.png)
Find out why you always feel tired in the morning and how you can leverage your circadian rhythm for more energy and productivity in the morning.
Have you ever felt like you've slept for a decent amount of time, made an effort to get enough sleep, only to wake up feeling unrested? If you are wondering why this is, this is the place. In this article we will describe five reasons you feel tired in the morning, and how you can use circadian biology to become more productive and energized.
Medical Disclaimer:Â While we do our best to provide you researched-backed information, our articles are just that: informational. Our team consists of members passionate about fitness and wellness, but no doctors at this time. Therefore this article can not and should not be considered medical advice, and we cannot be a judge of whether or not the outlined strategies are the best choice for you. Consult a healthcare provider before adding supplements to your daily routine.
Five Reasons You Always Feel Tired In the Morning
Understanding Circadian Rhythm
Circadian rhythm refers to the body's natural tendency for a regular sleep/wake cycle. It is a robust function of homeostasis that involves hormones, nerve function, temperature regulation, and more. If you have ever woken up, without an alarm, feeling alert, refreshed, and energized, you have experienced the alignment of your circadian rhythm. When you try to wake up without this alignment, you'll tend to feel groggy, slow, and unmotivated. This is why you can sleep 8+ hours and still feel unrested.
Now even though there is no way to set your circadian rhythm the way you set your alarms, there are certain practices you can incorporate into you morning and evening routine that will help to bring this rhythm into alignment. Consider using the following tips to get your circadian rhythm more consistent, and feel the long-term effects on mood, productivity, and overall energy.
Schedule
As with most homeostatic functions of the body, circadian rhythm performs at its best during a consistent schedule. That is to say, going to bed and waking up within the same 30 minute window almost everyday. This doesn't have to line up perfectly with sunrise or sunset. People have unique circadian rhythms that are naturally earlier or later than traditional sleep/wake cycles. The key is making it consistent so that your body has the chance to adjust its internal signals to the routine you are creating.
Pick a time you want to wake up by and then backtrack 9 hours. This should be the time you are getting into bed. Make this your routine 5-6 days a week and it should not take long for your body to recognize the pattern. You should begin to feel drowsy around the time you get in bed and wake up feeling more alert and refreshed. This will make sure you are consistently getting the ideal amount of sleep for your body to function at its best during the day.
This is pretty common advice, but honestly isn't realistic for a lot of people. Some of us work late nights, and others may want to enjoy the inconsistency of the college experience. Life can't be entirely about routine because other responsibilities and obligations exist. Realistically try your best to stay as consistent as possible, while understanding that it won't be perfect and that is not your fault. Important key points are that you try to keep a consistent wake up time, and if you can plan for it, take a nap (ideally before 3pm) on nights you will be up late. These other tips will help make up for any inconsistencies in your schedule.
Lack of Sunlight
If your room lacks natural light, you may have trouble waking up. Your circadian rhythm relies on the morning sun to wake up our bodies. While some scientists are proponents of sleeping in total darkness, this often requires the use of blackout curtains or a sleep mask. While this can be effective for getting quality sleep, it may also have an impact on our ability to wake up on time.
Sunlight acts as a cue to begin the day, and the body has a natural response to this stimulus. Aim to get sunlight exposure within half an hour of waking up in order to allow for circadian alignment and energy benefits. If you do use a sleep mask or blackout curtains, make sure that when you wake up you are immediately opening the window or going for a walk outside to get sunlight into your eyes.
Another option to consider getting a timed lamp alarm. You can set the light to gradually increase before fully turning on at the designated wake-up time. This can mimic a sunrise. From there, consider getting natural light soon after waking as this is significantly more effective than artificial lighting.
Caffeine
Long term or late caffeine use can change your sleep cycle and limit the quality of rest you get. You may sleep enough, but feel tired due to quality. Studies have shown that caffeine can have a significant impact on the amount and quality of sleep. Caffeine use may reduce the amount of REM sleep you are able to get, which is considered restorative sleep. You should aim to get as much REM sleep as possible because this is the type of rest that makes your brain feel restored and awake at the beginning of the day.
As a guideline, it's a good idea to stop drinking caffeinated products 8 hours before you go to sleep. The trouble comes in identifying what products have caffeine in them. There's the obvious culprit, coffee, but some are more discrete: chocolate, sodas, and teas all contain caffeine. Avoiding these late in the afternoon and evening can help improve the quality of your sleep.
Finally, caffeine use in the morning can undercut our body's natural circadian rhythm. Habitual caffeine within the first hour of waking has a dramatic effect on our natural waking cycle. In an ideal routine, you can delay caffeine consumption until an hour or two after you initially woke up. This gives your natural cycle of hormones the chance to run their course before getting supplemented by a powerful stimulant like caffeine.
Screen Time
In the evening, excessive screen time will reduce the amount of time and quality of sleep. This is because of a combination between blue light exposure and neural circuits associated with screen use that can disrupt your natural circadian rhythm.
Blue light refers to a certain wavelength that interacts with the eyes and the brain in a way that mimics daytime (think of a bright blue sky). This messes up your circadian rhythm and limits the amount of melatonin you produce before bed. Melatonin is the hormone that helps you fall asleep naturally. Therefore, using screens before bed can be detrimental to our natural sleep cycles, and this disruption can make us feel tired and unrested.
While melatonin can be supplemented, there are other neural circuits that are activated by the blue light and will make sleep more elusive. Most devices now have a "night mode" which reduces the amount of blue light used in the display. It is recommended you have this mode set to activate automatically 2-3 hours before you plan to sleep.
The other reason screen time can cause disfunction in your circadian rhythm is because of its interaction with the brain. At night, it has an agitative effect that holds your attention or causes stress, depending on the activity. Both are not good for preparing the body to sleep and delay the time to REM. In the morning, social media can deplete your dopamine reserves for the day and significantly stunt your natural motivation circuits. Again, most devices will have a setting where you can adjust your screen time permissions to reflect this change. This may help you better regulate your sleep and dopamine systems in the morning or late at night.
Chronic Stress
When dealing with chronic stress, our bodies hormonal systems and HPA axis can be disrupted. This is the system that your body activates when it is under stress and needs to respond, also known as "fight or flight". Historically, this would be when the body was physically endangered, but in the scope of modern society, there is an increased activation of this system for non-life threatening events.
A poorly regulated HPA axis can lead to an overproduction and retention of cortisol, which disrupts your natural circadian cycle. In a properly regulated individual, cortisol levels should follow a quadratic curve. Cortisol drops low in the night and then rises in the morning to wake you from sleep. A common symptom of excess cortisol is waking in the night around 2-4am without cause. It is likely due to an unregulated cortisol spike. This can also influence sleep quality, which may make you feel tired in the morning.
The other issue with chronically high cortisol is that you do not get the dramatic spike that is meant to align with the waking half of circadian rhythms. There is not enough bioavailable cortisol, and levels are higher than ideal during the night. Cortisol is the part of circadian biology that makes you feel alert when you first wake up. If there is no cortisol spike, it contributes to why you feel tired in the morning.
Chronic stress is an epidemic, rates of anxiety and depression are increasing. Unfortunately, managing these feelings of chronic stress are not widely supported or taught. Though a widespread societal/cultural change may be beneficial in improving quality of life across the board, it would be particularly beneficial in terms of chronic stress. Read our article on heart rate variability (HRV), a biomarker for chronic stress here.
This is a problem that may need a holistic intervention and restructuring of your life. Seeking out a certified coach or doing an analysis of what causes you stress may help you remedy this cause, and you may need to seek out a holistic or medical provider if your symptoms become uncomfortable or severe. If you are looking for a more short term way to get back on track, you can explore "supplements for reducing cortisol in the body".
Conclusion
There are a variety of reasons you are waking up and feeling tired, but the root cause is in your circadian biology. While society may not support healthy and regulated sleep cycles, the first step to fixing them is educating yourself and making small lifestyle changes and seeing if they make a difference.
If you have trouble sleeping consistently, please check with a doctor in case it is due to a medical issue that you should address.
Check out the rest of our posts for more health and wellness tips here. Let us know if you've tried any of these tips and how they've worked for you.
Comments