Why you’re still waking up tired-even after 8 hours of sleep

You fall asleep fine. But somewhere around 2 a.m., your brain clicks back on.

You wake up, toss and turn, maybe scroll a bit—and by morning, you feel like you didn’t sleep at all.

This kind of fragmented sleep is one of the most common—and misunderstood—issues behind persistent fatigue. It’s not just about falling asleep. It’s about staying asleep and moving through the full, regenerative sleep cycle your body depends on.

Falling asleep is only half the story

When we think about sleep problems, we often picture someone staring at the ceiling, struggling to drift off. But for many people, falling asleep isn’t the problem—it’s staying asleep that’s the real challenge.

You may fall asleep quickly, but then wake up after a few hours. Or toss and turn through the night. Or rise early and feel foggy all day.This issue is called sleep fragmentation, and it leaves your body stuck in the lighter stages of sleep, never reaching the deep rest it needs to truly recover.

So let’s take a closer look at what helps you fall asleep and what helps you stay asleep.

What helps you fall asleep

Falling asleep is governed by three key triggers:

A rise in melatonin
As daylight fades, your brain begins to release melatonin, the hormone that signals it’s time to sleep. But screen exposure, artificial light, and stress can suppress this natural rhythm.
A drop in core body temperature
Your body needs to cool slightly to initiate sleep. That’s why sleeping in a room set to 18–19°C can help you fall asleep faster
Circadian rhythm alignment
Your internal clock governs sleep-wake timing. Jet lag, late nights, or irregular schedules can throw it out of sync—making it harder to fall asleep at your ideal bedtime.

What helps you stay asleep

Staying asleep relies on a more complex interplay of internal systems:

Cortisol
Your stress hormone should be low at night. If it spikes—due to stress, late eating, or inflammation—it can pull you out of deep sleep and make your body feel “on alert.”
• GABA
This calming neurotransmitter quiets brain activity and helps you remain in a restful state. Low GABA levels are strongly linked to nighttime anxiety and frequent awakenings.
• Parasympathetic nervous system
Also called the “rest-and-digest” system, it must dominate overnight. If you’re stuck in “fight-or-flight,” your body can’t fully relax or stay in deep sleep.
• Blood sugar stability
Nighttime dips in blood glucose can trigger an adrenaline or cortisol spike, causing sudden wake-ups.
• Chronic inflammation
Low-grade, chronic inflammation interferes with your brain’s ability to stay in deep and REM sleep—making rest feel incomplete, even after 8 hours in bed.

What your brain and body do while you sleep

Each night, your body cycles through distinct stages of sleep, roughly every 90 minutes — and it repeats this cycle 4 to 6 times per night.

Each phase plays a unique role in restoring your body and mind:

Light sleep helps you disconnect from the outside world and transition smoothly between stages
Deep sleep powers your body’s repair and recovery systems
REM sleep supports your brain, mood, memory, and emotional balance

In the first half of the night, deep sleep is more dominant — helping your body reset.

In the second half, REM becomes more active — giving your brain time to recharge.

To wake up feeling rested, your body needs to move through all of these phases, uninterrupted.

1. Light Sleep (Stages 1 & 2)

~50–60% of total sleep (4–5 hours)

This is the transitional phase where your body begins to relax and prepare for deeper rest.

Heart rate and breathing slow
Muscles begin to relax
Brain waves shift into slower alpha and theta patterns
Body temperature drops

How to recognise it:
You’re lightly asleep and easily woken. Twitching or momentary awakenings are common. Think: that drifting-off feeling or waking from a soft noise.

2. Deep Sleep (Slow-Wave / Stage 3)

~15–20% of sleep (1–1.5 hours)

This is when your body enters full physical recovery mode.

Tissue and muscle repair
Immune system activation
Growth hormone release
Glymphatic system clears toxins from the brain
Cellular regeneration and inflammation repair

How to recognise it:
This is the hardest stage to wake from. Breathing and heartbeat are slow and steady, your body is completely still, and waking often leads to grogginess or confusion.

3. REM Sleep (Rapid Eye Movement)

~20–25% of sleep (1.5–2 hours)

This is the dream phase, when your brain becomes highly active.

Emotional processing and mood regulation
Learning and memory consolidation
Creative problem-solving

How to recognise it:

You’re dreaming vividly. Your eyes move rapidly under closed lids, breathing becomes more irregular, and brain activity is close to waking levels — but your muscles are temporarily paralyzed to prevent movement.

If your sleep is disrupted, you’ll spend more time in light sleep—and less in the deep and REM stages that matter most.

6 Habits to help you stay asleep longer

Before reaching for a supplement, support your biology with these proven strategies:

1. Keep your bedroom cool and dark
18–19°C and blackout conditions help signal to your brain that it’s safe to stay asleep.

2. Limit blue light in the evening
Dim your lights after dinner. Use blue light–blocking glasses or “night shift” settings on devices.

3. Avoid heavy meals and alcohol
Both can cause blood sugar swings and inflammation. Try to finish eating 2–3 hours before bed.

4. Build a wind-down ritual
Gentle stretching, breathing, or journaling helps transition into a parasympathetic state.

5. Cut off caffeine by early afternoon
Even if you fall asleep, caffeine can reduce deep sleep and increase the risk of nighttime waking.

6. Try a targeted supplement
If habits aren’t enough, a supplement that supports GABA, cortisol balance, and natural melatonin rhythm—without sedation—can help you sleep more deeply, and stay asleep longer.

Why most sleep aids don’t work

Most products on the market only address falling asleep, not the systems that support sleep quality and continuity.

• Melatonin

Helps initiate sleep—but doesn’t fix the root cause of why you’re not falling asleep (like stress or circadian misalignment), and does nothing to improve how long or how deeply you sleep. It wears off quickly and doesn’t engage the broader sleep architecture.

• Sleeping Pills

These medications are often used as a quick fix for falling asleep. Many are sedatives — substances that slow down brain activity to promote drowsiness — including benzodiazepines and Z-drugs.

They may help you fall asleep faster, but they don’t support true, restorative sleep. In fact, they often suppress REM sleep, impair memory consolidation, and lead to next-day grogginess.

They override your natural sleep architecture — rather than supporting the biological systems (like cortisol and GABA balance) that regulate healthy sleep rhythms.

• Generic “natural” formulas

Many contain calming herbs, but lack targeted ingredients that regulate cortisol, GABA, or nervous system balance. As a result, they may relax you slightly but don’t promote true, restorative sleep.

If you’re waking up at night—or waking up tired—it’s likely because the underlying systems that regulate your sleep aren’t being supported.

Sereniser: Support for Deep, Stable Sleep—Night After Night

Sereniser is a non-sedative, melatonin-free sleep support supplement designed to help you fall asleep more easily, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed.

Instead of sedating you or simply flooding the body with melatonin, Sereniser works with your biology—supporting the neurochemical and hormonal systems that govern high-quality, uninterrupted sleep.

The Sereniser combines 3 highly effective plant extracts with magnesium and vitamin B6 for deep and uninterrupted sleep in one innovative formula:

• Safr’Inside™ (Standardised saffron extract)

Safr’Inside™ is a clinically studied, standardised extract of natural saffron designed for high bioavailability and consistent efficacy. It calms the body and mind to fall asleep faster, clinically shown to ease anxious thoughts, and regulate the serotonin–melatonin pathway. Saffron supplementation can reduce sleep onset latency, enhance sleep quality, and increase sleep duration. These effects are attributed to saffron’s influence on neurotransmitters and its potential to increase melatonin levels, thereby supporting more restful and restorative sleep.

• Serezin™ (Standardised ginger and boswellia extract)

A synergistic blend of frankincense (Boswellia serrata) (frankincense) and Ginger (Zingiber officinale) (ginger) extracts. Trademarked under the name SerezinTM, this plant extract has been clinically shown to enhance restorative sleep. It regulates inflammation and nighttime discomfort, reducing the chances of being woken up by any pain. In a 4-week study involving adults aged 50–70 with self-reported sleep disturbances due to everyday aches and pains, participants experienced significant improvements in sleep quality, reduced nighttime discomfort, and easier morning awakenings. Notably, by Day 14, subjects reported 93% better sleep quality and 2x easier morning waking compared to placebo.

• Holixer® (Holy basil extract, Ocimum tenuiflorum)

A clinically studied plant extract that supports stress resilience and sleep quality. It helps stabilize cortisol fluctuations, reinforcing a consistent sleep-wake cycle. In recent trials, Holixer®—at a daily dose of 250 mg—was shown to reduce perceived stress, improve markers of parasympathetic activation, and enhance sleep quality over 8 weeks. These results suggest Holixer® helps quiet nighttime overactivity and support a smoother transition into deeper, more stable rest.

• Magnesium Bisglycinate + Vitamin B6

This form of Magnesium is highly bioavailable and gentle on digestion. Magnesium bisglycinate helps relax muscles and regulate the nervous system. Paired with vitamin B6—a cofactor in GABA and serotonin synthesis—this duo supports both deep sleep and REM continuity.

Each ingredient is chosen not for a quick fix, but to work across the full sleep cycle—gently resetting the systems that govern real, restorative rest.

Final thoughts: sleep that actually restores you

You don’t need to knock yourself out to sleep better. You need to move through your full sleep cycle—deep sleep, REM, and everything in between—without interruption. Supplements that support not just falling asleep but also staying asleep need to target all the mechanisms that ensure we have sound and uninterrupted sleep such as lowering cortisol levels.

Sereniser supports the systems that make that possible. By lowering cortisol, balancing mood, activating your natural GABA pathways, and helping your body regulate its own melatonin rhythm, Sereniser helps you sleep the way your body was designed to.

Fall asleep faster. Stay asleep longer. Wake up clear, rested, and ready.

→ Explore Sereniser

References

Foley, H. M., & Steel, A. E. (2019). Adverse events associated with oral administration of melatonin: A critical systematic review of clinical evidence. Complementary therapies in medicine, 42, 65–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2018.11.003

Gorfine, T., Assaf, Y., Goshen-Gottstein, Y., Yeshurun, Y., & Zisapel, N. (2006). Sleep-anticipating effects of melatonin in the human brain. NeuroImage, 31(1), 410–418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.11.024

Lopresti, A. L., Smith, S. J., Metse, A. P., & Drummond, P. D. (2022). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial investigating the effects of an Ocimum tenuiflorum (Holy Basil) extract (HolixerTM) on stress, mood, and sleep in adults experiencing stress. Frontiers in nutrition, 9, 965130. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.965130

Pachikian, B. D., Copine, S., Suchareau, M., & Deldicque, L. (2021). Effects of Saffron Extract on Sleep Quality: A Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Clinical Trial. Nutrients, 13(5), 1473. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13051473

Pouchieu C, Pourtau L, Brossaud J, et al. Acute Effect of a Saffron Extract (Safr'InsideTM) and Its Main Volatile Compound on the Stress Response in Healthy Young Men: A Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Study. Nutrients. 2023;15(13):2921. Published 2023 Jun 27. doi:10.3390/nu15132921

https://www.plthealth.com/product-catalog/serezin