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How can I stop sleeping and feeling so tired all the time?
I have a huge problem with oversleeping and crawling into bed for naps during the day only to still be asleep long past the intended time. This is an issue because I'm a incredibly busy person. I work full time, I'm taking 18 college credits (US), I'm the VP of a big organization on campus, and I'm also trying to get back into the dating world.
Lately though all I want to do is sleep and its gotten to the point I missed two classes and a meeting last week because I slept right through my alarm. My boss also called me the other day about how I'm not working as many hours and he needs me to work more or he's going to have to find somebody else to replace me who can.
I'm just so exhausted all the time and it's majorly stressing me out. I want to have a normal schedule, but what usually happens is I wake up sometime between the hours of 10am and 12pm, go to classes until around 4pm, go back to sleep until 7pm, wake up, eat, shower, do various other tasks, then either work (I work from home) or do homework until 2 or 3am because I slept so late and then the cycle repeats.
If I try to go to sleep earlier and wake up in the morning to do homework or work, it never gets done. I've tried multiple times. I wind up just hitting snooze endlessly until I absolutely have to get up and then I don't get my work done.
I don't even think about it when the alarm goes off, I immediately hit snooze and go back to sleep. I don't even have time to tell myself not to before I'm asleep again.
On the weekends it's even worse. I can easily sleep until 3pm, be up for a few hours, go back to sleep around 6 or 7, wake up at 10, do stuff until 3, and repeat.
I also have a hard time doing things because I wind up in such a fog after napping, but I can't just tell myself not to nap, When I get tired, I'm asleep ten minutes later. I can't force myself awake.
I have tried caffeine through coffee, other drinks, and even caffeinated vitamins and pills. They don't do anything except give me an upset stomach.
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You do have a lot going on, and your constant tiredness may simply be the result of that. However, you should also see a doctor. Lethargia can be a symptom of very easily-treated conditions; for example, there may be a problem with your thyroid. You may also be suffering from sleep apnea, and therefore not getting into the deeper sleep that you need. Blood tests and a sleep study can determine whether there is a cause to your exhaustion other than just too many things on your plate.
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Hi. Well, extra vitamins can supplement the normal resources of the body but are only really useful if you have an identified lack/shortage of any particualr one. Caffeine has no energy value whatsoever. It makes us believe we have more energy for a short time simply by 'masking' the symptoms of low energy. The only way we can gain extra energy is by eating (or drinking heavily enriched 'sports' protein preparations). In normal daily life (ie, when not doing some sort of vigorous physical execrise) our brain is about the highest energy-consumer. Thus lack of focus and disorientation (our mental 'fog') is likely to be the first give-away that we are constantly taking more out than we are putting in. My opinion? You are trying to do far too much here. You need to prioritise. If you do not you run the risk of having the decision on what you do or don't choose to do taken away from you. Because your performance will suffer to the point where you don't do any of them very well and they will indeed be lost to other people. The workload you have now is only sustainable for short periods, not long term. Think about the time it takes a world-class sprinter to cover 100 metres. Could he or she, then run 1500 metres in 15 times that? Nowhere near! Energy is a finite resource and we have to have some sort of energy-management plan. Burn it all over a blistering 100 metres? Or a much more controlled release over 1500? But we cannot do both!
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Our body will tell us if it is lacking something by the symptoms we get, usually something more along the line of sickness or illness. Cars won't run well or at all without fuel and all the oils and fluids it needs. Same for our bodies. I can't say what your body is missing. You could see a Dr. but regular Drs don't run lots of tests to see what your body is missing. Alternative health Drs might. Drs only treat the symptom, but not the underlying issues creating your problem. So you need to do some sleuth work yourself.
If this wasn't a problem before, try to look back to a time maybe 6 months before before this sleeping problem occurred. If what you were doing then was vastly different, meaning no 8 hr work and no school, then perhaps your body can't handle the stress of doing all that.
Perhaps you are also too busy to eat regular healthy meals. I mention looking back about 6 months because the body can still run a while without key things it needs to function well so for a while at the beginning of your hectic schedule, the sleep problem may not have been there yet. But your body was slowing losing ground and giving in to the conditions that happen when it is lacking whatever it is needing and missing.
If you figure out what changed, you may have to make adjustments to your schedule or to what you have been getting for nutrition.
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