Is waking up in the morning a really bad time for your anxiety?

[Jeff1943]

Know the feeling? You wake up and instead of feeling energised and refreshed you feel tired and high anxiety is at its worst.

Some people say the reason is the sudden awareness that we face another day of stress, bad feelings and tasks made more difficult by our tendency to exaggerate them ten fold. Reluctantly we emerge to face the day, with any luck the anxiety diminishes as the morning claims our time and attention.

This sounds a reasonable explanation and Claire Weekes, pioneer of self-help techniques, certainly put this forward as the cause some 50 years ago. But researchers are now aware that when we wake we can experience something called Cortisol Awakening Response.

Cortisol is a fight or flight hormone that reaches its daily peak when we awaken. It is our bodies way of giving an extra spurt of energy as we emerge from sleep to face the dangers of the day. That was fine when dangerous animals and enemies were all around: we needed that extra dose of energy to survive. But that's the case no longer so the unused cortisol sloshes around in our system making us feel utterly wretched. It's always worst when we're experiencing over sensitive nerves, less so or not at all when we're on an even keel.

We don't have to take getting up with morning anxiety lying down so to speak. There are things we can do to mitigate or overcome the problem. A quick sprint round the block a few times can burn up the surplus cortisol (though don't forget to change out of your night wear first!). Or slow deep breathing in through your nose followed by slowly expelling the air through pursed lips can summon up natural tranquilisers to neutralise the cortisol.

Others put their faith in a natural substance called L-thiamine found in green tea or concentrated into tablet form. Or a diazepam or xanax can stop early morning anxiety in its tracks, though you can't do that every day.

From experience I noticed years ago that this cortisol rush on awaking isn't confined to first thing in the morning but can make us feel ultra anxious after lunchtime or afternoon naps and snoozes too.

Perhaps the best solution is not to address this symptom of anxiety but to concentrate our energies on ending our anxiety disorder from where all symptoms originate.

But meanwhile some deep breathing on waking can make early morning less of a challenge and a more pleasant time of day.

[bergh]

Thank you so much as always Jeff, you speak about the problems which are so at the forefront of my mind ? It's so spooky!!! it's like you can feel what I am feeling and going through exactly? ..... but on reflection you are no doubt articulating the common problems that so many face each day? But just an enormous thank you because it resonates with me personally and really helps, thank you so much for all your wonderful posts. Rachel 💪🤞🤔

[Agora1]

Hi Jeff, Oh how I wish I had you around when going through the horrible morning anxiety

as well as feeling it after an afternoon nap. Truthfully, I never got any help from the doctors. How many times did I have to endure "It's JUST anxiety"... Oh how I hated the

fact they put "just" before something that had literally taken over my life. Like they were trying to minimize it.

And then when the time was right for me and enough had become enough, I turned to

Dr. Claire Weekes' book on "Hope & Help for Your Nerves". She woke me up to the fact

that not everything was anxiety caused. That was when I learned about Cortisol levels

being higher in the morning prompting it to feed into our anxiety.

I never did figure out why it happened after taking a nap and waking up in a startle.

I no longer take naps because I found out I sleep better at night. If I do doze off on the

couch for a while, I no longer feel fear when awakening. But yet I still wonder the cause.

I wish you had been my psychiatrist, psychologist, my therapist years ago. Explaining

anxiety the way you do makes more sense than someone telling us "it's JUST anxiety"

Thanks Jeff for all you do on this forum. It is appreciated. xx

[All_alone]

Last summer at a very low point I would wake up literally shaking. I suppose that was cortisol dumping into my system. It was an absolutely horrible feeling to wake up that way. Recently, I've been trying to breath and meditate. It has helped but I find it difficult since its new.

[FearIsALiar]

It’s more of a bad time for my depression 😔

[Lazy_dog_lover]

Do you think the cortisol level could be measured, perhaps before and after a sleep study night to make sure poor sleep is not causing increased cortisol levels?

I always preferred exercising at night. When I could yawn while working out, I felt the chemistry was better in my body.

[Jeff1943 in reply to Lazy_dog_lover]

I've never heard that poor sleep causes cortisol levels to rise, when I've woken with morning anxiety I'd always slept like a log.

[Lazy_dog_lover in reply to Jeff1943]

I had a sleep study done. They said my body never relaxed. I moved all night. I never really rested. I also had nightmares, so stress during sleep was common.

[Hidden]

I agree with all that Agora1 says, yourwords are such a comfort and very much appreciated.

By the way, I took your last advice and I am now feeling more peaceful! Thank you Jeff1943.x

[Hidden]

Thank you for the interesting advice!!! So many times I wake up and I feel overwhelmed by what I have to do, then I resist and want to stay in bed. I know that's a terrible pattern I need to break. Anxiety and Depression are closely related.

[Jeff1943 in reply to Hidden]

Often it is difficult to tell the difference between anxiety and depression and you can have both at the same time. There are many causes of depression but I think a common one is that we get depressed about having anxiety.

[HD1960]

Hello,

I am off zanx now for 1 year and a little over a month now after 30 years of using it prescribed by a doctor. This is a horrible experience. Im better as I can go to work and be ok but to go some where else is so scarry I cant figure it out and even after a year im better but not by any means ok.

No sleep for 10 mounts.

The night at first was the worst and sometimes it still is. Now its the mornings I cant stay down once I wake.

If you take it you sure dont want to stop its addictive, after taking for so long. I have a counselor and she is great. Working on it still

[Jeff1943 in reply to HD1960]

Xanax and diazepam are really only for occasional use as and when you need them. 45 years ago I took diazepam every day for a year: its effectiveness did not decrease over that period. Then I stopped and felt awful so I spent 6 months slowly tapering myself off them and that was fine. In those days doctors handed out diazepam like Smarties.