“Why do I wake up anxious?”
A pounding heart. A tightness in your chest. A pit in your stomach. Morning anxiety can set you back before you’ve even started your day. But with a little knowledge, a few simple techniques, and advice from our San Diego outpatient treatment center, coping with morning anxiety can be under your control.
Why Do I Wake Up Anxious?
Like with any mental health condition, multiple factors come into play. Some include:
- Your brain transitioning from sleep to wakefulness. You might stress about work, school, or the worries of daily life—all before you even get out of bed.
- Your body expecting anxiety. If you’ve dealt with long-term anxiety, you may subconsciously expect it in the morning. And, like any habit, it can be hard to break once it sets in.
- Preexisting anxiety disorders or depression. Overnight, your brain chemistry may fall back out of balance, and it takes time for any medication to kick in.
- Poor sleep. A lack of rest can make anxiety feel even stronger—especially if you struggle to sleep night after night. Morning anxiety symptoms can be exacerbated by a poor sleep schedule.
Why is My Anxiety Worse in the Morning?
Cortisol—the hormone that regulates stress—tends to spike in the morning, reaching its highest levels 30-45 minutes after you wake up. The reason? Your body’s trying to feel more alert. The Cortisol Awakening Response, as it’s known, floods your bloodstream with roughly 50% more of the hormone than usual.
However, if that response skews heavy—and it can reach up to 75%—you could experience heightened cortisol levels even after those 45 minutes are up. Add that to the nerves that people with mental health disorders already experience, and morning anxiety can feel crippling.
How Can I Cope with Morning Anxiety?
Create a Calming Morning Routine
Give yourself time to slowly wake up. Instead of reaching for your phone, ease into the day with deep breathing, gentle stretching, or calming music.
Get Moving
Exercise is best practice in multiple forms of anxiety and depression therapy. It doesn’t have to be strenuous, either: Walking, yoga, or other types of light movement can boost your mood.
Eat a Healthy Breakfast
Low blood sugar triggers your body‘s fight-or-flight response—the same evolutionary mechanism behind anxiety. By eating a balanced breakfast, you can stabilize your blood sugar, cut a stressor off at the source, and fuel yourself for the day to come.
Limit Caffeine
While coffee is a staple of morning routines around the world, caffeine is a stimulant—and stimulants can make you feel more anxious. If your morning cuppa makes you feel jittery, or if you’re waking up on edge, try switching to tea or eliminating caffeine from your routine altogether.
Practice Mindfulness
By focusing on the present—how you feel, what you can hear, the rate and depth of your breaths—you can take yourself out of that negative headspace.
Stick to a Sleep Schedule
Going to bed and waking up at consistent times helps your body regulate its Cortisol Awakening Response, letting you feel more rested and less anxious with each passing morning.
Need Professional Help? Apex Recovery’s Here for You.
If your morning anxiety spills over into the rest of your day, you may be a good candidate for intensive outpatient mental health care. And there’s no shame in that: Millions of people suffer from anxiety disorders, and professional care offers a route to a better life.
Alongside substance use counseling services, Apex Recovery in San Diego provides empathy-driven, evidence-backed treatments for a number of mental health conditions. Our licensed team of experts implements Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and other proven methodologies into each of our personalized care plans. By working with patients to address their particular needs, we empower them to understand their morning anxiety—and face it head on.