Never Feel Well Rested When I Wake Up

For as long as I can remember I never seem to feel properly rested whenever I wake up. I always feel groggy, with a stuffy nose, closed throat and dry mouth, taking a good 30 min before I feel somewhat normal again

I also consistently get over 8 hours of sleep but according to my Apple Watch i only ever get 40-50min of deep sleep and I’ve heard it’s meant to be at least 90 min.

What can I do to improve the quality of my sleep? I’ve tried limiting blue light, reading before bed and taking sleep-easy tablets with valerian root / chamomile / magnesium

Possible dehydration have you tried a cool mist humidifier, chap stick and drinking more water during the day?

Ash said:
Possible dehydration have you tried a cool mist humidifier, chap stick and drinking more water during the day?

Always have a chapstick with me, I drink at least 1.5-2L throughout the day (although I should probably drink more since I’m fairly active) but have not tried a humidifier

I know someone is going to come in here and shout about sleep apnea and CPAP, but because you mention “stuffy nose, closed throat and dry mouth”, I’m going to suggest you get a sleep test.

I don’t know what a “closed throat” even is. Can you describe that?

The blue light stuff has been disproven and is mostly nonsense, however, not using your phone before bed is important, because the apps are designed to stimulate you, which is what you don’t want.

@Cal
Closed throat like the feeling you get when you need to cough and hard to talk

Ren said:
@Cal
Closed throat like the feeling you get when you need to cough and hard to talk

Yeah, I’d definitely get a sleep test done.

@Cal
I’m confused about the setup to this comment. Stuffy nose and closed throat (narrow airway?) are both risks for sleep apnea. Dry mouth is just an effect of mouth breathing all night, which is also not good for sleep apnea and itself likely a result of the stuffy nose.

So, in conclusion, we’re all in agreement that OP should do a sleep test. My favorite is the WatchPAT at-home sleep test from Lofta ($189) because it can catch one variety of sleep apnea that most at-home tests miss.

@Marley
You’re right, but I find when anybody asks anything about sleep, somebody will pop up and say “probably sleep apnea”. In this case, it probably is.

nose plugs/strips were a GAME CHANGER for me

Wake up time is also important, I couldn’t wake up even after 8 hours of sleep and I would feel tired.
Now I am using an app which wakes me up tracking my sleep stages. It uses method to detect your body movement and I was really surprised how fresh I felt when i woke up the first day with that alarm.
There are 2 apps Sleepcycle, sleepwave. You can try it.

@Payton
Which app are you currently using?

Ren said:
@Payton
Which app are you currently using?

Sleepcycle

Me neither. I had a bunch of sleep tests done and also heart ones because I had a weird heart condition (not serious). Turns out that my heart rate is actually higher at rest than when I am not resting. My heart “hangs” into my chest cavity and I actually have a much higher heart rate when I’m sleeping versus awake as a result. I have very vivid dreams and I also move around in my sleep (kick my legs, feet etc). I always wake up utterly exhausted. I used to even sleep walk and sleep hallucinate. At least those things don’t happen as much any more. I actually tested it once because I thought “what if I just didn’t get up? Would I ever feel fully rested enough to get up voluntarily?” Turns out - nope. I slept for 2.5 days before I finally gave up and got myself up.

@Corey
I think I have the opposite ahha I always get notifications from my watch that my heart rate is in danger of being too low while sleeping

Ren said:
@Corey
I think I have the opposite ahha I always get notifications from my watch that my heart rate is in danger of being too low while sleeping

Crazy! Maybe it’s a blood oxygen thing then. Have you been checked for sleep apnea?

smoke/vape ?

Freddie said:
smoke/vape ?

Nope never

I used to have something similar. After trying and failing with different suspects, used an air purifier for my bedroom.

Our room and neighbourhood is fairly clean and none of my family members have this. Weird, but that worked for me!

Could be a dustmite allergy, I have the same thing and my monthly vaccine makes a big difference.