Brain in gear, but tired?

jakedude182

jakedude182

jakedude182

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I was a bit hungover this morning after going for a meal with some staff from work. But not too bad as i'd had some water before bed. But only got about 3 hours of sleep.

What i've realised over time is that i feel more productive and on the ball with things in my job aswell as during free time.

I think that having less than 8 hours sleep isn't generally a good/healthy thing and is seen as a lack of sleep. I don't often have hangovers and rarely ever drink even 1 beer the night before a workday^ but today in particular I have thought that despite feeling fatigued slightly during the day, on several days i've had 6 or 5 hours sleep. And this amount is almost consistently now for the past few weeks.

I can plow through with things a bit quicker at work than I found that I could with 8 hours+. And am currently working as a kitchen assistant for some months and need to be up early which means hitting bed around 10 (target).

So far i've found that as long as I can shift up out of bed and despite the tiredness which wears off after 20 mins + some coffee and movement then i'm alright. I've also found that im not yawning lots through the day aswel.

I remember watching a youtube video of a guy who tested reducing his sleeping amount and got it down to 2 or 3 hours and then had up to 2 or 3 half hour powernaps at points during the day. And his results were more focus, productivity, feeling better. He was pretty much advocating that this
is a good thing to try.
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Do you find feeling a bit tired during the day an irritation much?
 
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Yeh it's a weird thing sleep and energy/focus levels it also depends on your age, diet, personality, mental stability and other factors. Usually if I get little sleep I'm in a bad shape, like a zombie. But I understand what your saying saying about getting little sleep and feeling alert the next day. I've run a parkrun with no sleep the night before and felt great, ran fast. For me it usually catches up with you a few days later.

If only there was a machine that could put you into a deep and long sleep for a day to fully recharge you then you could have little sleep for the rest of the week/month.
 
The evidence seems pretty clear that very few people can continue to function optimally on less than 7 hours, there are outliers, something like 1 in 1000 who have a certain gene which means they can function just as well on less.

Waking up feeling groggy or refreshed isn't the be all and end all either, sleep studies are the only way of finding out the quality of your sleep and you need more than one to get an accurate assessment.
 
I currently get between 7-8 hours of sleep a night, I still feel groggy and tired in the mornings when I wake up.
I haven't felt well rested / refreshed in a number of years, always feel tired & fatigued during the day.
 
I think it can also depend on what stage of sleep you wake up from, waking up from deep REM sleep even after 8 hours can often feel really bad. It could be coincidence that you're waking from a less deep state of sleep on your shorter sleeps and thus managing to feel less groggy when waking up.

I quite often spring out of bed at 5am after only 5-6 hours of sleep, but it isn't long into the morning before I'm feeling it and it takes it's toll.
 
Some guy went 11 days with no sleep, he seemed ok at the end.

It's partly a psychological/physiological thing like smoking, the body expects what it's used too however that works, some wiring in the brain.

Does anyone know anything about this, how the body seems to know when it's due whatever chemicals it's used too getting like for a binge drinker. If you binge drink every fornight for along time and stop you'll have no cravings for 2 weeks then on your usual drinking day the body will scream for alcohol sort of thing, how does it know to do this?
 
jsmoke said:
Some guy went 11 days with no sleep, he seemed ok at the end.

It's partly a psychological/physiological thing like smoking, the body expects what it's used too however that works, some wiring in the brain.

Does anyone know anything about this, how the body seems to know when it's due whatever chemicals it's used too getting like for a binge drinker. If you binge drink every fornight for along time and stop you'll have no cravings for 2 weeks then on your usual drinking day the body will scream for alcohol sort of thing, how does it know to do this?
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Gets thirsty.
 
I've been trying to figure out my sleep needs for 10 years. I've never had 7 hours or more consistently, and I've been highly productive for a lot of those years. But generally I feel like **** for the first 2 hours of a day whether i get 3, 5, 7 or 10 hours' sleep.

In busy times I tend to get closer to 5 hours a night and feel fine. It seems my energy levels are driven by demand - I can go better on less sleep for weeks at a time, provided there's something driving me out of bed. Likewise at weekends I consistently oversleep by 2-4 hours.

My conclusion is that sleep isn't my friend and I'm better off keeping busy. I don't feel better after "catching up on sleep", I just lose good habits I formed. I'm often physically tired while my brain is on point and I just ignore the body.
 
6 is generally the max for me, anything more and I just wake up. It's not uncommon for me to fall asleep nearer 1 in the morning and be awake for 545 either. I did used to have problems with sleep years ago due to my anxiety disorders (GAD and Panic disorder) so they may be a factor in it all, though the med's I have to take each day are supposed to help with sleep.
 
I get 8-9 hours sleep pretty consistently and still struggle to concentrate sometimes at work. I could probably get 6-7 hours and feel no different but I just like sleeping I guess.
 
It's probably down to your adrenals and when it delivers cortisol to your body.

At different points of the day/night it'll release cortisol. If you are asleep at night when it happens your body will recover better during your sleep.

Another release happens in the morning. But if you don't get up and oversleep it's wasted. So it sounds like you are now waking up when it just happens and getting the full effect.
 
BowdonUK said:
It's probably down to your adrenals and when it delivers cortisol to your body.

At different points of the day/night it'll release cortisol. If you are asleep at night when it happens your body will recover better during your sleep.

Another release happens in the morning. But if you don't get up and oversleep it's wasted. So it sounds like you are now waking up when it just happens and getting the full effect.
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So you're saying the cortisol is good for sleep recovery, and for kicking off the day?
 
jsmoke said:
Some guy went 11 days with no sleep, he seemed ok at the end.
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Er, no. Some people in this thread should read Matthew Walker's "Why We Sleep". There's some very misguided opinions in here.

For what it's worth, the Guinness Book of Records has banned competitive not-sleeping (whatever the word is) due to the demonstrable danger to health it would put the participants in. Seriously though, it's a very interesting book.

OP is probably just running off adrenaline. I get the same thing. You'll suffer the consequences eventually, if you do it every day your body will run out and you'll start suffering.
 
I must admit my grammar was rather mal in places. Thanks for getting through it! I should have spent more time and proofread it.

I agree about the cortisol release and also think that moving and going outside quickly helps speed that up. I usually wake up, get ready quick and don't sit down until i'm eating breakfast about an hour later.

Ayahuasca said:
sleep studies are the only way of finding out the quality of your sleep and you need more than one to get an accurate assessment.
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The quality of sleep is a key factor yeah. I hadn't considered this and understandably its quite complex regarding the persons lifestyle, age, and environment etc.

I dream of a sleep machine in the future now, imagine that, we'd all become so much more smart possibly and do so much more. Wouldn't be surprised if there is already a film based on that.


 
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