It can be incredibly frustrating when you wake up from a solid 8 hours of sleep STILL feeling tired.
Turns out, facing a new day feeling refreshed isn’t as simple as just getting 7 or 8 hours of sleep.
Here are six surprising reasons which could explain why you’re not feeling your best.. as well as some simple fixes. 
You used your phone just before hopping into bed
People who read before bed using an iPad or similar device find it harder to wake up bright-eyed than those who curl up with a printed book. The blue light emitted by Kindles, iPads, computers and iPhones suppresses the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin which is in charge of controlling your sleep and wake cycles. It’s best to shut down all electronic devices 90 minutes before bed. Also, move your iPhone out of the room, even if it’s on airplane mode. A phone emits enough light to interfere with sleep.
You sleep in a bad position
Waking up with a sore back? It may be from sleeping on your side all night, which can cause significant flexion at the hip. It’s a good idea to sleep with a pillow between your legs to maintain proper hip alignment.
You’ve got a bad pillow
While fluffy pillows may seem like a good idea, they’re actually best to avoid. Sleeping with your head propped up pulls your spin out of alignment. I recommend using a pillow that’s soft but has a supportive foam core, like the Intelli-Gel pillow.
You grind your teeth at night
If you wake up with a headache, it’s likely to be because you’ve been clenching your jaw or grinding your teeth overnight. Massages can help with the symptoms… Apply some gentle pressure and/or a warm, damp cloth to the jaw area right before you go to sleep and as soon as you wake up in the morning to try intervene the cycle. Also, book in to see your dentist and request a mouth guard, which keeps your teeth from grinding down.
You have a nightcap
We all know that alcohol can send you off to dreamland quickly since it has a sedative effect. However it also causes a massive disruption to your normal sleep cycle. Previous studies have shown that those who consume alcohol before bed showed more alpha brain activity while they snoozed which meant they weren’t getting deep, restorative sleep.
You have undiagnosed sleep apnea
Half of all adult women have some type of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where ‘patients briefly stop breathing multiple times through the night, which leads to poor sleep quality. This will most definitely leave you feeling exhausted upon waking up. If you’ve got a moderate to severe case, you’ll need to use a device like a CPAP, an oxygen tube under the nose that emits mild air pressure to keep the airways open.
