What makes you drowsy during the day and how you can cope with that?

 Look around you: a young man is sleeping while commuting to work; an office worker sleeps at a boring workshop, and never-ending lines in coffee shops for a latte! A modern person processes a huge amount of information, and drowsiness indicates that the brain requires a break. Here are the main signs of drowsiness:

- Difficult awakening in the morning;

- Lack of vigor and energy during the day;

- Acute need for daytime sleep;

- Common irritability and anxiety;

- Deterioration in concentration, memory;

- Loss of appetite.

The reasons why you are constantly drowsy are different. Some of them are natural, and you can cope with them by yourself. In other cases, it is about serious disorders and diseases and the help of a specialist is needed.

The main causes of drowsiness are:

- Bad sleep routine;

- Unhealthy lifestyle;

- Overwork and stress;

- Various diseases;

- Poorly ventilated area.

Let's consider them in more detail.

Sleep violation/poor sleep routine

The most frequent cause of daytime drowsiness is the simplest one – you don’t get enough night rest. Everybody needs different time to get enough sleep. On average, it is 7-8 hours, but there are exceptions. For instance, there is a wide-spread neurological disorder called hypersomnia which is distinguished by the increased need of night sleep hours and sleepiness during the day. It is a disorder with an unknown origin so there is no cure for it. The only thing you can do to fight hypersomnia is to work on your health sleep and general lifestyle habits. However, you can also use safe stimulants of wakefulness such as Armod which we will discuss later in this article.

Besides insufficient sleep, drowsiness can be caused by the awakening during the wrong sleep cycle. What you should know is that sleep is a cyclic process. Each of the cycles makes up around 1,5 hours. According to scientists, if you wake up just as the cycle end, the awakening should be easiest. This means that the time you sleep should fit into intervals that are multiples of one and a half hours (i.e. 1.5 - 3.0 - 4.5 - 6 hours, etc.). It is assumed that when the rules of cyclic sleep are not followed sometimes we wake up tired after 8 hours of sleep and feel pretty vigorous sleeping only 6 hours.

The optimal sleep time depends on many factors, for instance, age, lifestyle, level of tiredness, and so on. But most sleep specialists suggest that the good sleep consists of 5 full cycles. In large volume of physical or mental work, there is a need for a longer sleep. In extreme scenario when you don’t have enough time to sleep, you can sleep for two 1,5 h cycles but then you have to recoup your sleep in the next night.

Many people purposely and consciously limit their sleep time thinking that they will accomplish more things with the spared hours. But it is not true, while you are drowsy, your cognitive functions impair, attention floats away from the main task, and you end up spending more resources to focus than on the actual work.

Daytime sleepiness can also occur as a result of poor night sleep. Insomnia can be caused by a variety of factors one of which is the blue light. If you are on a laptop or phone, or watch TV before going to bed, you excite brain activity and it becomes hard to fall asleep. Constant drowsiness is common in people with flexible working hours, for instance, freelancers, or people who frequently go on the business trips and are changing time zones.

What diseases can cause sleepiness?

Although in the most cases daytime sleepiness is caused by the reasons described above, some people suffer from irresistible daytime drowsiness and need several naps a day due to narcolepsy. It is a rare neurological condition that makes affected individuals be unable to stay awake for the whole day without wakefulness promoting drugs such as Armod. The symptoms of narcolepsy include:

- Irresistible sleepiness attacks;

- Muscle weakness that occurs when a person experience intense emotions;

- Frequent night awakenings with trouble going back to sleep.

- Sleep paralysis, i.e. being awake but unable to move or speak for up to one minute.

- Sleep-related hallucinations.

The onset of the disorder is usually diagnosed in people around 30 years of age although it can develop at any age from 5 to 50. If you have any of the symptoms, we recommend you to go to a sleep specialist called somnologist and do sleep tests to identify whether you have narcolepsy or other disorder. For instance, some of the symptoms can also occur in obstructive sleep apnea. Tests are also needed to exclude such underlying conditions that require treatment as brain tumors, ischemia of the brain vessels, and others.

What are the tips to cope with natural sleepiness?

These are the tips that can help you cope with naturally-occurring drowsiness during the day and also to ease the symptoms of narcolepsy or obstructive sleep apnea.

- First of all, it is highly recommended to follow the rules of a healthy night sleep such as: go to bed and get up at the same time every day; one hour prior to going to bed turn off all blue light emitters (i.e. screens, bright lamps).

- Do physical exercises, preferably, in the morning. Working out can greatly help improve your health, sleep, and energy during the day. If you do it in the morning, you can enjoy a boost of energy even if you feel that you hadn’t got enough sleep.

- Natural daylight can help normalizing your circadian rhythm, i.e. your internal clock. Try letting in as much natural light in your office, home, etc. as possible. Besides, to get the most of it and also saturate your body with oxygen you should incorporate some walking outside in your daily routine.

- We can feel drowsy when we do not drink enough water. Stay hydrated with at least 2 liters of water during the day without counting tea, coffee, and other beverages than clean water.

- If you need a boost of energy doing a monotonous work, try turning on some dance music.

- If you suspect any disease, go to a doctor and do a checkup without any delay.

- If you think that your drowsiness and lack of energy is related to psychological causes, do not hesitate to look for professional help. The treatment of depression or other mental disorders associated with sleepiness requires the help of a therapist or it can get worse.

- It is necessary to ventilate the room and office space more often. Lack of air negatively affects human activity, health and often causes drowsiness.

If you have undergone a medical checkup and there are no reasons for your drowsiness that require therapy and even if you follow the tips for good night sleep you still suffer from this unpleasant symptom, you should try using a safe modern antinarcoleptic drug Armod. As we have previously stated, narcolepsy cannot be cured so only the symptomatic measures are used. These measures are such drugs as Armod that promote the natural mechanism of wakefulness in the brain in a subtle yet effective way. Unlike coffee or amphetamine-based stimulants such as Adderall, Armod based on Armodafinil ensures the release of monoamines, especially catecholamine norepinephrine and dopamine from synaptic clefts. It also increases the level of histamine of the hypothalamus, so that researchers call it a remedy for drowsiness rather than a classic amphetamine-like stimulant. It has minimal contraindications for use and way less adverse effects than amphetamines and even caffeine.

Comparison of caffeine pills, Aderrall, and Armod