sleep cycles and tiredness

[Tess]

I'm adding a new idea to the mix: sleep cycles.

I read that waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle will leave you groggy and tired, but if you awake at the lightest stage of a sleep cycle, you will feel better.  

As a lifetime long sleeper, I try to stay asleep for as long as possible.  Maybe I should try getting up an hour or half-hour earlier. 

The calculator below is interesting (if it really is accurate).  Type in the time you are going to sleep, it will list three times when it is optimal to wake up (or vice versa).  Never used this, but I will try this tonight. 

sleepyti.me bedtime calculator

Have also found an app for my cell phone that is supposed to gently wake me up at an optimal time.

My ResMed 10 keeps telling me my data is excellent, but I am still very tired.  Maybe getting up earlier at just the right time will help.   

[Russatrice]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing, I also have a problem with tiredness, so I'll look into this.

[oldfart59]

Me too. It would be interesting to hear from some other seasoned sleepers here about this. Did you hear about it on the internet? They say if its on the internet, it must be true 

[Tess]

Ha. How did we manage without the Internet?

The phone app that gently wakes you up is free for 30 days and then $29.99 a month.  That's too much.  

So then, I ordered a ResMed no-touch sleep tracker on eBay for $39.99.  It apparently monitors breathing and decides if you are in REM or not.

Last night I missed my sleep cycle time and am tired today.

Could be all hooey.

[Tess]

I'm replying again.  Years ago, I had insomnia for quite a while and learned about sleep cycles then. I had forgotten about them.  

During most of my career (newspapers), I worked 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. or midnight.  I would read how the artificial lights in the office in the evening could goof up your sleep cycles as well as just being on a schedule that was different than most people's. 

The insomnia resolved with the aid of a pharmaceutical. I don't remember if all my research about sleep cycles taught me anything. It may have led me to my first (of three) sleep study.