Trouble waking up

I get told the same thing a lot, RawBill... that I don't listen to my body, that I never slow down, that I don't sleep enough. I suppose it's true that I'm good at ignoring my own needs and I always put my daughters, my work, etc., before myself. I still haven't shaken the lethargy but I'm pushing through it all the same. I still find that, when I sit down for a meal or a cup of coffee, I could easily fall asleep... but I'm sort of hoping it just passes.

I completely agree with you on this... we "artificially" pump ourselves up a lot of the time... coffee, chocolate and sugars, etc. I only drink decaffeinated coffee myself. I have blood pressure issues so caffeine is not my friend LOL I switched to decaf more than a year ago and I honestly don't mind it (as much as other people roll their eyes at it or call it "dirty water"). I still enjoy the break of sitting down with a hot drink but without the caffeine. I actually notice that I will get a headache if I overdo caffeine now... I love really dark chocolate (in the 70% range) but I can't have too much or I will certainly end up with my head pounding from it.

This problem actually could be made worse by drinking coffee and other stimulants. They force the body to push on past it's natural limits, causing a longer recovery period when you do wear out. A healthy lifestyle includes rest, but your body must be able to recognise when it needs this rest naturally and not by adrenal fatigue, which can be caused by stimulants and other chemicals.

You could certainly be right, katsmeow1213... so far, I'm still not ill in any way (although both of my daughters now have a touch of a cold so maybe it's playing on me, as well). What worries me is that I've had some trouble with depression in my past and I know that significant changes in sleep habits are a key indicator... I look for such signs because I really, really don't want to head down that road again. Even up until today, I'm still feeling like I could fall asleep at the drop of a hat and I'm dragging myself out of bed in the morning...but the good thing is that I'm aware of it and I know that's important.

Being tired could be a large number of things, like illness, depression, stress, or just the weather!

You're so right! I was very lucky that today was the quietest day I've had in my schedule for weeks now... I guess that probably had something to do with it. I guess somehow my mind and body were reminding me that I actually had a chance to slow down for a change. I still don't like the feeling, though, of not being able to wake up :\

OMG it must be really hard to focus on an afternoon slide show when you've been awake since 4AM... for me, I'm often only falling asleep at 3AM or later and I get back up by 9AM. I agree with you regarding the impact of the menstrual cycle, too. I think we have a tendency not to think about it except for those few days a month where we can't ignore it... but it must have an impact at other times as well that we pretty much brush aside. I have a pretty balanced diet but I'm starting to wonder if I'm lacking in certain things... particularly iron. I've just recently started doing some research about it to see what I can learn.

LOL! I'm glad you didn't end up on the floor of your classroom or lecture hall, GreenMoo! I know exactly the "sudden jerk" you described too... I did that in my livingroom armchair just last night, as I was waiting for my daughter to arrive home for dinner. I just sat down for a couple of minutes and had everything ready on the stove. Sure enough, dozed off I often wonder the same as you did -- just how long I "might" be able to sleep if I didn't set my alarm. I have no days in the week where I don't have to get up at a specific time (don't sleep in on weekends or anything like that). I've caught myself thinking lately that I'd like to have one day where no one or nothing wakes me and see if I can actually sleep then! I look at my daughters, who are both students, and on at least one day of the weekend, they'll both roll out of bed somewhere between 10:30AM and noon. I never wake them because I know they work hard all week and they only sleep like that on a day that they really know they can.

This morning I managed to sleep till 7am, and I only awoke when one of my room mates started crashing about. I'm wondering how long I would have slept if she had stayed quiet. I had a quick nap during yesterday afternoon's slide show (I nearly fell off the arm of the chair I was sitting on when I woke up with one of those sudden jerks you do when you're asleep accidentally!) but am really lacking decent sleep just now.

I woke up several times, too, and told myself "ok get up and get something done" and in no time, I fell back to sleep again. I even had my daughter trying to wake me up and I just couldn't stay awake.

Thanks for being so sweet, JenInTN :) I've definitely been trying to "allow myself" the luxury of sleeping a tiny bit more in the mornings than I normally would. I've been taking another 20-30 minutes and it's surprising how nice it feels. I just ended a major work project recently and I was surprised how exhausted I was on the first day after it was over. It was as though I had finally given my body "permission" to feel the fatigue I'd been fighting while working. That first day was a complete write-off... I accomplished nothing LOL That's really difficult to accept when you are the "go go go" type - but, like you said, everyone gets worn out! Mostly, I just need to make it OK in my head to feel that way ;)

I was just thinking about this when I got up today, danishcanadian! I'm Canadian too and don't do well with winter at all. In spite of brilliant sunshine streaming through the windows, I have zero desire to be outside except for running errands and such. I don't have any winter activities that I enjoy (except for ice skating but I honestly don't do that much at all any more). Spring, summer and fall, I'm outdoors daily -- for anything from hanging laundry to gardening to walking... winter comes along and I guess I do get housebound. I know that people also suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder so I'm going to do some reading on that. Might provide some insights.