Sleep Issues - Thoughts?
I have come to realize that I would like to fix something I have grown aware of regarding my sleep. I am not sure if this is common or not, so I would really appreciate comments from everyone regarding this:
- It is very common for me to awaken to my clanging alarms, and feel very tired. Part of this may be that I do not get enough sleep, I realize that. However, even if I do get a variety of days of full sleep, I still feel similarly when I awaken.
- I do not believe I have sleep apnea. I do not snore. My wife attests to this. My wife has sleep apnea so we do recognize (at least her) symptoms.
- My wife reports that I either sleep a) without moving at all, and she sometimes gets worried that she cannot "tell if I am alive" because I sleep so deeply/non-movingly..... or sometimes b) I sleep with lots of rolling around and moving around much of the night. But..... there seems to be no correlation between either sleep pattern and whether or not I feel very tired in the morning. I always do.
- I often feel SORE when I wake up in the morning. This is often in my shoulders, and only occasionally in my hips.
- But.... I have grown accustomed to knowing that I can feel back up to snuff if a) I go running right away in the morning (even if I do not want to, I often do so.... just to feel better and more alert), or b) I am awake for an hour or two and perhaps have some water or coffee.
- My TMJ does not seem to correlate either regarding sleep. Some days I awaken with TMJ symptoms, sometimes not. But, I always feel tired.
The thing that is hard for me to understand though, is that after I am up and about (in some method like in #5), I do then tend to feel normal, feel alert, and feel awake and not tired.
But.... I keep thinking that I should AWAKEN feeling refreshed, feeling rested, and feeling good. But... that does not really happen. I have to force myself to get up... and force myself to do things and then eventually I feel awake, feel "rested" and feel "good" or at least "normal".
This is not really NEW. I think I have felt this way much of adulthood. I can recognize this as being a way I have felt for AT LEAST a good dozen years for certain, but probably longer. I am just kind of beginning to REALIZE how I feel upon awakening, and I am now cognizant that I would want this to be different, and I am not sure if what I feel is "normal" or not as well.
Any thoughts? Any ideas?
PipeTobacco
4 Comments:
I only tend to snore when I doze on my back in my chair. It wakes me up, so I don't do much of it. It's more like a passing snort.
I have my Celebrex and Arthritis Tylenol at night because I can get sore being in bed, more so than when awake, I think. When I am awake, I move more. I guess, like you, I tend to sleep quietly although I do wish that I could sleep longer.
I don't think it's abnormal at all to wake up feeling unrefreshed. When I worked and got up about 5, I would feel half-sick until I walked around a bit, had my coffee and breakfast. Now I get up when I feel like it and still feel stiff and a bit out of it--until I get going. Old age? ;)
Professor, are you sure your mattress is doing its job? I found that my sleep improved dramatically once I replaced my old mattress and added an adjustable base, which makes it easy to sleep at at an angle with the head raised a bit (which apparently is often beneficial for mitigating GERD and as well as helping with sleep apnea). If you are sleeping on a too-old mattress, you might want to consider a new one -- perhaps even a "split-king" so you and your wife could sleep with different preferences (for angle of mattress as well as firmness). Some people have strong preferences for the memory-foam feel of a Tempur-Pedic or similar mattress, while others do well with a latex or hybrid (latex or foam on coils) mattress. But if you are waking up sore in the morning, I'm guessing that your current mattress isn't giving you the support your body needs at night, and a new mattress might be a very good investment in your health and comfort.
I’m not convinced you can *fix* this. Does anyone ever really relish getting out of bed? Not I. Falling into bed each night is heaven. Arising the next morning is not.
Clanging alarms and staying up too late are your enemies. And the only things you can control.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home