Why are you not able to sleep, even if you're tired?

Some days — no matter how much coffee you consume — it’s a struggle to keep your eyes open, let alone complete the tasks you need to do at the office or home. Yet all too often, when you finally climb into bed, you find yourself wide awake. It’s frustrating. What the heck is going on? Why are you not able to sleep?

Before you reach for those sleeping pills, discover all the things that could cause you to be tired all day but awake at night. Once you identify what might be going on, you can take action to support better sleep. Your circadian rhythm, explained.

The circadian rhythm is like an internal timekeeper for everything our bodies do in a 24-hour period, explains sleep specialist W. Christopher Winter, MD, author of “The Sleep Solution: Why Your Sleep Is Broken and How To Fix It.” This system uses light, dark, and our biological clock to regulate body temperature, metabolism, hormones (including melatonin), and sleep. The body’s master clock is called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Located in the brain, the SCN controls melatonin production. This hormone helps regulate sleep.

During the day when it’s light outside, melatonin levels remain low. Later in the day as it begins to grow darker, our bodies produce more melatonin, with levels peaking between 2 and 4 a.m. before falling again. Our bodies are best primed to fall asleep about 2 hours after melatonin levels start to rise. “I don’t care what someone’s schedule is, as long as it feels right for them and is healthy,” Winter says.

However, if you’re tired but can’t sleep, your circadian rhythm may be off.

This could be a sign of delayed sleep phase syndrome. This occurs when you fall asleep 2 or more hours later than what’s considered “normal” (10 p.m. to 12 a.m.), making it difficult to wake up in the morning for school or work. It often affects young people more — between 7 and 16 percent — but also occurs in about 10 percent of people with chronic insomnia.

Is there a difference between being tired, sleepy, and fatigued?

Many people use the words “tired,” “sleepy,” and “fatigued” interchangeably, but there’s a subtle difference, says Winter.

At the end of a marathon, you feel fatigued — you likely don’t have the energy or motivation to run another marathon and perhaps not even walk the distance to your car. But you’re not sleepy — you wouldn’t doze off laying on the grass beyond the finish line. Rather, being sleepy is when you can barely keep yourself awake, Winter says.

Why am I tired during the day

If you’re tired but can’t sleep once the sun sets, it could be a sign of delayed sleep phase disorder. If not that, it could be something else or a combination of things.

Below are some reasons why you might constantly be tired, especially during the day.

1. Napping

Naps aren’t inherently bad. In fact, napping has several health benefits. However, the wrong nap strategy can keep you up when you should be getting deeper Zzz’s.

Research Trusted Source suggests that long naps and napping later in the afternoon can cause you to take longer to fall asleep at night, sleep poorly, and wake up more during the night. Winter recommends keeping naps 20–30 minutes long, and napping at the same time every day so your body can anticipate it.

2. Anxiety

A racing mind isn’t conducive to peacefully nodding off. No wonder sleep disturbance is a diagnostic symptom for some anxiety disorders, which older research says 24 to 36 percentTrusted Source of people with insomnia also have. Anxiety also leads to increased arousal and alertness, which can delay sleep even further.

3. Depression

According to a review Trusted Source published in 2019, up to 90 percent of people diagnosed with depression also complain about their sleep quality. Insomnia, narcolepsy, sleep disordered breathing, and restless legs syndrome were all reported. The relationship between sleep issues and depression is complicated. It appears to disrupt circadian rhythms. Inflammation, changes in brain chemicals, genetic factors, and more may all affect the sleep-depression relationship.

These are roughly the reasons because of which you are not able to sleep. However, some people with specific illnesses could be suffering because of the medicines.