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Morning Anxiety

It’s an isolating feeling that you then forget about until the next time. Waking with the day in front of you and those worries from the night before directly in sight. Many of us wake with feelings of anxiety or the anticipation of nerves to start churning.


The symptoms can be most mornings if we are prone to feelings of anxiety, or just on the day of the presentation or speech. The charged thoughts are the orchestra of our bodies uncomfortable feelings. Overthinking what needs to be done we can become hyper-vigilant to our bodies responses. As those physical feelings increase, we give them more significance and this can start a downward-spiral. If we can put a name to something, understand it, it can make us feel more in control. The name for pronounced anxiety in the morning, though it's not a medical term is morning anxiety, though the driving force behind it does have a scientific background.


For most people the stress hormone cortisol it at its peak in the first hour upon waking. This helps us to become alert and get out of bed. Scientists call this the cortisol awakening response (CAR); a period of increased cortisol activity initiated by morning awakening and typically peaking between 30 and 45min post awakening.


CAR may get us out of bed but when cortisol levels are higher, the anxiety is greater and interferes with the ability to think calmly and plan for the day ahead. Ruminating or negative thoughts may have less impact during the day, but in the morning with the CAR effect can be exasperated and harder to deal with. Though the feelings will be different for each person depending on sensitivity to anxiety.


Symptoms of morning anxiety:


  • Racing mind and heart
  • Butterflies in the stomach and feeling on edge
  • Tightness in the chest
  • Ruminating; running over the same thought again and again
  • Feelings of dread as if something bad is going to happen
  • Feeling tired, stressed or irritable
  • Having a stress headache; pressure around the front and top of the head

What can we do about it?


There is no magic wand to banish these feelings forever, but there are many ways to significantly reduce their intensity and frequency. Creating coping strategies can begin a positive loop, where you think less about feelings of anxiety, because you have more control, so over time they become less. We can get anxiety about anxiety, which has a compounding effect. If we can become accepting of it we can train the brain to not see these feelings as something to be frightened of and rather something in the background that will pass.


Below we will break out some of the key topics that can reduce morning anxiety. Some of them are obvious and are about making the right life choices. If something feels/sounds healthy natural or good it most likely is and will be a positive step for feeling better in the morning and in general. Its mostly common sense and trial and error to what works best for you.


Sleep


Sounds obvious but making sure that you get enough sleep is really important. Looking after your body clock, making sure you go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. This doesn’t have to be an exact science, but keeping a regular pattern of sleep will help to reduce anxiety in the morning. We know that not getting the right amount of sleep will effect the makeup of our bodies, the biology. The body will work, just not as effectively.


A number of things can help with a good nights sleep:


  • Try to go to bed when you feel tired. This should happen naturally once you get into a regular sleep pattern. Lying in bed when you are not tired, is more likely to lead to rumination and stress at not being able to sleep.
  • Do something relaxing at least an hour before going to bed, whether that’s listening to an audio book or having a bath, its whatever works for you.
  • Avoid blue light from laptop and TV screens at least an hour before going to bed or watching challenging programmes. You want to avoid things that will overstimulate or stress the brain.
  • Try to sleep through the nighttime hours, meaning don’t got to bed too late.
  • Don’t eat or drink too much after 8pm especially if the foods and drinks are high in sugar or alcohol. We sleep in 90 minute cycles and it is important for these not to be interrupted. Eating too late, background noises or artificial light are all likely to lead us to feel more stressed on waking.
  • Studies have shown that working out in the morning promotes healthy sleep patterns. Avoid working out too close to going to bed. Exercise raises your body temperature, increase your heart rate, and stimulates your nervous system. The body then needs time to cool down and reduce cortisol levels after a workout and this can take up to four to five hours. So no cramming in a late night run or hit class.

Exercise


Get out of bed and take a positive step forward, or several… at speed. Physical activity, walking, running, lifting weights, even yoga all help to relieve stress and anxiety and can leave you feeling energised for the rest of the day. Studies have shown that working out in the morning supports a healthy sleep pattern, which in turn reduces stress. You also get an endorphin kick, which is the bodies feel-good drug as well as improving the bodies ability to deal with stress. Regular exercise in the morning sets up a routine, which can help you feel more in control. The sense of knowing what you need to do each morning and what helps is soothing. When the brain is stressed the rest of the of the body feels the impact too. You can switch that around, when the body feels good so does the mind. There is a rise in self-esteem which is fundamental to breaking feelings of uncertainty in the morning. Scientists have found that even 20 minutes of exercise can begin to stimulate anti-anxiety effects.


Exercise is also linked to mindfulness. When you are moving you need to focus on your body and what you are doing next, the mind doesn’t have space to worry about later that day. Getting away from what is worrying gives you a sense of perspective and helps clear the mind.


A great benefit to exercise is that it trains your body to handle feelings of stress and anxiety but adds a positive narrative. It’s exposing the body to stress in a positive environment that changes the way we relate to it. And you might even enjoy the workout so much that you want to get up early to do it. Who knows. It’s important to make sure you are doing something you enjoy, otherwise you won’t keep it going. It doesn’t have to be running or weight lifting it can be going for a walk or dong exercises in your front room, it should be whatever makes you feel motivated and good about yourself.


Diet


If you are struggling with anxiety in the morning, eating the right thing can help to make you feel calmer and combined with the other steps mentioned in this article begin to make a significant impact on improving your morning mood. Eating the right thing isn’t just about making things better, it’s also about not making things worse. Make sure that you are well hydrated in the morning and stay away from caffeine and simple carbohydrates.


During the night the body goes a long time without food and water. So when we wakeup our levels of hydration and blood sugar are depleted. This can naturally cause feelings of anxiety, stress and discomfort. Quality fatty foods (slow down the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream) and complex carbohydrates give a slow release of energy and reduce insulin spikes, which may lead to low mood and feeling jittery.


When we eat healthy fats and quality proteins for breakfast, we are setting ourselves up for blood sugar balance and sustained energy between meals, which creates a calmer feeling. A snack such as oatcakes before you go to bed may also help to keep blood sugar levels more stable and incorporating magnesium into diets has been shown to reduce anxiety. Including foods in your diet such as almonds, whole grains, bran cereals and fish should help manage feelings of anxiety.


Mindfulness


The goal of a mindfulness practice is to observe the thoughts and feelings in the body without reacting to them, letting them be without judgement. By focusing on your breath, or checking in with different parts of your body without objectifying you are creating space in your mind to be feeling lighter. It may take time to master in the mornings, but studies have shown that mindfulness at any part of the day helps to reduce anxiety. Whether this is for 5 or 50 minutes, it’s important to do this each day, retraining the the brain to be calmer. The mind has been hardwired to think in a certain way, changing this is a gradual process. The results are not always immediate and not every practice is the same, but overtime you should see a progression.


At the start of a mindfulness or meditation practice deep breathing is often used to relax the body and focus the mind, but deep breathing in itself is a powerful tool for reducing stress and anxiety. It's a really simple practice, breathing in, holding the breath and then extending the out breath (pursing the lips helps exaggerate this), which activates the parasympathetic nervous system, calming the body and neutralising the sympathetic system.


The sympathetic system is driven by our flight or fight instinct, creating the stress hormone cortisol and those feelings of anxiety. By doing extended periods of deep breathing, and anything is better than nothing, we help to calm the body and reduce stress and anxiety in the morning. Meditation and mindfulness are very much in vogue at the moment and there are many articles, clips, books and apps devoted to them to guide you on your way.


Mind Management


Challenge your negative thoughts. When you wakeup feeling anxious it’s not always clear what’s driving it, the body, the mind or both. What can occur is a negative loop, where sensations in your body lead to negative thoughts and vice versa. We want to stop that. Anxiety makes thoughts feel more powerful. If I feel this anxious it must be bad. But thoughts aren’t facts. If you catastrophise in the morning and that isn’t working out for you, change something.


Focus on what you can control. Your mind is there to protect you and part of that is worrying about the future, whether you like it or not. Don’t latch onto those thoughts let them pass through without judgement. Breath deeply. Get out of bed. Think about what you have to be grateful for. Write these down. Writing thoughts down materialises them and creates a connection between body and mind. Thinking positively starts to change the way the brain reacts to situations. Not reacting to negative thoughts gives them less importance, training the brain to react less to unwanted stimuli.


Distracting yourself or not focusing on anxiety can be a helpful strategy. Listening to music, reading something, just doing and being active. It can also be a good idea to get out of the house. Go somewhere where there are people, that you associate with comfort and joy. Take your mind away from the internal chatter. Being outside synchronises you to the day and what you need to do.


Setting small goals for yourself in the morning can start to make you feel more positive. Small jobs that you have put off. By doing them you start to get a sense of achievement and feeling active. This starts to create a positive association with mornings.


Be kind to yourself and celebrate every small win. This is not about changing everything straight away. It’s a gradual process changing rooted thought patterns. It’s you being comfortable with how your body feels and why it feels that way. Starting that process builds hope for something better and that’s really important. The present is much more bearable if we believe things can change for the better, that ‘this’ isn’t ‘it’.