😴 Do you also find it difficult to wake up in the morning and feel sleepy the following hour? It’s called SLEEP INERTIA and this is the main cause:
🧠 Around 9-10 pm the brain’s efficiency is really minimal: we are pushed to relax and fall asleep. Often, however, instead of going to bed, we postpone this moment by carrying out activities, such as continuing to work, watching TV and using our smartphone.
⏱️ It so happens that, by going to sleep later, all the phases of sleep are postponed and with them the synthesis of some hormones which is generated in a cascade starting from melatonin. In fact, its secretion is regulated by light: when the light stimulus reaches the retina it is inhibited, while darkness, on the contrary, stimulates its release.
💤 Therefore, the more we delay the time of going to sleep in the evening by exposing ourselves to artificial lights, the more we risk waking up in the morning with part of the melatonin still in circulation, therefore tired and sleepy, and with, at the same time, low levels of cortisol, the the hormone that activates all vital functions in the morning, helping us to… get us out of bed!
Photo: Marta Baffi