Daytime sleepiness – These measures will help

Are you constantly exhausted & tired during the day? Here you can read the most common reasons for daytime sleepiness – and find out which measures can help to significantly improve your sleep.

Daytime sleepiness is widespread, but is often only dismissed as an unproductive phase or as a temporary lack of concentration.

Daytime sleepiness is much more than just a short phase of exhaustion and the causes of daytime sleepiness are usually much deeper.

Here you can find out, among other things, what you can do against daytime sleepiness and what causes daytime sleepiness.

One question: Do you feel in the middle of the day …

  • tired
  • exhausted
  • dejected
  • Do you even fall asleep in the middle of the day?

These can be the first signs of daytime sleepiness. But what is daytime sleepiness anyway?

What is daytime sleepiness

Fatigue is a perfectly normal condition that the body uses to tell us that it needs rest.

That’s why it’s not unusual if you feel weak during the day or have to fight against falling asleep. In such situations, a short nap is often enough to regain energy.

However, the situation is different if you are constantly and over a long period of time under

leiden.

However: if you agree with some of the points, that is not a meaningful test for daytime sleepiness, but at least it indicates a lot.

Signs of daytime sleepiness

When you suffer from daytime sleepiness, the body shuts down its normal activity while you are awake.

Attention sinks and alertness decreases. Monotonous or drowsy situations, as well as darkened rooms, can lead to you falling into a microsleep or falling asleep completely.

Various circumstances but also illnesses can be the cause of daytime sleepiness.

Common causes of daytime sleepiness

The reasons that lead to daytime sleepiness are very diverse and very different.

Just like normal tiredness, daytime sleepiness can also have emotional and physical causes, the most common examples are:

Shift work and jet lag:

Shift work and jet lag both lead to a shift in sleep patterns.

This is often the reason why you cannot fall asleep or you wake up very early. The body gets so little sleep, the internal clock is disturbed and you are therefore also tired during the day.

Note: Here you can read more about the different phases of sleep – and how they influence our well-being.

Problems falling asleep and staying asleep:

It is not just shift work or jet lag that can cause problems falling asleep and staying asleep.

Stress, worries and fears are often the causes of the head not resting in the evening, making it difficult to fall asleep or waking you up at night.

The result is again daytime sleepiness, whereby the body signals that it has not gotten enough sleep.

Tip: Read here how you can improve your sleep quality with autogenic training .

Vitamin deficiency

lack of vitamin D and vitamin B12 can lead to fatigue (these vitamins have a decisive influence on the hormonal balance in our body).

An undersupply of iron can also cause anemia.

The anemia results in a lack of oxygen which can manifest itself in fatigue, among other things.

Tip: Fill up your vitamin D budget with plenty of exercise in the sun. Vitamin D capsules are also suitable in winter .

Snoring and sleep apnea

When you snore, your body can become depleted of oxygen.

  • If the breathing stops completely several times during the night, one speaks of sleep apnea.
  • Due to these interruptions or the insufficient oxygen supply, there is no restful sleep at night.

Daytime sleepiness can be a result of this.

Depression, Stress and Anxiety Disorders:

Psychological suffering always affects the mind and body.

 

The result can be disturbed sleep at night, which in turn manifests itself in daytime sleepiness.

Restless leg syndrome (restless legs syndrome):

With this disease, the legs, or sometimes the arms, do not rest and the affected parts of the body tingle or throb.

  • These symptoms usually occur when you are at rest, for example when you are asleep.
  • If it then pulls in the legs or arms, you cannot fall asleep and you will be robbed of valuable sleep.

This can then be the cause of severe daytime sleepiness.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is part of sleep addiction and is based on a no longer functioning sleep-wake regulation.

Around 40,000 people in Germany are affected. This disease is characterized by sleep attacks, which can also lead to a loss of muscle tension.

But sleeping through the night is also difficult which ends in daytime sleepiness.

Other causes

As you can see, the causes of daytime sleepiness vary widely. Often several reasons play a role at the same time.

If you are not sure, you can also watch your sleep for a while.

  • It is best to keep a sleep diary in which you write down your bedtime and your energy balance.
  • Often that alone is enough to recognize patterns and take countermeasures.

For example, if daytime sleepiness always comes after the weekend, alcohol or eating late before sleep can be the trigger.

If it occurs the day after an exercise, it may be a reason for doing exercise before bed .

If you know the causes, you can actively counteract it. But there is also a lot else you can do against daytime sleepiness – and how you can prevent daytime sleepiness.

What you can do about daytime sleepiness

Even if it is not a medical daytime sleepiness test, you should see what cause of your daytime sleepiness is being considered in order to be able to take targeted action.

However, there are many tips that you should always follow in order to sleep again at night and thus also get a grip on daytime sleepiness.

Routine before bed

Always try to go to bed at the same time (if this is also possible during shift work or other incidents).

The body will adjust to it and it will be easier for you to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Suggestions: Read a book, consciously switch off the cell phone , meditate for 10 minutes, drink a nap …

Before you go to bed, try to calm down and relax. Yoga or meditation exercises can help particularly well.

Balanced diet and plenty of drinking

Eat varied and balanced meals to ensure a supply of all important vitamins and trace elements.

Together with adequate hydration, your body will become fitter and tiredness will decrease.

Snoring apps:

Snoring apps for mobile phones help to reduce snoring and get it under control. In this way you can prevent the oxygen deficiency and possibly eliminate the reason for daytime sleepiness.

Sport

Exercise regularly, it gets your circulation going, makes you fitter and combats tiredness.

Improve sleep

In general, it pays to improve your own sleeping habits. The more restful the night’s sleep, the less often you are tired during the day.

Tip: There are numerous articles on the subject of better sleep on this page .

See a doctor

If you have noticed any signs or any of the listed diseases, you should consult a doctor.

(Regardless of this, you can of course also address problems during normal check-ups with your family doctor.)

In short: If you cannot get the daytime tiredness under control and suffer from it for a long period of time, you should not hesitate and see a doctor.

The most important in a nutshell:

Daytime sleepiness often results from poor, restless sleep.

If the body does not recover overnight, it reports during the day and wants to catch up on sleep.

  • The performance drops and under certain circumstances we fall asleep in the middle of the day as a result.
  • In order to do something against daytime sleepiness, you should therefore primarily pay attention to your sleep at night.

The causes of daytime sleepiness are often precisely there.

In addition, consider a healthy lifestyle with a healthy diet, routine, sufficient exercise and some exercise to clear the mind and relax.

So you should be able to fight daytime sleepiness easily – and cheaply.

In conclusion

I hope this article on daytime sleepiness has been helpful to you.

 

You are also welcome to browse the other sections and find out which measures you can take to improve your sleep:

  1. The bedroom category provides helpful tips on how to best furnish your bedroom .
  2. In the next section you will find more information on common sleep problems and sleep disorders .
  3. We explain current studies (understandable for everyone) in the category of sleep research .

You can significantly improve your sleep with just a few measures. In addition to habits like a sleep ritual, you can of course also rely on the right environment.

A suitable (inexpensive) pillow, for example, relaxes the spine and promotes restful sleep.

Tip: Depending on the sleeping position , different variants are recommended. You can read more about this here: Pillow test .

Have fun browsing!

I created Sleep Knowledge to share my interests and experiences on healthy sleeping with others. On this page I am therefore dealing with interesting questions about the optimal night’s sleep & everything else that goes with it.

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