Lately, I’ve been spending much longer in bed. Previously, I would turn off the lights at 10pm and get up at 8am. This past week, I’ve been sleeping at 9:15pm and getting up at 10am. Contrary to what you may expect, I feel less energized. In fact, on Labor Day Monday, I was able to easily take an hour-long nap after lunch despite sleeping in until 10:14am.
I suspect that sleeping too long is the reason for the fatigue. To counteract that, I re-enabled Apple Health sleep alarm and set it for 8am. The first night I didn’t realize that the sleep alarm uses Apple Watch vibration instead of sound by default, but it worked well enough that I’ve stuck with it since. Come to think of it, it almost feels like someone is gently shaking your wrist.
The eight o’clock morning alarm has helped. Over the past few days my sleep schedule has slowly shifted back to normal. My daily awakening is still slightly delayed (I’m allowing myself a bit of leeway because I have the week off work), but my bedtime is regularly 10pm again.
Anyway, it is hard to pinpoint exactly why sleeping in too long causes tiredness throughout the day. Perhaps the CPAP machine is not providing enough air in the early morning hours (as detailed out in my 8/27 post); sleeping in later would keep my body in this oxygen deprived state for longer. This theory may sound odd, but it is supported by the fact that on several days, I felt more awake and energized when using the bathroom at 6:30am.
For now, I’m going to keep my alarm. When it rings at 8:00, I will take off my CPAP mask and allow myself a maximum of thirty more minutes in bed. This will be the case even when I’m feeling tired and groggy; on those days, I suppose afternoon naps and caffeine will come to the rescue.
