Still exhausted after sleeping seven or eight hours? Your sleep may not have been as solid as you think. It’s called “junk sleep” and it happens when you don’t get enough high-quality sleep or sleep long enough to nourish your body and brain, like when you keep waking up all night long.
So, how do you know if you’re dealing with it? Signs you’re experiencing “junk sleep” include:
- You might wake up and feel like you didn’t even sleep, according to insomnia specialist Kristen Casey. “You wake up feeling unrested, groggy or irritable,” she explains. “This type of sleep doesn’t help us restore our body functions and causes difficulty for our functioning the next day.”
- You may notice you feel extra anxious, depressed, forgetful, easily distracted or that you get sick more easily, sleep expert Phil Lawlor says.
Causes of junk sleep and how to beat it:
- Behavioral factors, like scrolling your phone or watching TV late at night stimulate your brain, even if you’re not aware of it, and that can make it tougher to fall or stay asleep. If you’re guilty of doing some not-so-great things before bed and you’re getting junk sleep, making changes could help. Reading after watching a show before you go to sleep, taking a warm bath, and even putting your phone on night mode could help you sleep better.
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