It’s not uncommon to experience less-than-ideal sleep. In fact, according to 2024 statistics from the Sleep Charity, 90% of Brits report having problems, while more than 14 million are living with undiagnosed sleep disorders.
Worse still, the average length of time that people experience sleep issues before they seek any help for them? Six long years. That means 72 months, 313 weeks, or 2190 days of jolting awake, not being able to rest on account of a racing memory, and the dreaded eye bags.
Something else that seems to be a regular occurrence for many is waking up not knowing where you are – despite the fact you’re tucked up in bed at home.
Over on the r/sleep Subreddit, one post described this odd, confused sensation as a ‘total loss in sense of direction.’ And for them, this sticks around for a while after they’re up, leading them to ‘forget which room’ they’re in, which they say can get ‘pretty irritating.’
If that sounds a lot like your experience, try not to worry.
As Dr Zoe Gotts, a consultant clinical psychologist at the London Sleep Centre tells Metro, waking up and briefly not knowing where you are can feel unsettling, but it’s ‘usually harmless.’
‘This tends to happen during a state known as sleep inertia, the groggy transition period between sleep and full wakefulness,’ she explains.
‘When we wake from deeper stages of sleep or vivid dreaming, the brain can take a short while to re-orient itself, meaning memory, context and spatial awareness don’t immediately line up.’
Sleep consultant at The Sleep Works, Maryanne Taylor, adds that this feeling of confusion can happen as the brain ‘wakes in stages.’
She says: ‘Basic awareness switches on first, but the areas responsible for orientation, memory and context take a bit longer. For a few seconds, you’re conscious but not fully oriented to your environment.’
There are certain things that make it more likely for you to wake up slightly discombobulated though – including poor or fragmented sleep, stress, anxiety, alcohol, or illness, as well as waking up abruptly to an alarm.
These can all work together to make it increasingly difficult for you to piece the puzzle of your location together, leaving you in that panicked, disorientated state.
Zoe explains: ‘When the nervous system is already under strain, the brain can struggle to “switch gears” quickly, leading to those few disorientating moments before everything clicks back into place.’
Plus, it’s more likely to happen when you’re staying away from home, as unfamiliar surroundings aren’t able to provide the brain with the same cues that usually help it reorient itself.
That said, it can still occur in your humble abode, particularly if your routines have recently changed, if your sleep quality has deteriorated, or even if you’re just waking from an intensely emotional dream.
‘Even something as simple as waking in the dark or at an unusual time can momentarily throw off our sense of place,’ Zoe adds.
In most cases, she says this ‘isn’t a cause for concern’, so just try to get your bearings and go about your day.
However, ‘if episodes are frequent, prolonged, or accompanied by other symptoms such as memory problems or daytime confusion, it would be sensible to speak with a healthcare professional to rule out underlying sleep or health issues.’
What are the long-term effects of insomnia?
Some of the more immediate physical symptoms insomniacs may notice are things such as muscle tension, eye strain and sensitivity to pain.
And while these may sound relatively straightforward, symptoms like these can have a big impact.
As Dr Hare previously told Metro, ‘insomnia is associated with an increased risk of workplace-related errors and accidents leading to injuries and disability.’
It’s also associated with ‘a 45% increased risk of developing and/or dying from cardiovascular disease, an increased risk of hypertension; diabetes; heart failure and an increased risk of metabolic syndrome’.
Other studies have also shown that prolonged sleep issues can lead to neurological disorders such as ‘parasomnias and sleep-related psychiatric disorders.’
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