quality of my sleep.

I just take naps when I need or, or if I can’t take a nap, dose myself with caffeinated coffee. I don’t drink coffee often, so it seems to still work for me. Although I get a bit loopy after just one cup 😂😂😂

Do you wake up during the night? Have any sort of medical issues that could cause your tiredness?

I would say record what you are eating when and have a think about if you are keeping sugar levels steady rather than spiking them. If you are getting highs and lows of energy it maybe that you need to tweak how you are eating and what you are eating a bit to get a more steady blood sugar especially if you are getting a mid afternoon crash. which is especially likely if you have a carby lunch e.g. sandwiches/baguette or similar

As a menopausal woman I have found the tiredness is part of the whole thing and have also asked my GP to inc HRT to a normal dose of 50 as I started on 25, patch and tablet, which was fine to start with (I think I was still peri at that point) but that touch more has helped me get better sleep so am less tired in the am. I go to bed anywhere between 11 and 1am and wake around 6.30 to 7.30 depending. Also known to sometimes need a 30 min snooze around 4.... Just to say I am dealing with type 2 as well, insulin production is also effected by menopause/hrt btw for anyone else in my situation.

This. I was vit D deficient, I was sleeping for 9 hours and having a 20 min snooze in my lunchtime.
I then emigrated to southern Europe , had to get my bloods done before I moved due to joining a private health insurance and they picked it up. 6 weeks of getting out and about in the daylight brought my levels up to normal.

Do you get out in the fresh air during the day ? May be worth getting a suppliment.

Who is going to take her kids to school then?

Floradix is probably the easiest on the stomach - comes in pill form too if u hate the taste of the liquid.

Yes, as others have said, B12 also needs checking too - very common!

Also, make sure you get the actual results of your B12 and iron tests, as the range of "acceptable" levels is quite low for the NHS (lower than in other countries). I.e., I am usually just inside the permissible levels of both and yet I feel terrible, whereas when I get the B12 injections and take iron supplements until I'm in the middle of acceptable levels, all my symptoms of fatigue and shortness of breath go away!

Definitely get your vitamin D checked. I was same - loads of sleep but still needed daily nap - and bloods showed my level had crashed. Naps have stopped now I am taking a daily dose.

Sounds like you are doing lots of things right.

It might be that your sleep quality is poor so you don't feel rested. Fitbits and the like worn at night can give you at least a crude appraisal of sleep quality.

Also get a blood test and check hormones*, thyroid, iron.

I take a Floradix tablet twice a day. My diet is good but it can be hard to get enough iron.

Also magnesium can be low in peri-menopause - the nicest way to get this is a bath with Epsom salts - you need to put a lot in, in as warm water as you can stand, and have a soak for at least 20 minutes. Personally I eat about two heads of celery a week (and quite a lot of houmous!) - loads of magnesium in celery.

You might not be eating enough protein or fibre (or iron)- Nutracheck is a brilliant app, costs about £30 a year - great for checking the composition of your diet and there is a lot of sensible advice available from their nutritionists.

*The one thing that improved my energy the most was taking oestrogen again- I'd been on progesterone only pill for years but switching back to combined pill for a couple of years I feel like a new woman.

I've also improved my fitness- though I was going yoga and lots of walking before I now do cardio and weights in the gym three times a week, so my cardio fitness is much improved. When I tried to do this years ago it just killed me rather than helping so the oestrogen has made a big difference in that I can now exercise like I did in my 20s.

Other things - I have a very good bedtime routine. Low lights from 9pm, I spend 10 minutes massaging my feet and hands with lavender foot crème when I go to bed and put a few drops of essential oil in a burner. I put an audio book or podcast on with a timer and am normally asleep in ten minutes.

I still do the yoga by the way too- it really helps with peace of mind at night.

Perhaps combo of age ( I’m more tired in perimenopause and your diet) I’d definitely have iron levels checked and track protein. I suspect your protein intake is low.
If you can shift to later wake up with wfh do it. Lots of firms are flexible especially if health reasons involved. 9-6 May suit better than 8-5 for example.

Yes, this.

You get 8hrs /8.5ish a night

Maybe you need 9/10

Try going to bed 930

Then 9

You may be a bit depressed or sleeping a little bit too much. Read about circadian cycles, you may be waking up in the middle of one (period of deep relaxation) and coming out of bed more tired than if you have come out of bed an hour or two earlier at the end of the previous cycle.

I have also found that sitting outside with a coffee or walking the dog at the crack of down makes me feel full of energy while I am totally tired throughout the day if I stay in bed two hours more than I should. 🤷‍♀️

I really struggled with tiredness when WFH and am better in an office but do need a lot of sleep. On average I go to my bed at 9.15 one of two nights a week or I am exhausted.

Sinus inflammation can leave you exhausted too. And sleep apnea might be worth asking about too.

You do sound like me. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times as an adult that I have woken up feeling refreshed - I normally feel more tired than I did when I went to bed.

I finally got married when I was almost 50, and DH told me that I walk all night (in the bed, apparently), sit up in bed to turn over, punch him in the night (yes, really!) No wonder I'm so bloody tired. No solution I'm afraid, but wearing a fitbit or similar might at least diagnose this. Perhaps you'll be pushier than I have been about getting help for it.

(I do wonder why neither of my previous long term BF mentioned this. Perhaps I previously hooked up with very sound sleepers!)

Haven't RTFT but have you heard of chronotypes? There's a theory that some people are designed to sleep later / wake later as a tribe survival thing – someone to stay up and watch for lions or whatever. Some organisations have trialled letting their employees work based on their chronotype and had good results.

Sleep apnea causes sufferers to wake up multiple times at night, sometimes not even knowing about it and leading to daytime sleepiness.

If you snore, it might be worth getting checked for sleep apnea.

It does sound like you need more bioavailable protein - can you eat more eggs and dairy, if not meat?