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Difficulty waking up

Posted , 2 users are following.

teresa97915
teresa97915

All my life I have struggled with waking up in the morning. I am female, aged 71, and can remember this problem going right back to my childhood. I think I may have something called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. It doesn't matter what time I go to bed, I find it almost impossible to fall asleep before about 1 am, but the problem in the morning is even worse. I don't think I've ever woken naturally and feeling awake and alert. I am drowsy and dopey and half asleep and if I don't have to get to a job or a meeting I can easily fall back asleep for another 2 hours. It takes three different alarms to wake me up, and most mornings I just feel sick and awful. Do other people have this problem and how do they cope?

1 like, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • teresa97915
    teresa97915

    Posted

    Dear Rich, The answer to your question is yes. In fact, I have been reading before going to sleep for approximately 65 years. I cannot imagine going to bed without reading, often for more than an hour.  The problem I am complaining about here is to do with waking up, not with getting to sleep. I cannot remember ever waking up without feeling sick, confused, dopey, depressed and exhausted, no matter how many hours sleep I've had. It takes at least three alarms and a clock radio to wake me up. I'm sure this isn't normal. I have been like this since childhood and I am now 71. I'm sure it is probably Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome and I would like to hear from others who also suffer from this.
  • richard89308
    richard89308 teresa97915

    Posted

    I don't know then other than going to bed a bit earlier to see if you get to sleep early and then wake at normal time.

    rich

  • teresa97915
    teresa97915

    Posted

    I've already said that it doesn't matter what time I go to bed, I can't go to sleep before 1 am or later. I appreciate your interest, but you are completely missing the point of my post.
  • teresa97915
    teresa97915

    Posted

    I have discovered that this difficulty in waking up is called 'sleep inertia', and it is related to the type of sleep you are experiencing when you are woken ( phase 1, 2, 3 or REM sleep). If you are woken when you are in a slow-wave phase (phase 3 or REM sleep), which are both very deep sleep, it is much harder to take up than if you are woken in phase 1 or 2, which are much lighter stages of sleep. This makes a lot of sense of. I suspect I am in very deep sleep when it is time to get up - I know I am often dreaming vividly at that time. As I said in my original post, I have NEVER In my whole life woken up feeling refreshed and invigorated. I simply do not understand people who leap out of bed as bright as a lark. I had the misfortune of having three husbands who were all morning people, and they could never understand why I wasn't up at the crack of dawn, singing happily in the shower. Instead I would be creeping around feeling sick, dopey, groggy and half-asleep for at least an hour after being woken, and often for longer than that. It has very little relationship to how many hours sleep I've had, and seems to be much more related to some disorder of my sleep cycle. I would love to hear from others who have the same problem.
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