Eight hours of sleep but still tired in the morning? A psychiatrist explains why

Doctors recommend devoting enough time to sleep, yet many people still do not feel rested after a long night. A morning that begins with fatigue can affect the whole day. Dr. med. Natālija Bērziņa, chair of the board at the GrandVer clinic and a psychiatrist and cognitive behavioural therapy specialist, discusses possible causes.

Not only duration

Good sleep depends on several factors: length, bedtime in line with the body's daily rhythm, continuity and overall quality. If quality is lacking, even eight hours in bed will not deliver the desired effect.

Healthy sleep includes four to five cycles made up of several phases. A cycle lasts about an hour and a half on average and should include both deep sleep and REM, or rapid eye movement, sleep, during which people dream. Deep sleep is especially important, because that is when the body recovers.

What happens during sleep

It is important that sleep is not interrupted. While we sleep, memories and experiences are organised, emotions are processed and the brain is cleansed. Unneeded substances are flushed out of the brain, which matters for preventing dementia. If a person does not sleep enough, unwanted metabolic by-products accumulate.

During sleep the immune response is programmed, tissues regenerate and cognitive processes are supported, which is important for creative work. Chronic sleep deprivation can disrupt any function of the body.

A fuller article appears in the latest issue of the magazine "100 Labi Padomi".