Sleep

[Herman]

After a long day, you flop onto the sofa and find yourself dozing off while watching TV. The room is nice and warm, the sofa is comfortable, and the background noise of the TV lulls you to sleep.

Then a loved one nudges you awake and reminds you to go sleep—in bed. But when you get there, you find to your frustration that you're wide awake.


Why does sleep come so easily on the sofa but not always in bed?

Why Is It So Easy to Fall Asleep on the Sofa?
Sleep pressure is one reason why you fall asleep on the sofa. This refers to the strength of the biological drive for sleep. The longer you've been awake, the greater the sleep pressure.

Your body clock or circadian rhythm is another factor. This tells you to be awake during the day and to sleep at night.

Your environment will also impact how likely it is you fall asleep. You might have just eaten a meal, and your very comfortable sofa is in a warm room, with dim lighting and maybe a TV program in the background. For many people, this environment is perfect for falling asleep.

So by the end of the day, sleep pressure is strong, your circadian rhythm is telling you it's time for sleep, and your environment is cozy and comfortable.


What Happens After a Nap on the Sofa?
If you've had a nap on the sofa before heading to bed, your sleep pressure is likely much lower than it was before your nap. Instead of having more than 16 hours of wakefulness behind you, you've just woken up and therefore have less sleep pressure. This can make it much harder to fall asleep in bed.

If you just fell asleep on the sofa for five minutes, you might not have too much trouble getting to sleep in bed. This is because a nap that short is unlikely to reduce your sleep pressure very much. But if you were asleep for an hour, it might be a different story.

Your sleep cycles might also be working against you. Most sleep cycles are about 90 minutes long. They start with light sleep, progress to deep sleep, and then end with light sleep again. If you wake up during deep sleep, you're probably going to feel groggy—and it might be easy to get back to sleep when you go to bed. But if you wake up during light sleep, it could be harder to fall asleep again in bed.

The activities you might do when you get up from the sofa—like turning on bright lights or brushing your teeth—can also make you feel more alert and make it harder to sleep when you get to bed.

[Dove]

 I lay on my guys chest and we watch tik tok videos while we doze off.

 He usually waits until I start snoring and then he turns on this YouTube channel where each video is two hours of some man telling scary stories and we go to sleep.

 We never fall asleep on the couch. I spent 7 years sleeping on a couch. I don't want to sleep on a couch ever again lol.

[Oerdin]

I have never had a problem going to sleep.  Now, staying asleep...

[Brent]

Doing what I have done for a living for almost 34 years, I do not know what regular sleep is. I begin pre retirement accumulated vacation the end of January 2024. I will soon be counting the days.

[caskur]

If you are on a sofa and fall asleep it is probably because you just ate dinner. The blood rushes to your stomach to digest food thus draining blood from your brain. I just put all that in some simple terms.

It happens to me when I am watching TV on the end of my bed. I get all sleepy after eating food so I get up to clean my teeth only to find the toothpaste and action of cleaning my teeth, bloody wakes me up.


The yoga way of getting off to sleep again works just fine. So google that.

But advising you Herman about getting off to sleep again won't work since you are a serious drinker and that has ramifications on your blood sugar levels which affects sleeplessness.

Go to the doctor and see if you can get Imrest which are sleeping tablets.