Morning Anxiety

[Mendel]

Hi everyone,

I am just reaching out for advice on how people handle their morning anxiety.
One of the worst things is going to bed feeling pretty good and relaxed, and then waking up in the morning with that knot in the stomach feeling anxious for no particular reason.

It is frustrating, and it interferes with the mood at the very start of the day.

Cheers,

Mendel

[calmseeker]

Hi there Mendel,

Morning anxiety is awful. For me I try and manage it in a few ways. Firstly, I try and hydrate before I even think about coffee,grabbing a bottle of water before the coffee cup allows me to calm a bit before adding the caffeine. This has helped me a. Also I try and look at something natural, the tree outside for example, and really focus on it, the way its moving, can I hear the leaves rustling? The different shades of green on the tree and birds that are in it, where they are sitting etc. This helps me to take the power away from the panic and place it somewhere else. I guess its a bit like meditation in a way. Some days I am able to focus on this better than other days depending on the morning anxiety level. A shower on the more coldish side can help ground me as well. One BIG help has been forcing myself to eat something, I never used to eat anything in the morning, just had coffee. I heard a clinical psychologist recommending that we should eat something with good protein and as much as we possibly can of it within a couple of hours of waking. He said that many of his patients who come to him with morning anxiety have done tried this and a big percentage of them became morning anxiety free just by this one step! I was impressed and gave it a try and I have to admit, the results were good. 20 after protein rich food and I saw a major decrease in panic. I think he said it balances out our hormones and blood sugars which help ground us for the upcoming day. All of these steps took me a while to put into my routine, its takes a bit of discipline which I struggled with but they have all been helpful to me. I hope you can pick something out of that lot which gives you a bit of relief. Best wishes for recovery and relief Mendel.

[Betternow]

Mendel

Yep, morning anxiety is a real bugger. I used to have a real problem brushing my teeth. Standing there, looking at my reflection in the mirror used to make me feel panicky. I eventually learnt to sit with it (don't try and fight it). Note the symptoms in a dispassionate way and accept them. So many things happen in the morning, catching planes, getting to work, meeting people, one eye on the clock, listening to the radio, make the bed and on it goes.

My anxiety is always worse in the mornings and gradually improves throughout the day. It has helped me and it may hep you too.

Depending on how much time you have, you may to consider doing some vigorous exercise in the morning before breakfast.

Drink water. I am caffeine sensitive so no tea or coffee for me.

Listen to classical music, definitely no squawky news radio.

Always have a decent breakfast.

Make sure you have everything to ready to get out the door, the night before. Iron your shirt, have your shoes ready etc. I find this gives you a feeling of accomplishment in the morning rather than rummaging around looking for handbags, wallets, keys etc.

Once I am at work or wherever, I reward myself with a cup of tea or coffee.

Good luck.

[Gambit87]

Hi Mendel

My anxiety is usually worse in the mornings, but gets better as the day goes on.

I don't fight it anymore - fighting it usually makes me feel worse. I tell myself that this is just a blip and I will get through it. I tell myself that today is a new day, be kind to myself and just to the best I can.

eat breakfast - as hard as It can be try and eat something.

have a good glass of water

If you have time - meditate! a quick 10 minute meditation helps me a lot.

Focus on doing a task - I find once im up and doing things I feel less and less anxious.

I hope you find something that works for you!

all the best.

[44Max44]

Hi Mendel,

Just like Gambit, my anxiety seems to be particularly bad in the mornings, and typically eases off during the day, and then sometimes spikes back up at night. I find that it's me being tired that is making me feel anxious, and as soon as I've fully woken up it tends to go down.

One thing I did that kind of helped me is giving myself expectations of what my mornings are going to be like. If you wake up with the expectation that you'll be anxious, it starts effecting you less and less. As I said my anxiety is still particularly bad in the mornings, but now I just tend to not worry about it because I know that it'll go away in a few hours after I've fully woken up.

All the best

[Guest_2287]

Hi Mendel

I find my anxiety is worse in the morning as well. I usually have the thought "what's going to happen today?" even on a day when I don't have much planned. I have found the only thing that works for me is to train my mind to focus on what I need to get done and try to go into a sort of "robot" mode. For instance, on waking I listen for outside noises (birds, cars), when getting breakfast focus on what i need,(bowl, spoon, mug), feed the dog etc. It does seem to be physical and mental as well knowing you have the whole day to face but if you can just break it down minute by minute and try to only face each hour rather than think about the whole day ahead. It's hard, I know, I've never been a morning person!

Good Luck