I know that everyone is different but I think I may have a problem (thyroid maybe?). I get about 8 hours of sleep a night (all but one night a week) and yet I still feel tired. When possible, I take naps, and could easily sleep for two hours during them. The time my head hits the bed to the time I fall asleep is around 15 minutes or less. Does anyone know if this is normal? How long do all of you sleep a night (and feel rested)?

I feel rested on about 6-7 hours of sleep. 8 hours seems to never happen for me. I'm a night owl. :p

I've always heard that even though 8 hours is what's rec'd most often what you're honestly supposed to do is to (obviously when it's possible for you, not on a day when you need to be in class/work) just not set an alarm at all and sleep until you wake up and that's how much sleep you actually need.

I've also heard (and it's true for me) that naps really should be limited to 30 minutes or so. Any longer than that and you wake up tired.

For me I generally get about 9 hours of sleep a night when nothing is bothering me. Since my allergies are really terrible I tend to always be tired but I know what's causing it.

Other things like stress, missing too many vitamins from my diet (many vitamins make me feel nauseous so I try to eat right) not eating enough iron rich foods (though really, I do better when I add a supplement) can make me feel overly tired as well.

You may want to see your doctor though since it could be a health problem (like thyroid as you mentioned) but I'd highly rec looking into other possibilities as well. It's also helpful to make notes of anything and everything else that may be bothering you, any other symptoms you have and times when it's worse. I always do this when going to the doc for any problem so they can get a clearer picture of what it may be. Knowing all the symptoms you have can help them rule out some things and zero in on anything worrysome.

Anyway, I hope you start feeling better:) I hate that feeling, especially when other people don't understand why you're always so tired.

I like to sleep for 9 to 9 and 1/2 hours when possible so not feeling totally rested after 8 hours is normal. There was a point there where I always felt tired and so I had blood work done. It turned out I was mildly anemic. Exercising regularly and taking iron supplements helped a lot. Now I always drink iron fortified orange juice and eat iron rich cereals and things like that. So anemia or iron deficiency could be something to look into. They're very, very treatable so don't worry!! Also depending what birth control you may be taking, that may also be a factor.

Yeah, the reason I'd started taking Iron was that back in maybe '00 my doctor said I was mildly anemic.

If that's what it is you'll likely notice that it's worse around your period since the blood loss causes more Iron to be lost as well.

For me when I was taking Iron it really cut down on my cramps and made my flow lighter. It cut down on basically all of my PMS symptoms as well. It can cause stomach upset (which for me it never did) and in some people constipation (again, was not an issue for me).

Of course it's always better to try and get iron from a balanced diet if possible but for me I felt better taking the pills (FWIW, Walgreens sells their own generic supplement for fairly cheap it was less than $20 for close to 300 pills)

Same thing happens to me...
I can sleep for 12 hours and STILL feel exhausted and unwell.

I had blood taken last week to check for anemia and thyroid problems.
Currently waiting on the results.

Maybe go get checked out - it could be many things.

I know some people can just sleep more-my boyfriend could easily sleep 10 hours and be happy. Try and see if limiting your naps could HELP-long naps are bad for you in the end.

I could easily sleep 10 hours, and I don't ever feel rested. I've been tired all the time for as long as I can remember, and at this point, I'm sure it's a combination of my allergies and medication. Do you have allergies by any chance? Mine make me feel completely lethargic, and the antihistamine I take for them (Zyrtec) seems to contribute to the tiredness because it causes drowsiness. However, it's the medication that's worked best for me so I deal. I've also been checked countless times for anemia, but my blood work always comes back perfect. That might be something to check as well.

Also, do you take vitamins? Even though I'm tired, I feel SO much better when I'm taking a multi-vitamin. I can tell a big difference when I take them and when I don't.

I think you should have it check out too. Just to be safe. I agree it could be any number of things or even nothing at all. However, if you "feel" this is not normal, then it's worthwhile to check it out for your peace of mind. I also agree it's a good idea to review your diet and consider taking a multi-vitamin, if you aren't taking one already. If you see a doctor about this, that's something else to mention, but deficiencies will show up in bloodwork anyway.

I actually wondered the same thing as Erica when I read your post - if you perhaps have allergies. I have them too, and before I started taking medication for them, I often felt the same as you. I had no idea why I was tired all the time, and my blood test came back normal. My doctor recommended I see an allergist as a next step, and that turned out to be the cause.

Good luck!

I don't ever feel completely rested, and I'm thinking it might be my Zoloft. I won't go off that though, so I deal with it. I prefer to sleep about nine hours a night and luckily, with my current schedule, this is workable. I think some people are just more energetic than others -I know I'm not naturally an energetic person and sometimes have to push myself to get through the day. I'm different from you in that it takes me one to two hours to get to sleep and I sometimes wake up during the night.

No wonder I've been feeling tired lately - I recently started taking Zyrtec now that it's availabe OTC because it's what my allergist first prescribed me (I had been taking generic Claritin these past few years). When I finish up this bottle, I may have to go back to the Claritin because I've been feeling awfully drowsy at work, and drowsiness + sitting in front of a computer is not good at all.

You should definitely start taking a multivitamin. My personal trainer recommended one for me and I just started taking it every morning.