So my arm's been weirdly achey lately and I've been trying to figure out why, but haven't really come up with anything, BUT as I was looking I came across a thing that made me realize I might be chronically fatigued? But, the thing is, the primary indicator of being fatigued is just, not feeling well-rested even after a full night's sleep. But I'm not sure I really know what being well-rested feels like? I've tried to figure it out, but there's almost nothing, and what there IS just kind of sounds like being a morning person? aka, being able to spring up from bed fully awake and not needing like an hour for your brain to "boot up" in the morning I know that I have the whole "being perpetually tired all day" thing, and I don't have a lot of energy, but I had kind of been assuming that those were related to depression. I also have trouble falling asleep... and then when I wake up I don't think I feel particularly different than when I went to sleep? But then again I don't have the greatest memory, so I could be just, not remembering? I also have semi-frequent headaches which I think get worse if I get less than like 7 ish hours of sleep, which was listed as a side effect of fatigue... I dunno. So, I guess my question is, does anybody here know what an actual restful night's sleep feels like?
If you have depression, you may have a hard time feeling "well rested" - a concept that is pretty much imaginary except for the tiny minority of people that have no anxiety, no depression, no mental illness, no physical illness, no disabilities, no neurodivergencies, no kids, no mortgage, no debt, a great income, and a huge bank balance.
I kind of disagree - depression and stress wear on me, but I still feel better after a good night's sleep, and feel a noticeable difference if it is a shitty night's sleep even if it's long. So, for me, being well-rested doesn't mean I'm capable of civilized conversation or operating a stove before I've had caffeine, but it means waking up and not feeling like I desperately want to hit the snooze button just another time or five. It usually involves at least 7 hours sleep at a comfortable temperature on a comfortable bed (or being really physically exhausted before lying down on a flat surface, such as after doing a lot of hiking or sth), and not tossing and turning, and usually not having had caffeine within six hours of bed (you may not be as sensitive to it). It's like having a fully charged battery, mostly - if I get bad sleep, I might not be fully charged, and being well-rested doesn't give me Morning Person superpowers, but I have a lot more to work with.
So, if you get a good night's sleep, you end up feeling notably different/better when you wake up than when you went to sleep? Huh, that... doesn't at all sound familiar, lol. I don't really remember a time when I've woken up and haven't wanted to just sleep more, even if I've slept for like ten hours straight. Most of the time the only real reason I get out of bed is because I have to, not particularly because I want to or because I feel like I am Done Sleeping, if that makes sense?
It could be a sleep cycle thing at least partly? Like for example I woke up at like 3am after idk 6 hours of sleep? But I wasnt like uuugh let me sleeeep. I was like, hm okay Im awake, gotta take care of going to the bathroom and brushing my teeth, but I could have probably pulled out my laptop and just gone on like Yes Hello Im Awake Now. And when I woke up again at my actual alarm, I was like... No Let Me Sleep What The Heck Is This. Probably because Id woken up while my brain was not done sleeping. Could be one part of the issue maybe.
Yep, I end up feeling noticeably better/different. Illustration: when I was working at a financial planning firm, I also had really bad depression, and so I was getting like 2-3 hours of sleep a night for something like a week straight. I was exhausted and cranky and my hands were always cold. On that Friday, I was so exhausted I just walked in the door, took off my shoes, and flopped straight down on the bed, proceeding to sleep 8 hours and wake up at midnight. When I woke up, my hands weren't cold anymore because my circulation was back to normal and I could do things like eat dinner and brush my teeth and change into my pajamas before taking at like 3am to get back on a quasi-normal schedule. I'm a fairly dramatic case in terms of impact and bounce-back, but it's definitely a thing.
For me being "well rested" or at least as close as I can get to it makes the biggest difference in how distractable I am. If I did not sleep well, I will do things like check my personal computer while I am working, and then be startled when the work one pings me that a customer is waiting on a response. I also tend to feel sorta "drifty" almost like the distance you can get from disassociating. It can feel like I am remote controlling my body as far as it's reactions go, wit a sorta delayed reaction time. If I am really sleep deprived, I get start to micro-sleep, and get very irritable/pissy/borderline meltdown. I tend to have very broken sleep, so there was about a month where I did not manage to stay asleep for more than about 70-80 minutes at time.
I usually feel like sleeping more unless I have gotten 10 or more hours of sleep- I just have a body that likes sleep a lot I guess, but when I'm well rested its less that I necessarily feel better when I wake up, it's that after I have fully woken up (a 30 min to 2 hour process) I don't feel a want-to-sleep level of tired again until it is night again I do feel the feel better right when woken up (but it's not like I get up immediately-I still need half an hour to lie around) when I've been consistently well-rested.. Which only happens during summer vacation because I am an overpriviledged young person who hasn't needed a summer job yet. So yeah. When I get to fall asleep and wake up whenever for a few weeks, I can start to feel the well rested feeling That also might be my school stress-induced anxiety and depression fading for the summer too, idk
A huge part of feeling well-rested is what phase of your sleep cycle you wake up in. An alarm that wakes you during your lightest phase can make a hell of a difference on how you feel when you wake up, because waking up during a deep phase will leave you feeling groggy and tired no matter how much sleep you got. Chronic sleep debt will also screw you over, though. I was perpetually tired and couldn't wake up naturally at all (would sleep for more than twelve hours without an alarm or someone to wake me up) until I managed to repair my sleep habits for something like a year. I don't use alarms at all, now, and my habits could still be better. I do wake up feeling like ass a lot, but there are days where I wake up and don't at all feel like going back to sleep -- I'm refreshed and ready to get up and be productive.
I wake up drooling when I sleep well. This usually only happens when I pick to sleep when it makes sense for me to do so. I tend to feel much better. Though not necessarily wanting to leave my bed.
