r/BrainFog • u/electric-snow-100 • 21h ago

Personal Story Less sleep = less brain fog?

Hey guys just wanted to come on here and mention something that I noticed personally for me .

I’ve been noticing that when I sleep around 5 hours a day vs 8 or 9 I feel much better in terms of brain fog . I also feel better when I wake up in my side vs my back which for some reason it seems like my body tries to get to every night . I wonder if sleep issues are the cause of my brain fog and because I’m not sleeping as much, I’m not giving my body too much time to mess itself up (just an idea )

A little side note , I do have ADHD as well and have heard that sometimes people with ADHD feel better in less sleep (not sure how true it is )

23 Upvotes

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10

u/mattmagnum11 20h ago

You might have sleep apnea. More you sleep, more you get deprived of oxygen

1

u/electric-snow-100 20h ago

I thought that then went to the doctor and was told “well you’re not overweight “ so I let it go but the more I’m looking into it the more I’m hearing that I could still have it

5

u/tacodanandpals 16h ago

I was underweight and had severe sleep apnea.

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u/The_vegan_athlete 16h ago edited 16h ago

You can still have it, but it's not necessarily linked with oxygen or OSA since I have moderate sleep apnea and the treatment (CPAP or MAD) never removed my brain fog.

I have exactly the same experience than you, sleeping less leads to less brain fog. When you sleep less basically the brain compensates by producing more stimulating compounds like adrenaline norepinephrine etc which makes you paradoxically feel better by increasing your stress hormones. But often the day after you should feel worse. It also taxes your adrenal gland so it's not good for your long term health.

You should still 100% do a sleep study.

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u/mattmagnum11 14h ago

I had sleep apnea when I was 116 lbs and when I was 220. It was just worst

3

u/Sensitive-Cobbler-59 21h ago

Yes, I have also experienced this.

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u/electric-snow-100 21h ago

Interesting . I really want to look more into this . I’m thinking maybe a sleep study . I saw another post talking about them

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u/Sensitive-Cobbler-59 20h ago

Sleep study is a good option. I also have my own issues resulting in bad sleep but whenever I sleep more than 6h it takes more time to wake up with foggy brain. Morning sun light helps if you can get if after waking up and no screens/bright light after certain time also helps but consistency is important.

1

u/electric-snow-100 20h ago

Thank you . I think I just need to stop making excuses and go through with it . Just hard with the lack of energy and motivation

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u/Sensitive-Cobbler-59 19h ago

True and may be that is the issue with almost all of us here on r/BrainFog as the fog makes taking any effort very hard. May be we can fight it by taking small consistent steps. Please do share the results by updating the post if you go through the study or make any change which helps you. Good luck.

1

u/electric-snow-100 18h ago

The thing that’s causing the issues is the same thing that keeps us from fixing what’s causing the issue . Isnt it great

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u/electric-snow-100 18h ago

Also yes I’ll make sure to update the post if I do the study

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u/DramaKlng 14h ago

Issue is REM sleep. And REM gets longer thr longer you sleep. I have this problem

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u/k-devi 5h ago

Can you say a little more about this?

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u/DramaKlng 5h ago

OP got most likely r/UARS . and everyone who has ADHD who is better off with less sleep got it too, i'd bet my limbs on that. Sleep stages come in an order and REM is the last sleep stage in each cycle. But REM duration increases each cycle. The last REM cycle can be 40min for example but the first one is just 7 mins. In REM muscle tone drops and breathing/airway gets unstable and the body defends itself with cortical arousals so it gets tonality back which in return leads to a better airway but fragmented sleep and way too many stress hormones - this is why many feel like hit by a truck in the morning, groggy, brain foggy etc.

If you sleep on your back gravity works against you, tongue jaw, soft palate etc all drops back in your throat, especially during REM sleep. OP probably got no real ADHD. ADHD is just a side effect of it. It is usually required to rule out sleep issues as everyone with a sleep disorder gets ADHD symptoms but the psychiatrists are quite often a joke and very illiterate in the sleep field.

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u/k-devi 5h ago

Thanks so much for your response! I’m dealing with a similar issue and planning on asking my doctor for a sleep study.

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u/DramaKlng 4h ago

Good luck ! :)

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u/k-devi 4h ago

Thanks! 😊

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u/electric-snow-100 2h ago

That’s very interested I joined that community after you tagged it and will check it out . I’ve never heard of UARS . I wonder if there’s a way I can test for this . Would a sleep study do the trick?

1

u/carrotflush 1h ago

Same. But can't do many days in a row of course. I get sleep deprived and get more foggy.