Waking up with anxiety and creating, almost before we even open our eyes, a mental list of all the things that worry us: this can happen to anyone, especially after a bad night’s sleep. But when this occurance grows and becomes chronic over time, it is a very obvious sign that something is wrong. Of course, uncontrolled worry related to daily tasks, professional activities or any other problem of everyday life is often a sign of an anxiety disorder that must be treated. “This type of anxiety can be another manifestation of generalized anxiety, but before generalizing symptoms, we must look for the root. In this case, the root seems to be, superficially, the start of the day, but deep down there is something else, a certain fear that is the cause of the discomfort,” explains Inés Valderrábano, health psychologist at the Instituto Psicológico Cláritas in Madrid.
Morning anxiety can be a response to excessive worry and stress. Studies have examined the wake-up response of the stress hormone cortisol and found that it is higher at the start of the day in people prone to daily anxiety.
This anxiety does not always correlate with peaks of stress. For the psychologist, it is more often a reaction to a fear that makes us uncomfortable; it may be the fear of being alone with our thoughts and having to confront something we have long avoided. In fact, this tendency to suffer from anxiety in the morning typically occurs among people who tend to get overwhelmed, “a tendency that could indicate latent anxiety, a fear of which we are not aware and which keeps us on alert 24 hours a day, 7 days a week”.
As Valderrábano explains, “If this anxiety is generated by the prospect of a big day and the fear of not having time to do everything, then there is a chance that it will fade away on its own. even as we accomplish our tasks. But if, on the contrary, “the ultimate goal is to have a busy day in order to stay busy and not have time to think, anxiety does not normally decrease, it tends to stay there”. This is why the psychologist advises asking yourself why this anxiety arises. “Is it because the day promises to be busier than usual? Is it because it’s a day like any other? If I can’t keep all my appointments or responsibilities, what does that say about me?”
Insomnia is one of the greatest problems of the 21st century, and this morning anxiety tends to be connected to it. “When it’s time to go to bed, the goal is to leave the brain alone so it can rest. But if we start to ruminate, to plan, to think about today and tomorrow, to organize and reorganize, the brain cannot go into sleep mode and that’s where the problems start,” says the expert. To reduce this anxiety when waking up, she recommends the brain dump, a method which consists of writing down all our negative thoughts on paper before going to sleep and thus preventing them from interfering with our sleep. Other solutions include stopping looking at your cell phone for an hour before going to bed, drinking herbal tea or reading a book. “And if you still don’t fall asleep, you have to get up. It is not advisable to stay tossing and turning in bed, as this risks associating it with lack of sleep,” explains the psychologist.
If these strategies fail to reduce anxiety, other actions can be taken in the morning: doing physical exercise to boost concentration on movements, changing the usual alarm ringtone for something more relaxing, and get up earlier to take your time and live in the present moment, leaving obsessive thoughts aside. But if, despite these efforts, this anxiety paralyzes us and prevents us from doing the things we love, then it is time to seek professional help.
Repeating negative and unaccommodating thought patterns every morning naturally enhances anxiety. To counteract them, the psychologist advises practicing “letting go”: “In general, people who suffer from anxiety in the morning often wonder ‘what if’, which promotes anticipatory anxiety. To break this loop of mental rumination, it is important to detach yourself from the ‘what ifs’. That is to say, to question the negative thoughts associated with it. To do this, rather than trying to eliminate them, it is better to counter these thoughts with more positive thoughts.”
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