{"id":50265,"date":"2018-02-20T08:10:55","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T13:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=50265"},"modified":"2018-02-21T13:41:56","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T18:41:56","slug":"why-am-i-so-tired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/lifestyle\/why-am-i-so-tired\/","title":{"rendered":"Always Tired? 5 Signs You Need More Sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Always
Photo: Twenty20<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You hit snooze on the regular, have been thisclose <\/em>to falling asleep\u00a0at your desk, and fantasize about nap time<\/a>. But are any of these sleepy behaviors normal? We checked in with Daniel Shade, MD, director of the Comprehensive Sleep Center in the Allegheny Health Network to find out if your tired<\/a>, bleary-eyed habits are normal \u2014 or a sign of trouble.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?<\/a><\/p>\n

Always Tired?\u00a05 Signs to\u00a0Watch Out For<\/h2>\n

1. Your alarm sounds like death to you.
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What\u2019s normal: <\/strong>Maybe you don\u2019t hop right out of bed as soon as you hear the alarm. If you were in a deep stage of sleep when it blared, your brain hasn\u2019t had time to flip fully into wakefulness and is still secreting sleep chemicals, explains Dr. Shade.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s not: <\/strong>Hitting snooze<\/a> on repeat. Really, this isn\u2019t \u201cbad\u201d behavior, but think about what your alarm is telling you: You\u2019re getting up before your body is ready, says Dr. Shade. Sure, you can\u2019t exactly use that as an excuse to be late to work (\u201cmy circadian rhythm told me to come in at 10 today\u2026\u201d), but consider pushing bedtime a bit earlier until waking up becomes easier to do.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>6 Signs You\u2019re Exhausted (Not Just Tired)<\/a><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0You always <\/em>want to nap.
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What\u2019s normal: <\/strong>Something big disrupted your sleep schedule last night (travel, your best friend\u2019s birthday party) and you\u2019re tired enough for a nap today. Taking a 20-minute catnap is a good idea to help you catch up on sleep and feel refreshed. (Doze off any longer than that and you can slip into deeper stages of sleep and wake up groggy.)<\/p>\n

What\u2019s not: <\/strong>You feel like you need a nap every day. \u201cYou should be able to function without a nap if you slept OK the past few nights,\u201d says Dr. Shade. So if you\u2019re getting seven to eight hours a night and are still tired, talk to your doctor. You could be suffering from a sleep disorder like sleep apnea<\/a> or another health problem like thyroid disease or anemia.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>13 Tips for the Best Nap Ever<\/a><\/p>\n

3. You consider coffee the elixir of life.
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What\u2019s normal: <\/strong>Having a morning cup (it\u2019s healthy<\/a>, too), and still feeling groggy after lunch \u2014 that\u2019s why the siesta was invented! \u201cEveryone has dips in alertness around the same time every day,\u201d says Dr. Shade. This is a natural part of your biological rhythm, and they have a fancy name: a circadian trough. There\u2019s one after lunch and then another around 4 a.m. \u2014 though we bet you don\u2019t notice the second one. Getting up and moving is a non-caffeinated way<\/a> to get adrenaline going to knock off the sleepiness, he says.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s not: <\/strong>You\u2019re reaching for java all afternoon. If you need to rely on coffee to stay awake during the day and otherwise can\u2019t function (like you fall asleep at your desk), it could signal you have a larger problem that needs fixing. While coffee<\/a> is a great stimulant, drinking it after 3 p.m. is a no-no if you want to sleep well that night. To ID a possible issue, Dr. Shade asks patients to wear a fitness tracker that records your sleep habits<\/a>. \u201cThe first steep is to see if you\u2019re getting enough hours. If so, a sleep specialist would help determine what else is going on,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> How Much Caffeine Are You Actually Drinking?<\/a><\/p>\n

4. You worry at night.
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What\u2019s normal: <\/strong>We all have times when rumination takes over at night. However, habits like paying bills in bed online or doing work on the computer make your stress levels rise. Also, the blue light<\/a> emitted from these devices inhibits melatonin<\/a> release, a hormone that lulls you to sleep. Changing your bedtime routine is key here \u2014 don\u2019t let business in your bedroom at all, says Dr. Shade.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s not normal: <\/strong>If a racing, \u201calways on\u201d mind interferes with your ability to fall asleep, anxiety may be to blame. Trouble is, it\u2019s a chicken-or-the-egg situation. Anxiety causes sleep problems, but sleep problems also cause anxiety, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.<\/a> Any anxiety problems should be addressed with your doctor, which will improve your quality of life and sleeping habits.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 15 Get-Out-of-Bed Tricks from Fitness Pros<\/a><\/p>\n

5. You fall asleep quickly.
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What\u2019s normal: <\/strong>It takes you five to 10 minutes to fall asleep after climbing in. Your body needs time to fully relax in order to slip into slumber.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s not: <\/strong>Falling asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow (or before you even make it to bed), or taking longer than 30 minutes to sleep. Snoozing immediately indicates that you are tired\u00a0<\/em>\u2014 exhausted<\/a> even. \u201cYour body is saying: I\u2019m reclaiming my territory. You need sleep now,\u201d says Dr. Shade.<\/p>\n

Longer than a half hour and you may be suffering from insomnia<\/a>, which makes it hard to fall asleep. If you doze off quickly, it\u2019s time to move your bed up in 15-minute increments until you\u2019re getting an adequate amount. If insomnia is a concern, think about talking to your doctor. It\u2019s not enough to take a sleeping pill and be done, but you should figure out the underlying causes behind the problem so you can get back to blissful sleep.<\/p>\n

Originally published June 2016. Updated February 2018.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Read More
\n<\/strong>The Truth About How to Lose Belly Fat<\/a>
\nCan You Really Catch Up on Sleep<\/a>
\n19 Ways to Trick Yourself Into Becoming a Morning Person<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maybe it\u2019s bad sleep habits behind your exhaustion \u2014 but it could be something more. If you ask yourself \u201cwhy am I so tired\u201d every morning, here\u2019s your need-to-know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12,13,15],"tags":[159,147,148,280,282,341,408],"class_list":["post-50265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-mental-health","category-sleep","category-stress","tag-anxiety","tag-caffeine","tag-coffee","tag-sleep","tag-stress","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2sleep"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}