During sleep, the body’s major organs are doing self-repair—the heart and the brain, the lungs, the digestive and circulatory systems all depend on rest to recover energy levels, maintain weight, bolster immunity and keep you at optimum health. The rule of thumb is to get eight hours of sleep, more or less, depending on your individual needs, but what does it mean when you sleep but still feel tired?
There’s a difference between restful sleep and sleeping. Restful sleep can help improve heart and brain health, support steady mood, boost energy, reduce stress and even lower your risk of chronic diseases.1 On the other hand, if you’re sleeping but fitfully with multiple wakeups, or have a hard time falling asleep to begin with, you’re not getting the quality sleep your body needs to function at full capacity.
Here are some tips for obtaining restful sleep, that is, falling asleep and staying asleep until it’s the right time to rise:
• Give yourself time to wind down at day’s end. Don’t do anything strenuous close to bedtime, and try for calming activities, such as reading, meditating, drinking chamomile tea, and simply relaxing.
• Create a good sleep environment. What this may include is a room temperature that is on the cool side, since sleep studies find that cool temperatures (about 65º F or 18 Cº) are more conducive to deep sleep.
• Try for complete darkness. The body reacts to light, equating it with action, not rest. Black out curtains work to help your body reach a state of rest.
• Listen to quiet or soothing sounds. Many parents turn on a sound machine to drown out “active sounds” so their babies can sleep, and this trick actually works on adults as well.
• Practice slow, deep breathing to help you fall asleep. If you awaken during your sleep hours, repeat the same slow breathing.
• Cold water tends to be something that wakes you up, so opt for a hot bath or shower before sleep. The warm water initially raises your body temperature, and then as it cools down, this helps you fall asleep.
Still feeling fatigued even after setting yourself up for restful sleep? Fatigue is more than just feeling sleepy. It’s a deep-rooted exhaustion that leaves you with a lack of energy and motivation, making daily tasks much more challenging.2 There could be a medical issue causing your fatigue, including low iron levels, thyroid disorders, infections and autoimmune disorders. Or, you may not be getting enough whole foods and therefore lacking nutrients. Dehydration also causes fatigue, as does high stress levels or not enough exercise.3
The quality of sleep is as important as the quantity of sleep you get. Sleep disorders specialist Marri Horvat, MD, explains that if you’re feeling foggy and tired during the day, it could be a sign of an underlying sleep disorder. These include sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, insomnia, narcolepsy and hypersomnia.4 If you experience fever, unexplained weight loss or gain, repeated headaches, shortness of breath or chest pain together with fatigue, be sure to check in with your physician.5
Since sleep affects your health in so many profound ways, empower yourself by eating right, exercising regularly, spending time in nature and breathing clean air during your waking hours! During autumn, warm weather transitions into cooler climes, making it some of the best conditions for getting restful sleep.
1 https://apple.news/AI5JBnwq3ROWnQQ9MiCsxGQ
2,3 https://newhealthjournal.org/tiredness/tired-quiz/
4, 5 https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-you-wake-up-tired-after-8-hours-of-sleep
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