why does more sleep make you more tired?

Question

The longer I stay in bed, the more sleepy and energyless I feel. Why?

Answer 1

If you truly feel this way frequently, you may have a sleep problem that would require you to see a physician. With some sleep problems, your sleep is so disrupted, that you are not actually getting refreshing sleep thus you stay in bed longer but the percentage of restorative sleep decreases extremely causing you to feel tired during the day or have a lack of energy. Many common sleep problems can be detected with a sleep study (Polysomnogram) and to detect daytime sleepiness a test called a Multiple Sleep Latency Test. The tests are performed in a Sleep Center usually under the direction of a Sleep Specialist Physician that has passed Board examinations in their field generally Neurology or Pulmonology (and in Sleep Disorders Medicine). The tests are painless and generally require an overnight stay in the center. If you have other symptoms, snoring, twitching legs or legs that hurt at night, make sure to tell your physician. If you awaken frequently at night, also be sure to tell your physician.
Sometimes unrestful sleep is also a symptom of other disease that could be detected by a physician. If the problem is just one night and you have had some change recently in residence, bedrooms, or family structure it could be something that is normal and expected with changes in environment or family structure. If it occurs more than one night, you truly need to allow your physician an opportunity to check you out and make sure it's not something that could be serious.
Sleep problems can be serious and cause long lasting health problems. So if you or anyone you know have this unrestful sleep for more than a few nights, see your doctor. It could actually mean some peace of mind for you as well as some genuine good sleep!
I have enclosed an article that details sleep and metabolism that I hope answers more of your questions.

Why does your metabolism decrease when you sleep?

answer

Provided by Michael Tri H. Do, HHMI predoctoral fellow, Harvard University

It was once thought that conserving energy was a primary function of sleep. However, the metabolic rate during sleep is only 15 percent less than that of quiet wakefulness. The energy saved in a period of sleep can be gained by eating just a little bit more. In that case, what is the purpose of being unconscious for a third of our lives, lying around for predators to find? And how is the regulation of metabolic rate involved?

Sleep has been conserved through a large part of evolution, suggesting that it’s a fundamental process. In fact, missed sleep must be made up—rats that are robbed of all sleep can't live for more than a few weeks. However, the function of sleep is mysterious. For instance, sleep-deprived rats eat more even as their body weight falls. As sleep deprivation continues, the animals lose their ability to maintain body temperature. Their immune systems weaken, and they are overwhelmed by infection. Thus, sleep is entwined with feeding, thermoregulation, and immunity.

Recent data indicate that sleep is also involved in cognitive processes. For example, birds that are learning to sing show a certain pattern of neural activation. This pattern is repeated when they sleep, even though they are neither producing song nor listening to it. It's as if they're dreaming of singing! Similarly, rats that are learning to perform a particular behavior display neural activity that's specific to that behavior. When they sleep, segments of this activity pattern seem to be replayed. Many scientists have argued from these findings that sleep is involved in the consolidation of memories.

A brain-imaging study in humans suggests another role for sleep. Subjects were asked to learn various words, either while well rested or sleep deprived. The sleep-deprived subjects used more brain areas to accomplish the task, and the amount of extra tissue used was proportional to how tired the subjects reported being. The authors of the study speculate that some brain regions require sleep for renewal of function. In the absence of this renewal, other brain regions must be mustered to the task.

It may be that many neural functions, such as renewal, can only occur in a chemical environment that is incompatible with waking consciousness. For instance, we know that the level of a substance called adenosine rises in the brain during wakefulness and that sleep is necessary for it to fall again. A decreased metabolism may help establish such an environment, or it may simply be incidental to it—we don't know which.

The mechanisms by which sleep is tied to metabolism, however, are becoming clear. In recent years, a lot of excitement has accompanied the forging of links between sleep and feeding. For instance, there are neurons that make a substance called orexin. These cells are located in a region of the brain that was long understood to be involved in feeding. Consistent with this, giving rats orexin causes them to eat more, while blocking it causes them to eat very little.

Scientists were surprised to find that orexin is also involved in the sleep-wake cycle. Orexin-deficient mice have uncontrollable bouts of sleep, a syndrome that is identical to narcolepsy in humans. In fact, it was recently reported that orexin cells are lost in this disease. Orexin's importance is due in part to its stimulation of neurons that are critical for staying awake. These are the cells that make histamine (and, as many allergy sufferers know, taking antihistamines makes you drowsy). These types of interactions are being uncovered at a quickening pace. When enough of them are known, we may be able to form testable hypotheses about why our metabolic rate decreases during sleep.

Sleep research is vast, and I had to skip many of its highlights. For instance, sleep is highly structured and consists of discrete stages. Mysteriously, disrupting one of these (REM sleep) can help with severe depression. I also did not discuss the numerous cell groups in the central nervous system that, by their interactions, bring sleep and also lift it away.

If you'd like a discussion of these topics, I suggest you consult the following college-level introductory neuroscience texts:

Kandel, E.R., J.H. Schwartz, and T.M. Jessell, eds. Principles of Neural Science. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.

Squire, L.R., ed. Fundamental Neuroscience. 2nd ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 2002.

You might also want to check out these sources:

Dave, A.S., and D. Margoliash. 2000. Song replay during sleep and computational rules for sensorimotor vocal learning. Science 290:812–16.

Eriksson, K.S., et al. 2001. Orexin/hypocretin excites the histaminergic neurons of the tuberomammillary nucleus. Journal of Neuroscience 21:9273–79.

Horne, J.A. 2000. Images of lost sleep. Nature 403:605–6.

Maquet, P. 2001. The role of sleep in learning and memory. Science 294:1048–52.

Schwartz, M.W., et al. 2000. Central nervous system control of food intake. Nature 404:661–71.

Siegel, J.M. 2001. The REM sleep-memory consolidation hypothesis. Science 294:1058–63.

Stickgold, R. 2001. Sleep, learning, and dreams: Off-line memory reprocessing. Science 294:1052–57.

Willie, J.T., et al. 2001. To eat or sleep? Orexin in the regulation of feeding and wakefulness. Annual Review of Neuroscience 24:429–58.

http://www.hhmi.org/cgi-bin/askascientist/highlight.pl?kw=&file=answers%2Fneuroscience%2Fans_012.html

Answer 2

That just means you have a poor routine of getting enough sleep. Just because you may be sleeping enough time it does not mean your body is. That's why it has been said to keep a pattern of what time you got to bed. So, when your body gets tired at a certain time of the night, you can go right to sleep. I get up early, but if I want to lay in bed for a longer my body starts to get really tired and I have no energy.

Answer 3

Has nothing to do with sleeping more, that is a common misconception. However, sleeping more then your body needs does nothing to make you less tired. More often then not a feeling of constant sleepiness can be attributed to diet, relative heath, mental state or illness.

Answer 4

The cycle of sleeping (I don't know how you call that in English) takes 4 hours. so if you sleep 4 or 8 hours you'll feel more rested than if you sleep for 6 or 10, because you wake up in the middle of the process. It's that alpha state, beta state etc.

Answer 5

That's easy to explain. First, your body only NEEDS seven to nine hours of sleep. There is also a difference between "sleep" and "rest". If you are sleeping on a lumpy, old mattress you may not be getting enough quality "rest".

If after eight hours of sleep, you wake up and stay in bed, you are wasting energy. After eight hours of sleep and you wake your body is now in need of FOOD and movement.

I like to call it "oxygenation".....Get up and move and get some oxygen in your body!

I have a puppy who helps me get up and moving every morning. A good fifteen minute romp every morning around six gets me going!

Answer 6

i think inactivity causes the metabolism to slow down. when you get out of bed do a few stretches or walk up and down the stairs a couple of times to get your blood flowing.
another thing you can do is to to do some sit ups before you go to bed. this helps the muscles to stretch and gain oxygen and you will sleep better, thus waking up and feeling not so sluggish.

blessings,
lily

Answer 7

because ur body can only take so many hours of sleep. cause sleeping actually uses some of ur body's energy. after 8 hours of sleep ur body basically forces u to still sleep if u don feel like getting up. therefore making u more tired

Answer 8

Energy drifts within the body. An organised body will used to routine as normal.

Answer 9

Because you are not recommended by our lord to sleep that much. In essence you have much to do , therefore you can not afford to sleep much. In order words it is a punishment. Sleep less and work hard for a better future.

Answer 10

Your internal clock get messed up, a bit like jetlag.
your body want to sleep to a set routine

Answer 11

Your body gets used to the amount of sleep & wants more