Every single morning a wake very early, and after maybe 30 minutes of vainly trying to get back to sleep my heart starts pounding, I toss and turn, feel sweaty, and my mind is a constant stream of very frightful thoughts. I get maybe 5 hours of sleep.
This has been going on for awhile now and was wondering if it’s common? I take meds for anxiety and depression. But I don’t usually feel better and more on an even keel till two or three.
But my mornings are simply horrible.
And Happy Easter everybody.
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Early morning anxiety and depression are very common. Some people believe this is because the cortisol hormone is at its peak at 8a.m. Some people take L-Thianine which is found in green tea to counter the cortisol. Others find it ineffectual.
I think the best explanation for this widespread phenomenon was given by Claire Weekes in her famous book 'Self help for your nerves'. She writes that on waking we suddenly remember that we are about to face another day of problems, stress and nervous exhaustion and the shock of this sudden realisation causes our spirits to drop and our anxiety to rise. You will be aware that with anxiety disorder even small problems easily sorted seem overwhelming.
I would suggest the following: on waking turn onto your back. Slowly breathe in through the nose, hold your breath for 5 seconds, then breathe out slowly through pursed lips. Repeat and repeat. This produces natural tranquillising hormones which have a calming effect.
Thanks. My anxiety is bad now. It’s morning, another day at work. And I woke up early and immediately I started to feel anxious, like I do every morning.
I feel like a failure and I’m overwhelmed by negativity. I’m just so alone. However the problems that I have are very real and instead of dealing with them one at a time I do nothing.
Dr Weekes explanation makes a lot of sense. That’s what happens to me when I wake. It feels like a wave of anxiety and dread and this happens every single morning.
We spend too much time and mental effort fearing the worst. Fear is what fuels anxiety. If we starved our nervous system of fear we would all recover. All the symptoms, including high anxiety on waking, would simply fade away.
If we can adopt a different mental attitude to fear and anxiety, how different life would be.
Instead of fretting about how bad we feel maybe we should concentrate on those things in the world that we find interesting. Cookery, history, exploring the countryside with the Ramblers Association. Join clubs of like minded people preferably not online. That way we meet new people with common interests, never a bad thing.
Occupation is good for anxiety disorder, it is not the same as trying to blank out the symptoms through distraction.
There are new worlds of interest waiting to be discovered. Their effect on us is positive: the more positivity we can shoehorn into our lives the better we feel.
I feel the same exact way it’s so exhausting I feel my heart racing like it’s going to pop out my chest i feel like impending doom sometimes feel like vibration through body hard to explain its horrible and I hate he sinking feeling as well so hard to get sleep I just try and take deep breaths and except what I feel
I just wish I could get a descent nights sleep. My minds on a treadmill of constant worry. I’m tired of calling my phychiatrist to complain about my meds. Nothing is working.
I know exactly how u feel it’s do exhausting and I find myself crying at times because all I want is to be able to sleep and I can’t and it’s frustrating but I know one day all this will be in the past just holding onto to that hope
That’s all we can do is hold on to hope, right? I think if I get a good nights sleep that everything else will just fall into place. I’ll feel better physically and mentally. Sleep is so vital to our well being. I’m afraid if this keeps up I’ll just get worse. But it seems the lack of sleep is pretty common among anxiety and depression sufferers.
That’s exactly the way I feel. The pounding heart. A month ago I almost went to the er, went an entire night without sleep, I had heart palpitations and was extremely anxious. I take Doxepin before bed, that seems to help but I’m getting so tired of meds. Do you take any meds? I’m also on Xanax XR and Pristiq for depression. I wasn’t always like this, things never used to bother me. I’m like a different person now and I don’t like this person
Yes I hate it that was scares me a lot and fear sets in and panic
I don’t take any meds I’m pretty scared to take any i was never like this until about going on 2 years so I have hope I will overcome all this I don’t like this person I become but I push myself to keep going and doing things deposite the physical symptoms and the attacks
Hi hollick. I’m so sorry for this very late reply. I’m not doing well with anxiety. I’m not sleeping good either. I wake up early and right away my anxiety returns with a vengeance. Nothing has changed.
How are you coping? Are you able to sleep well? I’m on meds also, and I take Doxepin to help me sleep. But I still wake up early with horrible anxiety and negative thoughts. Do you experience any of this?
Have a great day and again I’m sorry for not responding sooner.
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Morning anxiety/sleep anxiety
Repeating anxiety 
Morning anxiety 
Is this anxiety? (Middle of the night awakening, heart)
Has anyone had anxiety/problems like this at night? 
