More exhausted after more sleep??

[AmandaGeorge]

Hello everyone

According to the Fitbit app, I slept for 10 hours and 4 minutes and was restless 13 times overnight, so why am I more tired than when I sleep around 8 hours please?

I've got dark circles under my eyes and they get bigger and darker the more I sleep.  My prescription decides how long I sleep for so I have very little control over it, but why do I feel more awake and energetic when I have less sleep??  Does anyone know pretty please?

Thank you!

[WavyDavey]

Hi @AmandaGeorge,

Too much sleep is linked to various poor health outcomes.

"Individuals who sleep more than 10 hours per day generally have worse health profiles than those who sleep 7 to 8 hours," says Susan Redline, MD, MPH, professor of sleep medicine at Harvard and senior physician in the division of sleep and circadian disorders at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.  

Nearly 30% of adults in the US are in this group of "long sleepers." Logging lots of shut-eye becomes more common as you get older, and it's not entirely clear whether it's a sign that you have a disease or if it can actually make you sick. "The predominant opinion is that long sleep is a marker for underlying health problems," says Redline.

[AmandaGeorge]

Oh right!  OK, thank you @WavyDavey!  I'll try going to bed later tonight and waking up earlier then... not sure my hubby will want me to come downstairs at 5am though 🤣

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there @AmandaGeorge, thanks for stopping by.

Totally agree with @WavyDavey. The average person goes through five sleep cycles per night. Each one of those cycles is approximately 90 minutes long. Five cycles of 90 minutes each translates to 450 minutes in total which works out to be about 7.5 hours. It's not just the hours of sleep that matter, but also which sleep cycle you wake up from.

There's stage one, two, three, four, and REM. Stages one and two are the easiest to wake up from, REM is slightly more difficult, and then stages three and four are the hardest.

When you sleep an extra hour or two more than you normally do, chances are you're going to wake up from the REM cycle, or cycles three or four, which means you're going to feel groggier.

This also explains why taking a short power nap is more effective than taking a longer nap. Longer naps will force you to wake from one of the later sleep cycles, leaving you feeling more tired than rested. When I take naps, I usually take them for just a short 25 minutes.

So even if you feel tired enough to sleep forever, stick with the number of hours you need instead. 😊