As I've gotten older (mid 20s now), I've noticed that I've progressively felt crappier and crappier when I first open my eyes in the morning. It seems like no matter how much I improve my diet or hydration or fitness regime, I wake up feeling kind of generally dried out, crappy, tired, stiff, and sluggish.

But then, every once in a while I wake up and feel like a million bucks. I'm not tired. I feel invigorated and loose. It's hard to describe, and it happens independent of how many hours I sleep. Anybody else know what I'm talking about?

How do you feel when you wake up? Ever have those days when you wake up and feel like you're just going to kick ass for the next 16 hours? Can you isolate what makes you feel that way?

That's a great question, and I really don't know a good answer in general. It has something to do with how fast you recover, which is some combination of how old you are and what training state you are in. Maintaining a high lactate threshold helps, because it means you can recover better during sleep. But it's not everything - you still end up with good and bad mornings without really good explanations.

For me, I was aiming at feeling strong today, and had really good rest yesterday, excellent sleep the past two nights, and carbohydrate loaded last night. But first thing this morning I felt pretty low energy. I have a busy day so I drank quite a bit of coffee, and it's getting me up a little. Breakfast was mostly carbs, and I'm getting more and more 'up'. I will have a decent lunch and by the time it matters (something like 5PM) I expect to be in pretty good shape. But first thing? Not so good, and I couldn't tell you why.

I have the same problem, every year seemed to get worse and worse. I went to a doctor and it turns out I had a deviated septum that contributed to crappy sleep. So I just had surgery on it- I'm still healing so as soon as I do, I'll let you know if it helped.

How do I feel when i wake up in the morning? Crappy..I'm tired, I'm sleepy, and I wanna go back to bed....You know, there has been a time in my life where I woke up automatically incredibly refreshed...Diet and Exercise definately had something to do with this, but I think its more about the routine...In my younger days, on weekdays I'd be in bed by 10 (no exception) and wake up at 7 on the dot (no exception)..On weekends, I couldnt sleep past 10...The older we get, the more we break away from sleeping routines

I usually open my eyes and think 'awww f#ck, this again?'.

Nah, that's only 1/2 of the time :rolleyes:.
I think it has more to do with my mindset. If I'm feeling confident and happy overall (with my health, social life, future,etc) then my energy levels usually follow suit and I am ready to go. Of course, if i'm worn out from muscle soreness or an intense cardio session then I'll be lagging a bit, but I will still try to have a good outlook.
Knowing that I have to do a morning workout usually make me feel crappy, but when I get the blood flowing I feel better.

With the limited amount of info that you posted, it's hard to say what the culprit is in your case. You could be over-training, undereating, overworking, underpaid (dammit!). It could be predominantly a mental thing too.
Having something to look forward to each day can help me plug along.

How long does this crappy feeling last?

I used to wake up feeling bad, but that was because I drank alcohol and used tobacco. Since I stopped doing that, I sleep great and wake up feeling okay.

I rarely wake up feeling just wonderful or anything. I just feel okay. I get in the shower, and I feel fine.

Do you drink coffee? I've noticed if I drink more coffee I tend to feel sluggish until I've had my first drink of the day.

I used to wake up feeling like my parachute didn't open. I had headaches, dizziness, and a bit of nausea too. I couldn't go near food for like an hour. It's gotten a lot better with time though. Big thing that affected me was not getting enough water. Now I do and have a glass of H2O at the bedside.

If you feel crappy on waking, it could be the result of a couple of things, besides dehydration, though that's the easiest to fix and experiment with. You could have sleep apnea; you could be tossing and turning because the mattress is not right for you; you could be having your deepest sleep (REM) just before you wake up. It could be diet related.

Ask a lover, friend, or total stranger(:D) if they ever noticed what you do in your sleep: do you snore? Do you hold your breath and then gasp for air (apnea)? Do you toss and turn (mattress)?

It is NOT part of the normal aging process to feel so bad when you wake up.

Do you sleep under a fan? I was in the habit of sleeping under a ceiling fan at my home, and when i went off to college, there were no fans to sleep under and I have noticed that I feel much better sleeping with one running.

All good suggestions. I actually sat down yesterday and tried to isolate exactly when I felt best upon waking. Here are my conclusions:

1. Having something to look forward to. Right on the money, wildNcrazykid. Think about how you felt when you woke up on Christmas morning as a kid. Did you feel groggy or lethargic? Hell no, you didn't!

2. TheTransition: you mentioned routine...it made me think of a time in my life when I was absolutely HAD to wake up at 5:30AM and get a lot of stuff done quickly, no exceptions. It was always easy to get out of bed, because there was no alternative, so I just got up and got moving.

3. Cold. This one's weird, but have you ever gone camping without a good enough sleeping bag, and been awakened by the cold morning air? I have never felt so fresh and ready to get up and get moving as when that happens. Probably because my body thinks it's gonna freeze to death if it doesn't get moving.

And yeah, I do a lot of crazy stuff in my sleep (speak half-english gibberish, thrash around, snore), so I bet I am getting crappy sleep somehow.

I'll second the motion that what you sleep on can produce different results on waking.

There's nothing worse than a bed or mattress that skews your skeletal alignment.

Or is too hard or too soft.

But you might have other problems like sleep apnea.

Do you sleep on your back or on your side? Or stomach?

I don't do too well when sleeping under duvets or comforters. Always end up too hot.

I like a cover that "breathes".

Stale air in a room makes me feel lethargic.

Different types of pillows can give different results.

(like....is it downfilled or foam-filled or some other substance?).

Foamfilled are the worst for me. (One side effect is "drooling"....).

I usually feel the absolute best on waking when I have a project or something interesting at hand.