Q: When I get up in the morning, I am extremely tired and sleepy and feel sedated. This condition persists while i am in office. It gets better only towards 6 p.m. and thereafter I feel fresh and alert till i go to sleep around 12 in the night. So during the mornings, I cannot concentrate and by the time I feel better, I am back home. There have been occasions when I have momentarily gone to sleep halting at traffic signals while driving my car. Is there a way to pull things back to normal? Kindly advise.

A:I will suggest getting some labwork done first (Total blood count, metabolic panel, thyroid tests). If all of that is normal, then the next possibilityis disruption of your sleep cycle. Start doing some kind of aerobic exercisein the morning. I would strongly recommend walking, or doing something thatcomes on the TV. Start with about 15 minutes a day and then in increments of 5 minutes a week, get upto about 45 minutes of aerobic exercise. Do not takeany sleeping pills (especially after about 9PM) they can keep you sedatedthe next morning. Do not eat late at night. There should be atleast two tothree hours between your dinner and going to bed. Lastly, try going to bed one hour earlier every two to three days, until your sleep cycle normalizes. If none of this works, you may want to consult a sleep specialist. Good luck!