Tiredness

Other than the obvious get more sleep, how can I combat tiredness, 6 days a week I am up at 5 for work and get up at 7 on Sunday for a ride, last 2 sundays I have had absolutely no energy whatsoever, anything other than more shuteye that will help, am off to bed shortly as gonna try and get more sleep for the next 2 weeks to see if I notice any difference. Am 43 so not overly old but starting to feel it!

cut out all manmade food (i.e made from a list of ingrediants) cut out coffee and tea.
i started a food plan like this a year ago, i sleep 8 hrs solid every night.

6 days a week I am up at 5 for work and get up at 7 on Sunday for a ride

Try and get up the same time each day, whether its a day off or not. It can muck things up if you get up later at the weekends

So how much are you actually sleeping? Up at 5 sounds nasty, but if you’re in bed at 10 it’s not that bad…

Other possibilities: you’re overdoing it? If you’re going to the gym everyday / commuting 30 miles / etc you may just need a week (or even two) of taking it easy, driving in to work etc.

ton’s food idea is a pretty sound one, make sure you’re eating well and not overdoing the tea, coffee and junk food. Avoid any and all caffeinated drinks after 14:00, it’ll help you sleep. Cutting out alcohol during the week will also help with the quality of the sleep you do get.

No screens for at least an hour before bed. I need to heed this one more but it definitely helps.

Definitely cut out alcohol if you drink through the week. It makes a massive difference to the quality of your sleep.

Definitely cut out alcohol if you drink through the week. It makes a massive difference to the quality of your sleep.

Yeah, quite surprising how little alcohol you need to drink for it to make a difference, not talking about getting hammered, even just a pint or two.

Actual sleep is between 5 and 6 hours a night, am trying to address this was in bed at 10 last night, am going to try this for a couple of weeks to see if anything improves, I drive to work anyway, no gym, not riding as much as I should so exercise is less than norm but only by a couple of rides a week. When I do go to bed I generally sleep well although the early night last night was difficult to drop off. Rarely drink alcohol, maybe one bottle of beer a week, trying to read before bed now to avoid the screen issue, drink tea and coffee in the mornings but generally not after lunch. Diet is not too bad, mostly home cooked with veg in each meal. Hoping the extra hours will help each night as so far, it seems I am doing most of the suggestions.

As is already said above, cut out alcohol, drink more water. Drop sugary/man made foods, don’t eat fruit etc before bed. Phone off, TV off an hr before bed, read a book or something. Cut down on caffeine if you drink a lot in the day and make sure your eating enough good food to sustain whatever amount of exercise you are getting.

Edit: missed your last post. There will be things you can do to improve diet etc and it will help. What do you drink in the evenings (dont mean booze BTW), is your bed/room comfy? You might think you are sleeping well but possibly not as well as you think you are

All of that and see your GP for a “well man” checkup.

A pal of mine complained of chronic tiredness… turned out his liver was failing.

I used to average 5-6 hours. Since turning 40, I need more like 8-9! Learn to enjoy going to bed early with a book.

Im 42, up 5.10am,generally bed 11pm, ride 25+-mile once a week,dont eat that well tbh, oven chips etc at night (8pm),…sunday roast most sundays, i dont feel too bad generally,i take a multi vit with iron everyday,dont eat much fruit,1 bottle of red a week,… Will i die early?

Actual sleep is between 5 and 6 hours a night

That’s not really very much, I’m not surprised you’re tired by the weekend!

If you’re sleeping well when you’re actually asleep, then as I mentioned above try to keep the time you get up constant. Its more important than the time you go to bed.

Change your job if you can?

Even if you do all of the above, getting up at 5am everyday when it is pitch black is pretty unnatural, we are predisposed to want to wake as the dawn breaks. Keep getting up before this everyday with the first 2 hours of your day in darkness and you will probably spend your life tired. Want to wake up at 63 and think “I spent the last 2 decades knackered”?

Paul

i find having children helps.

i find having children helps.

I found quite the opposite. Always slept soundly until we had a child. Could just have been coincidence, but maybe it was some kind of paternal thing, but since my son has been born, I am now easily woken by any noise at night either in the house or outside and dont sleep anywhere near as deeply. Being totally shattered makes no difference.

I ignored it, tried to push through and went on to develop Chronic Fatigue, so make sure you nip it in the bud early.

Also your hormones change as you get older and so your melatonin levels may be on the decline. I now need to have the room really dark. Worth getting checked out and if need be taking some 5HTP as a supplement.

I also find cherry juice helps.

cut out screens (install f.lux if you can)
go to bed at 10:00
no coffee after 15:00 or so

Having a 3 year old and a 5 week old with a really bad cold, I’d say just MTFU – you don’t know what tiredness is 😉

Ha kids! Gotta love em!

I’d be ruined on 5 or 6 hours sleep each night…

Everyone’s different though.

5 hours usually here, 6 sometimes. Getting up at 5am doesn’t seem to bother me. I was out running at 5:15 this morning. Literally up, pint of water & out the door. I seem to have loads more energy in the morning. I can’t run in the evening, I’m hopeless. 🙂
I do like the odd cat nap though. I think that came from working an early shift. Up at 4:30, home for 2pm. I’d usually have a shower, & have literally 5 min nap then wake up right as rain & go to bed at a normal time.

The thing with sleep isn’t the amount as much as the quality. 8hrs in a stuffy, overheated (as most bedrooms are where a woman is involved), bedroom on a crap mattress will be less refreshing than 5 hours in a nice dark, cool bedroom, with decent fresh air & on a decent bed. Plus. I’m a firm believer that it’s possible to get too much sleep.

I’ve managed on around 5 hrs per night for the last 20 or so years. I’d rather go to bed when tired and sleep well than earlier and lie awake waiting on sleep.

It’s certainly worth getting some sort of checkup and looking at your diet – including how much carb there is.

Just to counter the warm-woman jibe, my Mrs likes the window wide open. I’ve awoken to snow flurries in the room more than once.