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?!

Have you ever tried yoga nidra? The meditation bit at the end of a yoga class, but you can just do that for a longer time, like 20 mins.

It's kind of deep meditation that can help with sleep. We're often on the go so much that you don't relax fully. Should be able to find one online. Worth a try!

Try a sleep tracker to monitor the quality of your sleep. That should highlight any issues you don't know about that reduce sleep quality.

OP I’m the same. I literally can’t keep my eyes open. Have been tracking my sleep meticulously and i apparently need 9 hours which is a pain as DH only needs 6.

I’ve just booked some blood tests as no chance of getting them from GP but my diet is good, cooked from scratch 99% and I get loads of daylight. Watching this with interest.

I felt hungover when I got up to feed the dogs this morning and I’ve not had a drink for a month. It was awful!!

Agree with thyroid tests, I was permanently knackered before mine was medicated.

Hi, as well as checking iron or ferritin, which can be low if estrogen is/was and takes time to get back up, do you take testosterone with your HRT? Because that was the missing link for me. NHS doesn't routinely check it or address it as part of menopause care, its slowly slowly changing, but if using Medichecks and not taking testosterone already, you can get a finger prick home kit that will check ferritin, testosterone, SHBG which is used to work out your free testosterone percentage, and some other things, they have diff bundles. My private doctor likes it between 2-5%. Apparently during peri we need more sleep than normal! 8-9 hours. However you're getting a decent amount of sleep. I would also maybe consider that your cortisol levels are a little lower than normal during this phase of your life, if you pick up a bit later in the morning it could indicate that early morn cortisol is low but it may be normal at other parts of the day. Do you take progesterone? I take mine at night as it is a sedative.

yes check thyroid as others have said, you would get other symptoms with that, like hair loss, dry skin, weight gain etc etc

Do you snore?

I need 8.5-9hrs to stop me feeling tired. You're describing 8 3/4 hours sleep on average. For me that would be perfect but maybe your sleep needs are higher.

I do echo what PPs have said about getting a full blood check done for all the above. I have Hashimotos and it's fully medicated so my thyroid levels are perfect, but I still need the extra sleep.

I actually get about 7hrs most days (have a 2y/o and 4y/o), but I do also feel like a walking zombie and basically do nothing with my evenings cause I'm so exhausted all the time.

On weekends I can easily sleep 10-11hours on my 'lie in' day. And that day is the only day of the week when I feel alert and have energy all the way through to bedtime.

@Hanlonsamazer Hungover is the way I describe it too. I've been this way literally as long as I can remember (since being a teen). If I don't get enough sleep then I feel physically unwell, no appetite, sick etc. Not to mention all the other normal stuff with brain fog, memory loss etc.

Fortunately, DH copes much better on less sleep than I do, so he does more than his fair share of night wakings throughout the working week.

Definitely sounds like a full blood count is needed. I know straight away when my hb or iron is low as I get so tired. Lack of B12 makes me feel emotional and low. Definitely take vit d supplements, all year round is best, but certainly over winter (now till March). Hopefully it will be easily fixable and not indicative of an underlying issue 🙏 x

Sleep apnea does this for me. (And my MIL but she says she doesn't snore and the reason she wakes a lot and is always dropping asleep in the day is because of her 'active mind.' Apparently snorting herself awake is normal. And she snores like a freight train).

But anyway. I'd speak to the doctor to start to figure it out.

I would talk to your gp. There are things like sleep apnoea that affect sleep quality

I too would say get your iron levels checked, especially your ferritin. As you are a vegetarian, even though a lot of foods you eat contain iron it's a different type to what you'd get from red meat, so you may be iron deficient. I think it's how your body deals with iron from leafy green veg etc. I can't remember the details now, but did read about it when looking up about what food to eat when iron deficient.

It's heme and non heme iron, the latter is in veggies etc and is not as easily absorbed as heme iron from meat

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3967179/#:~:text=Dietary%20iron%20is%20found%20in,form%20of%20heme%20%5B2%5D.

I found drinking a very large glass of water as my first drink of the day helped me with getting up fatigue. I’ve also been trying to generally drink more water too and feel it’s made a difference. (I did also up my vitamins supplements but have dropped them now, will be going back on vitamin D for the winter).

Just a word of caution! DO NOT take fat soluble vitamins without a test indicating you need to do so! So make sure you are actually deficient in vitamin D before taking it every day. I take it because GP advised I was low and I check it every year. Most people are, but its better to be safe. Ditto iron, and magnesium which is not fat soluble but often recommended and you can also get too much of it.

I notice a definite difference in my energy levels when I take magnesium (before bed is best), vitamin d and iron (spatone especially). I don't take them religiously every day but when I feel a bit sluggish I know I need to take them more. I've always found a multivitamin useless, I don't know why.

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

Good point! When I was pregnant they said my iron was fine but I saw a different doctor who said they were 'fine' but that most people would feel rubbish with those results so she prescribed me some iron. Felt better immediately.

I listened to an American podcast on this. It was mildly quackish but they did say that the acceptable range is what’s acceptable for an average person now who’s probably overweight, underactive, overworked, chronic vitamin D deficient, eats too much processed food etc because unfortunately, that’s what modern life turns us into. Actual healthy levels are not really very well understood.

@Hanlonsamazer can you share where you get your private blood tests done? My GP isn't convinced enough to request a full blood workup, just hormones which probably won't be useful as I have coil and I'm on HRT....

And if you don’t share a bed with a partner, you can set up an app which will record any noises you make overnight and will quickly tell you if you are snoring. The sleep tracking on a Fitbit or Apple Watch is imperfect but would also give you an idea of whether you are particularly restless.

I’m post menopause (yay!) and got through … had all sorts of tests like thyroid, iron, inflammatory screen. All normal.

Dr prescribed vitamin D. I’ve been taking it about 6 weeks and it’s a miracle! Much more awake, joints and bones stopped aching, mood improved. I honestly feel like a different person.

I don't know if this has been mentioned and you might think it's left field, but I used to feel the same as you, tired all the time, but no explanation (had lots of investigations)
Turns out I have inattentive ADHD.
It drains your battery.