Feeling worse from oversleeping—poll

[Jaybee00]

I know this topic has been discussed before on here, but can’t find the thread.

If you wake up early-ish and feel somewhat normal and then go back to sleep for an additional hour or two, do you feel worse after the additional sleep than you did when you initially woke up (like more tired/more brain fogged/lower energy—calling this toxic oversleeping)

What might cause this?

 

[EndME]

Is this ME/CFS specific or common enough in other people, healthy and otherwise?

 

[Jaybee00]

Is this ME/CFS specific or common enough in other people, healthy and otherwise?

Good question! I don’t remember having anything like this when I was normal.

 

[hotblack]

I’m not sure I can answer this very well. I can feel ‘worse’ or more groggy and slow after sleeping some more, but did when well too and also know this happens with others without ME/CFS as @EndME mentions. There’s also the usual ‘it depends’ uncertainty.

But also my initial answer would just be ‘no’ because the main question is ‘do you get a toxic feeling’ and I do not. But then you talk about feeling worse, which as I said, sometimes I do. Is it worth rephrasing the question a bit?

 

[Jaybee00]

But also my initial answer would just be ‘no’ because the main question is ‘do you get a toxic feeling’ and I do not. But then you talk about feeling worse, which as I said, sometimes I do. Is it worth rephrasing the question

Done

 

[Jaybee00]

Here’s a Reddit thread from non ME/CFS people.



“

 

[InitialConditions]

Yes, I get this, although it's not always a consistent pattern. I can wake after say 7 hours and feel more awake, and then after 9 or 10, which I need, I more frequently get the drugged/concussed feeling.

 

[Kitty]

Yes—and not enough sleep always makes me feel better.

For the first day, at least!

 

[Kitty]

Thinking more on this, a better question for me would be "Do you feel worse from sleeping?"

The answer would be yes, most of the time. The longer I sleep the worse I feel.

Very occasionally I get normal sleep, which makes me feel great.

 

[hotblack]

Thinking more on this, a better question for me would be "Do you feel worse from sleeping?"

The answer would be yes, most of the time. The longer I sleep the worse I feel.

I wonder about that. Because I’d probably answer no, because sleep does help me. Not sleeping really causes me problems. I would even say I would rather sleep too much than too little. But there’s a goldilocks zone and I also wonder if it’s particularly linked to being awake or asleep at specific times or periods of the circadian rhythm rather than necessarily duration.

 

[Clio]

Longer sleep is always better for me, no exceptions. I wake up several times a night but van usually easily fall back asleep.

Daytime naps on the other hand (on the rare ocassion I can manage one) always leave me dizzy, nauseous, poisoned for at least 30 minutes after waking.

 

[Yann04]

For me sleeping long coincides with feeling less wired ie. “fake energy” so I feel groggy and slow and foggy and generally more tired. But my PEM threshold is way higher than if I just slept a couple hours. In that I can do more before I get warning symptoms and pay for it.

Also in my head I translated “oversleeping” to “sleeping longer than usual” but the term oversleeping already has a negative connotation it implies its a bad thing so that might bias who clicks on and answers this poll.

 

[Eleanor]

Longer sleep is always better for me, no exceptions. I wake up several times a night but van usually easily fall back asleep.

Daytime naps on the other hand (on the rare ocassion I can manage one) always leave me dizzy, nauseous, poisoned for at least 30 minutes after waking.

Same.

 

[Jaybee00]

Daytime naps on the other hand (on the rare ocassion I can manage one) always leave me dizzy, nauseous, poisoned for at least 30 minutes after waking.

Interesting. I’m usually ok with daytime naps. It’s going back to sleep in the morning that kills me.

 

[StellariaGraminea]

I definitely feel better the more sleep I get. Ideal would be ~9hrs but very hard to get that. I feel awful on anything less than 8 usually, and 8 itself is hit or miss in terms of whether I feel refreshed.

In the scenario above where you wake up "feeling normal" and then go back to sleep for several hours... it's not likely after waking up feeling normal that I would ever go back to sleep for several hours. But it definitely happens the other way around, e.g. I wake up feeling terrible after 7 or 8 hours and by some miracle if I happen to get back to sleep for several more hours I usually feel much much better or 'normal'.

 

[OrganicChilli]

Longer sleep is always better for me, no exceptions. I wake up several times a night but van usually easily fall back asleep.

Daytime naps on the other hand (on the rare ocassion I can manage one) always leave me dizzy, nauseous, poisoned for at least 30 minutes after waking.

Also same. Mostly. Daytime naps and waking up with a headache were my first ME symptom when I was mild. I still fall asleep briefly when I overdo it, but these days I mostly feel better when I wake up.

FWIW I don't experience unrefreshing sleep.

 

[Mij]

I only get that groggy over slept feeling when I first wake up, but once I get up and start moving around for 10 minutes I'm feeling ok. This is a more fragmented type sleep and I have very bizarre dreams.

I also experience that dead weight can't move deep sleep aching feeling during the day occasionally and the same pattern occurs, once I get up and start moving again I feel fine.

I started feeling unrefreshed sleep 20 years into the illness. Now my sleep issues are night sweats from meno.

 

[Kitty]

FWIW I don't experience unrefreshing sleep.

Yeah, I think unrefreshing sleep is the sort you have to recover from!

Sleep feels very much an activity to me. It takes two to three hours to start feeling better after I wake up, and the longer I do it for, the worse I feel afterwards.

Sometimes the stars align and I get deep tiredness without having crossed the PEM threshold, which means I get normal sleep. It seems to happen most often after playing music in the pub, which is demanding cognitively but fairly relaxed physically. I feel like did before ME/CFS when I wake from that; it's such a treat, and I always feel better for the whole day. It's a rare bird, though, not seen very often.

 

[InitialConditions]

Yeah, I think unrefreshing sleep is the sort you have to recover from!

This is exactly how I describe it. It takes me till lunch most days to 'come round', and it's usually evening before I feel at my best.

 

[Kitty]

It takes me till lunch most days to 'come round', and it's usually evening before I feel at my best.

Same. I'm at my best when I'm as far away from sleep as possible, usually between about 11pm and 2am. If I have any learning to do, that's when I do it.