Sleep, amount and quality
Discussion
Its been mentioned here before but I'm interested to hear comments and advice. I am normally asleep by 10:30pm (tonight is a late night for me!)
The flipside is I am awake around 5:30am. This happens pretty much automatically, my alarm is set for 6am but daylight wakes me earlier this time of year.
So, in theory I am getting a solid 7 hours sleep. I'm convinced I'm not getting decent sleep as some days (maybe 1 out of 5) I am ready to fall asleep mid-afternoon. Is there an easy way to tell or test?
The flipside is I am awake around 5:30am. This happens pretty much automatically, my alarm is set for 6am but daylight wakes me earlier this time of year.
So, in theory I am getting a solid 7 hours sleep. I'm convinced I'm not getting decent sleep as some days (maybe 1 out of 5) I am ready to fall asleep mid-afternoon. Is there an easy way to tell or test?
There can be various reasons for feeling tired in the afternoon but the one for a lot of people is poor sleep due to sleep apnoea. You can even think you're sleeping right through and your "smart watch" could be telling you that you are but in reality you're not actually sleeping properly.
Obviously, snoring is the giveaway that apnoea could be a thing but you need someone to observe that and also that you stop breathing. If that's not possible then, from experience, monitoring blood oxygen will show it as when you have sleep apnoea your airway is blocked, you stop breathing, your lungs aren't getting oxygen into your blood and this will be shown by a decent blood oxygen monitor. Again, whatever smart watch you use may not actually have the ability to proper sampling - my Fitbit Versa 2 was total garbage in that regard.
As I said, afternoon tiredness could be due to many reasons and you've got to go through and eliminate then. I'm throwing sleep apnoea in as it's fairly common, is often ignored for whatever reason, there's a few of us on PH who have it and it's easily addressed.
Obviously, snoring is the giveaway that apnoea could be a thing but you need someone to observe that and also that you stop breathing. If that's not possible then, from experience, monitoring blood oxygen will show it as when you have sleep apnoea your airway is blocked, you stop breathing, your lungs aren't getting oxygen into your blood and this will be shown by a decent blood oxygen monitor. Again, whatever smart watch you use may not actually have the ability to proper sampling - my Fitbit Versa 2 was total garbage in that regard.
As I said, afternoon tiredness could be due to many reasons and you've got to go through and eliminate then. I'm throwing sleep apnoea in as it's fairly common, is often ignored for whatever reason, there's a few of us on PH who have it and it's easily addressed.
With a son of 3 years old my sleep pattern is non existent.
I just can't get it back to the goto sleep, wake up have a wee at 3am, wake at 630/7 refreshed anymore.
I used to wake up and know the time, now I wake up at 530, think s
t I've not got more than an hour now and just get up hunting for caffeine.
WFH has it's advantages (if you know what I mean) regarding the bad nights but god this is horrendous.
I just can't get it back to the goto sleep, wake up have a wee at 3am, wake at 630/7 refreshed anymore.
I used to wake up and know the time, now I wake up at 530, think s
t I've not got more than an hour now and just get up hunting for caffeine. WFH has it's advantages (if you know what I mean) regarding the bad nights but god this is horrendous.
breakfan said:
Another angle to look at is diet rather than sleep.
If you are tired in the afternoon it could be due to a blood sugar crash from carbohydrates and sugar ingested earlier in the day.
I think you might be right. The only days this happens is when I am not working and home, largely on my own if a day off in the week.If you are tired in the afternoon it could be due to a blood sugar crash from carbohydrates and sugar ingested earlier in the day.
I dont eat breakfast but if home I will drink sweet tea and snack on biscuits most of the morning and then maybe have a lump of cheese for lunch. By 3-4pm my eyes are going!
The sleep apnea thing could be an issue. I don't snore and Mrs21 is a very light sleeper and shes never noticed anything but it could be happening. My O2 sats were montored a lot, a hell of a lot, during covid as i have an ILD but not at night so might be worth looking into.
May invest in a fitbit or someting similar, any suggestions?
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