In this week’s Sleep Diaries, a 31-year-old teacher explains that they’ve found themselves stuck in a fatigue cycle.

A little about me:

Age: 31
Occupation: Teacher
Number of hours sleep I get each night: 6
Number of hours sleep I wish I got each night: 8
How much water I drink on average per day: 1.5 litres
How much exercise I do on average per week: Very little, as my job is so physically active.

Day 1

My alarm goes off at 5am. Then it’s snoozed until 5:09am, and then again until 5:18am, and then I finally get out of bed at 5:27am. I’m in the shower by 5:45am, and am heading out to catch the train at 6:20am.

I feel very groggy today, which is probably a combination of a shorter-than-usual sleep (yesterday was a Sunday, so I went to bed later than usual) and the Monday morning blues. I have breakfast on arrival at work at 7:30am (I bring cereal in tupperware with me and work provides milk and coffee), and eat it while getting the classroom ready/responding to emails/reading any work updates along with a black coffee.

“Why am I so exhausted all the time?” – a sleep expert answers your questions