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Sleep inertia is characterised by feeling groggy the moment you wake up. It's an irresistible desire to go back or stay in bed in the morning and is experienced by everyone at some point. While it's a typical response of the body, you don't have to feel like that every day.
There are people who wake up feeling fresh and light. They don't feel like going back to bed, and their mood remains uplifted. What's the reason for that?
Identifying sleep inertia symptoms
Do you know it takes 30-90 minutes for you to become fully alert after waking up?This phenomenon is known scientifically as sleep inertia.
While we're conditioned to think that we should feel amazing and refreshed right when we wake up, it's not true. By rating how you feel 90 minutes after you wake up and knowing your sleep debt, you will have a useful measure of your sleep quality.
How do you start your day? For some, it’s being jolted out of bed with an alarm before the sun is up fighting sleep inertia for some time before functioning.
It's not typical to wake up groggy; it's very common, but common does not equal typical. When you punish your body day in and day out, it slowly becomes stiff, movement becomes inefficient, and chronic pain and problems follow.
Sleep inertia all day slows both physical and mental functions. It almost feels that the body is not prepared to fully wake up, even though it has experienced restfulness.
What are my sleep inertia causes?
There are various causes of sleep inertia. One of the primary reasons is the abrupt transition between sleep and wake cycles.
Naturally, when you wake up abruptly, the brain feels disoriented to the current surrounding. Sometimes, it can also get exaggerated, just because of the fact that you want to sleep more. You try to remain awake, but you're constantly reminded of your bed.
Just like any other bodily function, it takes some time for the body to adjust to the current surroundings and also adjust the neurotransmitters that worked hard all night. These are all apart from sleep hygiene habits that may negatively impact your sleep cycle.
Is there a sleep inertia cure?
There might not be a cure for this condition, but sleep inertia treatment is fairly common.
It all starts with establishing a healthy sleep routine. One of the biggest mistakes that we make is to take our sleep cycles for granted. We work all day, push our body hard, and yet we don't allow it time for restoration. While you may feel like you're good to go, you may experience sleep debt if you continue the pattern.
The grogginess starts right in the morning, when you hit the snooze buttone. One snooze, two snooze, and it continues to go on. You will have to resist the urge to hit the snooze button on your alarm. Think about it this way: every time you press the snooze button, you tell your body to wake up and then after pressing, you ask it to sleep again. That leads to an endless loop of sleep cycles.
Drink water when you wake up, as the body is dehydrated after a full night of sleep. Yes, the first thing to have after waking up is water and not necessarily a hot cup of coffee. Try to draw the curtains, and take the natural light in. It's an effective way to reduce anxiety and calm the mind at the same time.
You need to think of options and tools that help you in waking up, rather than ones that slow you further down. Technology slows us down after waking up. In fact, you end up feeling dull after using your devices. Take a cold shower, preferably to feel alert and fresh.
Sleep inertia is caused due to the state where we get into bed after a long day. and although the body has stopped, the mind is still flying at 100km/h. You need to pause and stop confusing your mind.
The more you confuse it, the more grogginess you will experience. While it's occassionally fine to experience sleep inertia, consistent grogginess may lead to heightened lethargy and cognitive difficulties.
Janvi Kapur is a counselor with a Master's degree in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology.
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