Why are we all sooo tired??

snowgal

Just reading through different threads here and something that comes up alot for people is how constantly tired they are. Then thinking about my family and friends and they're the same(well alot of them not ALL).Me, I always feel tired, everyday Id say, bar maybe a Sunday when Ive had a good sleep. Even this morning I really really wanted to stay in bed another hour but with work obviously couldn't. I dont have kids so thats not even my excuse! Im active enough and would be out doing rehearsals or something 4 or 5 nights at this time of year. Go to bed about 12.30/1.00 and up at 8.30. so is everyone the same?? and if so why are we?

Hande hoche!

Lack of sleep/lackluster diet/ caffeine addiction.

hairyslug

I'm putting my tiredness down to the crippling depression and anxiety that I keep sweeping under the carpet but will eventually consume me

HONKEY TONK

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Lack of sleep/lackluster diet/ caffeine addiction.

Pac1Man

Can't get no sleep.


HIT THE MUSIC!

Ulysses Gaze

Having to get out of bed to attend the soul-destroying, agonising drudgery of work?

listermint

Social media, not feeding the brain, no excercise, bad diets, poor time management, anxiety, social media, social media.


Get out of the house off the phone bring the dog for a walk and cook your own meals.

mloc123

Diet and lack of exercise is my guess... I feel the lazier you are the more tired you feel each day, it is repeating cycle. You feel tired so sit on the couch doing nothing which in turn makes you more tired.

The days I drag myself out for a run/cycle directly after work I feel better that evening.

seamus

Going to bed too late. Getting up too late.

Realistically we should be heading to bed not long after the sun has gone down. Our body starts winding down when daylight disappears, fighting this only causes hormonal imbalances. So in the winter, this is tough, the sun goes down at 4:30. But if you can get to bed by 11pm, you'll feel better for it.

We also need some time to wind up in the morning, time for muscles to warm up, oxygen to flow and the body to clear out waste from the night before. Getting up and sprinting out the door to work is sure to leave you yawning for an hour or two. If you got up an hour earlier, sat at the kitchen table eating your breakfast, stretching and reading your phone, you'll feel a lot more awake when it comes time to leave for work.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Lack of activity and stimulation, coupled with a poor diet, leads to lethargy.


Fresh air, light exercise, decent food and a proper bedtime routine will shake the tiredness away.

Hande hoche!

listermint wrote: »

Social media, not feeding the brain, no excercise, bad diets, poor time management, anxiety, social media, social media.


Get out of the house off the phone bring the dog for a walk and cook your own meals.

Fair point. Blue screen time would for sure have an impact. Anecdotally always feel worse if I was using a laptop in bed rather than reading a book before sleep.

Skyfarm

I lie awake at night wondering how many pointless threads are going on boards and garlic smuggling

seamus

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Fair point. Blue screen time would for sure have an impact. Anecdotally always feel worse if I was using a laptop in bed rather than reading a book before sleep.

I dunno, I'm skeptical about this "blue light" stuff, it may just be pop science and pop psychology.

I've been using computers and screens for years, as late as you like, and never noticed any effect (negative or positive) on my sleep patterns.

What I notice with my kids is that the later they watch something, the more stimulated they are, the more difficulty they have sleeping.

So I'm starting to think that it's just that simple - the whole red light/blue light/circadian rhythm/sleep cycle stuff is a red herring, and it's just to do with peoples' minds being overstimulated by new content when they should be avoiding it and winding down for sleep. Prehistoric man sat around fires telling old stories and singing old songs; winding the brain down with familiar and comfortable entertainment rather than new and exciting stuff.

Granted, I'm a sample size of one, but I haven't seen any proper studies about it, just hypotheses and representative anecdotes from psychologists.

Sure every other species spends half the day askeep

We feel tired because we’re simply expected to be awake when we don’t want to be

andekwarhola

Kids and work (computer based). Also run 4 days a week.

Plus I'm bad at sleep management. I get up early (by choice to avail of flexible hours) but I'm a natural night owl and find it very hard to go to sleep before midnight.

I definitely need to be getting a little bit more sleep than I currently do.

DaeryssaOne

I used to go to bed around 12 and aim to be asleep before 12.30 / 1 and was always tired despite an average of 8 hours sleep.

The last couple of years I have made it a habit to be in bed well before 11 and asleep before 11.30 every worknight. It has made a huge difference to my tiredness levels, apparently (and this could be simply an old wive's tale) any sleep you get before midnight is worth twice the amount you would get after midnight.

Agree also on the whole exercise thing, any night I come straight home and sit in front of the tv for the night I'll always wind up feeling more tired than if I had gone to the gym for even 30 minutes.

King George VI

Having to get up at 7am to be in work for 9am, finishing work at 5pm but only getting home at 7pm. Then having only a few hours of free time for myself which is mostly taken up by cooking dinner, washing, cleaning, ironing clothes for this fucking job that I have to wake up early for. Then by the time that's all done, I want to spend a bit of time doing something I actually want to do to feel like life isn't one big chore, but spend too much time doing it and end up getting to bed late and getting 4/5 hours of sleep (if I'm lucky) before I have to wake up at 7am to be in work for 9am..etc

Repeat for 45+ years.

Stonedpilot

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

Having to get out of bed to attend the soul-destroying, agonising drudgery of work?

This. People are unfulfilled with boring unchallening jobs leading to mental exhaustion.
Lack of vitamins too.

I've started my own business. Long days, skint, fear of the unknown, crap economy etc but I HAVE to do my own thing and despite the trepidation it is exicting. I got terribly burnt out in 2017 working soul less office job and with family bereavments.

pickarooney

Long hours, two kids, internet/TV addiction, sport and loads of riding, sure how could you be anything but knackered.

I'll sleep when I'm dead as the fella says.

copeyhagen

YOUNG KIDS

Adamocovic

Lack of good sleep definitely is one but can just be from day to day strain too.

Found I'm even more tired since moving. Spend most of the day trying to work in a different language which I think has been tiring me more.

For me it's funny, I'll be feeling tired up until an hour before planning on going to bed. But during the morning/day time I could sleep for hours, but night time seems to be when I get my energy. Way more productive then.

Rave.ef

What I'm most concerned about in this post is getting up at 8:30. If I could stay in bed till 8:30 I'd never be tired.

snowgal

Adamocovic wrote: »

Lack of good sleep definitely is one but can just be from day to day strain too.

Found I'm even more tired since moving. Spend most of the day trying to work in a different language which I think has been tiring me more.

For me it's funny, I'll be feeling tired up until an hour before planning on going to bed. But during the morning/day time I could sleep for hours, but night time seems to be when I get my energy. Way more productive then.

I can be like that too, like drag myself out of bed in the morning and then want to sleep as soon as I get home, but come 11 or 12 I actually feel at my best for the day.......

tritium

For me, not getting to bed last night till 1:30 due to work pressure. Up at 6:30 to go and do it all again. That’s actually an improvement on the sweatshop that was 2017.

Mix that with a young family and presto, permanent tiredness!

wakka12

Overuse of technology..late bedtime.. not enough exercise

Boom_Bap

Personally, when I lack exercise, I'm way more sluggish in the morning. Plus I end up eating more junk and that causes a mental -v- physical battle which doesn't help the sleep routine.

Screen time has an impact as well. I never look at my phone in bed, it's just in the bedroom purely as my alarm clock and if needed for emergency. I get the impression that some people are falling asleep with a tablet or phone in their hands which is basically over stimulating them until they close their eyes.

snowgal

King George VI wrote: »

Having to get up at 7am to be in work for 9am, finishing work at 5pm but only getting home at 7pm. Then having only a few hours of free time for myself which is mostly taken up by cooking dinner, washing, cleaning, ironing clothes for this fucking job that I have to wake up early for. Then by the time that's all done, I want to spend a bit of time doing something I actually want to do to feel like life isn't one big chore, but spend too much time doing it and end up getting to bed late and getting 4/5 hours of sleep (if I'm lucky) before I have to wake up at 7am to be in work for 9am..etc

Repeat for 45+ years.

yes this for a lot of people. Which I find really sad and depressing. So many of us do this for years and years and years. generally beacuse we have to, to pay bills and eat and rent or mortgage etc. But Ive read so many of these on your deathbed stories from people who before they die, always regret working so much, wasting time on work...But its a vicious circle I guess.

snowgal

Rave.ef wrote: »

What I'm most concerned about in this post is getting up at 8:30. If I could stay in bed till 8:30 I'd never be tired.

yea Im lucky in that way. Work is only 10 mins away and a 930 start so Ive time. Buts its all relative because I generally dont get to sleep until 2 and Im usually awake from 5-6.30 anyway!

Seanachai

I think people have a lot on their minds, not that our parents and grandparents didn't, but it seems that even if you have a good income these days, you're still struggling. Worry messes up your sleep and you end up not feeling refreshed, which is the whole point of sleep.

I'm now living in a flat in an old building with no sound protection from the tenant above and she likes to talk loudly on skype and sing until 3-4 am. I can't afford to move somewhere else so there's days where I'm walking around like a zombie. I'm even looking at getting prescribed something like provigil to overcome some of the tiredness.

If I could make some money I'd leave the city and put a wood cabin or a mobile on a plot where I'm from and just live simple. I'm 35 and I don't see any merit in the rat race any longer.

sbsquarepants

I don't need an awfull lot of sleep - 5 to 6 solid hours would do me, maybe once or twice a month an extra 2 hours or so just to catch up.
Problem is my 5 year old daughter has recently taken to waking me anywhere from 3 to 10 times a night. Sometimes I haven't even got back to sleep before she's back in the room for something or other.
I haven't slept through a single night in about 6 weeks and it's really starting to show, I feel like I've aged ten years in the past month!

petes

Xanax.

Baraics Pollox

Mince pies.

In honesty, I find this time of year personally saps motivation, energy and mental health down the drain.

Slowly coming back up from it with each day though. Last night I had the options to sit on my backside or go out to work on a project and I decided to stick the hat and warm clothes on and get on with it. I enjoyed my evening for the first time in what has felt like ages. Feel the better of it today.

Definitely being active, working on projects/hobbies gives me energy and it becomes a routine by about spring!

Rave.ef

Seanachai wrote: »

I think people have a lot on their minds, not that our parents and grandparents didn't, but it seems that even if you have a good income these days, you're still struggling. Worry messes up your sleep and you end up not feeling refreshed, which is the whole point of sleep.

I'm now living in a flat in an old building with no sound protection from the tenant above and she likes to talk loudly on skype and sing until 3-4 am. I can't afford to move somewhere else so there's days where I'm walking around like a zombie. I'm even looking at getting prescribed something like provigil to overcome some of the tiredness.

If I could make some money I'd leave the city and put a wood cabin or a mobile on a plot where I'm from and just live simple. I'm 35 and I don't see any merit in the rat race any longer.

It's catch 22 no matter where you live every euro you earn is already spent and the little disposable income you have by the end of the month youd be lucky to have a night out. I can totally see why people can't get to sleep at night and are like zombies during the day. My wife would be lucky to sleep 3 to 4 hours a night even tho we are probably what youd call comfortable now days but still wouldn't be anywhere near what comfortable would have been 10 12 years ago. Iv love to adopt a hippy life style I think worries would be few and far between.

valoren

She was 13 months old yesterday.

The_Valeyard

Seanachai

Rave.ef wrote: »

It's catch 22 no matter where you live every euro you earn is already spent and the little disposable income you have by the end of the month youd be lucky to have a night out. I can totally see why people can't get to sleep at night and are like zombies during the day. My wife would be lucky to sleep 3 to 4 hours a night even tho we are probably what youd call comfortable now days but still wouldn't be anywhere near what comfortable would have been 10 12 years ago. Iv love to adopt a hippy life style I think worries would be few and far between.

You'd still have worries, but you wouldn't feel as much strain in terms of being pushed and pulled this way and that way. They say that it takes about ten years to become mostly self-sufficient, you would still need some sort of income.

Even those of us in pretty decent jobs are working like dogs to make other people very wealthy, the pace that has built up in this country since the boom can be dizzying at times, we've swapped booze for coffee and a frantic kind of lifestyle.

The Rape of Lucretia

snowgal wrote: »

so is everyone the same?? and if so why are we?

(assuming it is not illness hopefully)

Three things :

- women not staying at home to mind children. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Household chores and childminding still have to be done, whether done directly by both parters to varying degrees, or by extra work effort to be able to afford child minders, cleaners, etc.

- increasing social mobility and expectations. In a time of more rigid class society, more people accepted their position, whatever it was. Today, there is a stronger pressure to advance, and a possibility to strive and increase position, job status, income, wealth, etc.

- rising availability of and means to particiate in myriad entertainment and leisure options means people spend more of their time doing them. Travelling, sporting, going out, etc. In the past, they were either not available or affordable by only a few. So the general majority spent more time doing little or nothing - in fact - resting.

Seanachai

Pepperpan wrote: »

Bullsh1t, what evidence is there that people work harder today than in the past.

People are just being stupid and going to bed too late.

This is something I've been speaking about to people for a while now, my parents and older people agree. People did back breaking physical work, worked from when they were young children, postmen like my granddad cycled in all sorts of weather etc. I also do physical work, but a lot of the time we're under pressure, either from wound up clients or some foreman who is also under pressure.

The crucial difference is the pace, people knew how to rest up properly and they weren't running about like blue a**ed flies like we are now. We've fallen for the trick that doing all that overtime and keeping the boss sweet will have long-term benefit, it doesn't, it just leaves you as a tired wreck in your thirties.

My grandparents used to stay up late singing, night visiting, ahem poaching etc etc, yet they were fresh and energetic up to the time of their deaths. The life is being drained out of us by the type and pace of work we're doing. Working at a computer for 8-10 hours a day in a busy environment with time constraints can be a lot more draining than digging trenches or laying blocks at your own pace.

Seanachai

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

(assuming it is not illness hopefully)

Three things :

- women not staying at home to mind children. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Household chores and childminding still have to be done, whether done directly by both parters to varying degrees, or by extra work effort to be able to afford child minders, cleaners, etc.

- increasing social mobility and expectations. In a time of more rigid class society, more people accepted their position, whatever it was. Today, there is a stronger pressure to advance, and a possibility to strive and increase position, job status, income, wealth, etc.

- rising availability of and means to particiate in myriad entertainment and leisure options means people spend more of their time doing them. Travelling, sporting, going out, etc. In the past, they were either not available or affordable by only a few. So the general majority spent more time doing little or nothing - in fact - resting.

Their is ferocious pressure to 'advance', people should ask themselves if they are really 'advancing' or just making a small bunch of people in their company, firm etc wealthier. Learning to live with less stuff and comforts would take a lot of pressure off.

WoollyRedHat

We've all been running on that hamster wheel for too long.

Coffee Fulled Runner

Poor diets, lack of excercise would be my guess. Looking at phone and tablet screens before going to bed isn't helping either. 7 to 8 hours sleep seems to be what the majority of people need but some people can cope with less.

Snowseer

seamus wrote: »

I dunno, I'm skeptical about this "blue light" stuff, it may just be pop science and pop psychology.

I've been using computers and screens for years, as late as you like, and never noticed any effect (negative or positive) on my sleep patterns.

What I notice with my kids is that the later they watch something, the more stimulated they are, the more difficulty they have sleeping.

So I'm starting to think that it's just that simple - the whole red light/blue light/circadian rhythm/sleep cycle stuff is a red herring, and it's just to do with peoples' minds being overstimulated by new content when they should be avoiding it and winding down for sleep. Prehistoric man sat around fires telling old stories and singing old songs; winding the brain down with familiar and comfortable entertainment rather than new and exciting stuff.

Granted, I'm a sample size of one, but I haven't seen any proper studies about it, just hypotheses and representative anecdotes from psychologists.

I’d agree with this. If I’m reading a book on my phone, I’ll fall asleep fine. If I’m on the internet browsing this, then looking up that, then searching for something else, my brain doesn’t get to shut off.

The fact that you can be always “on” doesn’t help.
Work email / Skypes can come through any time and, for me, I tend to look, and respond if needed. Nicer is messages from friends, but the days of having dinner, clearing up, and having a relatively scheduled evening of tv / chatting / next day preparation, whatever, are now unexpectedly digitally interrupted - be it a good or bad interruption. I think it’s much harder to switch off.

Saying that, I’m sure the a lot of the guys working on the pyramids were tired a lot too. Plus ca change..

DEFTLEFTHAND

At times it can take me 2 to 3 hours to fall asleep naturally so that really eats into my sleeptime. I go into a coma once I finally do fall asleep and I'm like a zombie when the alarm goes.

EPAndlee

I get up at 6 everyday of the week even tho I don't start work until 9 and have a 15 minute commute. I like to go for a walk and just chill out before work. You can't be rushing out the door every morning

I-like-eggs,mmm

Apart from all that’s been mentioned like poor diet, excess caffeine, lack of exercise and too much blue screen time... get your thyroid function bloods checked maybe? I’ve had an under active thyroid for nearly 4 years now and my god does it lower your energy levels and your general “get up & go”. Also, lots of napping and feeling tired most of the time. The medication helps somewhat, but for me it hasn’t completely taken away symptoms.

I’m not sure will the mods allow me to make such a suggestion and apologies if not. Just trying to help. Delete if inappropriate. Thanks.

irishgeo

Lack of fresh air. Our houses are liked sealed units these. No health fresh draught. I know myself. I go from car to work and back to the house most day. Not much fresh air there.

Aineoil

Lack of sun. I get up at 6 (in the dark), leave the house before 7 (in the dark). I get back to the house at round half 5 at the earliest, again it's dark.

I used to be like that til i got my cpap. also with a few 3hour naps thrown in as i was constantly falling asleep.
Interesting about the blue screen stuff, i use f.lux on my laptop

i don't think wanting to stay in bed in the morning is tiredness related though - it's just so chilly!!

Loueln

Constant nagging

bodhrandude

Hibernating, keeping warm under the quilt.

donegaLroad

Vitamin deficiency, lack of sun in Ireland.