Last night, for the first time in many, many years, I slept for just over 8 hours. Unheard of. Wow. When I woke up I felt really ‘hungover’ though. In a fog. Made me wonder if actually there is too much sleep as well as too little sleep. Is it a bit Goldilocks? There’s a ‘just right’ for everyone?
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I believe that any difference from a normal sleep pattern can cause fatigue, headaches etc I’m presuming because in a way it’s sending your body out of sync / rythm etc @vincent @pamelaspence @alexwalkerjones may have more insight on this though 
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Thanks for the tag!
@dcm.leeds great to hear you had a good night’s sleep - not so great about the hangover feeling though!
If you have not been sleeping well and your body managed to relax into sleep for the first time, it makes sense that it might want more! Particularly if your lack of sleep has been driven by stress and the herbs have managed to reduce your stress hormones, allowing sleep to happen. There can be some catching up to do…
This should balance out fairly quickly - we are all different. That is assuming that the tiredness wasn’t because you were coming down with a virus or some other health- related issue?
Hope that helps!
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Interestingly last night I slept poorly. My body rebelled! Bit if a yoyo effect. Took me hours to get to sleep. This used to be my regular pattern but only 2nd time since starting on passiflora that this has happened so I was calm and just accepted it knowing that tomorrow things should be better. The body is very complex!
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It is indeed! In clinic, we look for a change in the overall pattern (more good nights than bad etc) rather than a total change. It helps not to get disheartened when you have a bad night. Sounds like you are thinking of it in this way already!
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I second this @dcm.leeds @Aaron! As we sleep, we all cycle through the stages of Non-REM 1, Non-REM 2, Non-REM 3 (deep sleep) and REM sleep (rapid-eye movement- aka when we dream) roughly every 90 minutes.
When we wakeup in the middle of deep sleep, or even one of the other stages, we can feel like we’ve just been pulled out of the depths of our unconscious and get the groggy/foggy feeling you’ve explained.
On the other hand, when we wake up right at the end of our 90 minute cycle, we’re more likely to feel refreshed and alert quickly after we wake…Maybe sleeping longer than we’re used to makes us more likely to wake up mid-cycle?
For many years of my life, especially as a teenager, I used a sleep calculator (like this) that counts backwards in 90 minute cycles from the time you want/need to wakeup. Then it gives you a list of the best times to go to bed that are conducive to waking up feeling refreshed and not with that sleepy feeling that can be so hard to shake. You do have to allow for the time it takes to actually fall asleep which, for me, usually ranges from 30-minutes to 1hr.
Alternatively, you can select when you’re going to bed, and it’ll give you the best times to set an alarm. There can be some trial and error at first but I have always found it to make a huge difference. 
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Really interesting. Thank you. I am starting to gain a picture of my personal ideal length of sleep. Last night I slept for just over 7 hours and it was lovely. I woke up naturally and more refreshed. I think 7 to 7 and a quarter hours suits me well.
Hoping to try to maintain this. As you say, an alarm may help stabilise this if I get to the point where I am sleeping longer. The dark mornings help!
Thanks again.
Diana
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