Anxiety Upon Waking Up: Symptoms, Common Causes And Solutions
Anxiety upon waking up is a problem that can be very harmful It consists of a psychological and physiological state characterized by accelerated and negative thoughts during the first hours of the day.
In this article we will talk about the symptoms of this type of anxiety, we will see what its frequent causes are, and we will give some specific recommendations to overcome or prevent morning anxiety.
Anxiety is considered pathological when it is frequent and intense, which can affect different areas in the lives of those who suffer from it. In the particular case of anxiety upon waking up, we find the symptoms typical of an anxious condition, but it only occurs at the moment of entering the state of wakefulness and the minutes that follow this. Anxious states can happen to anyone, and to some extent they are normal.
When the day begins and the subject makes the transition from sleep to wakefulness , this is accompanied by a series of signs and symptoms corresponding to the state of anxiety when waking up. The anxious person will assume that things will go wrong before they have even begun to take the action.
Let’s see what the signs of anxiety are when waking up.
These symptoms occur largely due to an imbalance in cortisol levels , which tend to be higher at the beginning of the day, but when they are too high that is when the aforementioned signs occur. As a consequence of these signs, our mind begins to create catastrophic thoughts, which have their most intense peak in the morning, and as the hours go by they decrease, along with the rest of the physiological reactions.
Unlike signs, emotional and psychological symptoms are not directly observable, and in most cases they respond to the subjectivity of the subject. These can be specified through the speech of the person who presents them, when verbalizing their thoughts
Thus, the symptoms of anxiety when waking up are mainly characterized by a state of negative thinking regarding anything that should be done during the day that is beginning. Let’s look at some of these ways of thinking:
Paradoxically, the attempt that the subject makes to reduce his anxiety what he achieves is to increase it, given that he cannot have total control of the situation and that helps maintain stress This ends up frustrating even more, as a consequence of them the person spends the first hours of the day with a lot of anxiety and cannot make the morning productive.
Causes
As we have already mentioned before, excessively high levels of cortisol during the morning hours are a cause of morning anxiety, but they are not the only one. There are also personal and environmental factors that tend to trigger this type of anxiety in people. The main ones are the following.
When we leave an activity that is a priority for later, we are obtaining immediate satisfaction by not having to do it at that moment, but we are adding a stress factor in the medium term. Eventually we will have to do that activity, and The longer we put it off, the higher our anxiety level may be in the morning
2. Overloading yourself with activities (not delegating functions)
When we have the habit of doing everything on our own, without asking for help of any kind, that is when we are most likely to experience anxiety when we wake up.
The more activities we have to do, the greater the level of energy and commitment we have to invest. We will not always be able to do everything by ourselves and if we can do it, we must ask ourselves: at what cost?
3. Cognitive dissonance
This means that when our actions do not go in the same direction as our thoughts and principles, a feeling of contradiction is generated in us which our mind unconsciously strives to justify logically.
In this way, when we do something even though we do not consider it correct, we are giving our brain the task of justifying it, to avoid feeling that we have gone against our morals and not having the feeling of discomfort. During the mornings, with elevated cortisol levels, our brain is prone to stress, and the more cognitive dissonances we have, the greater our level of anxiety will be in the morning
Now we will see a series of useful recommendations to lower the level of anxiety in the mornings. This way you can make the first hours of your day healthier.
1. Sleep schedules: that allow you to sleep between 6-8 hours
Establishing a daily sleep routine that guarantees adequate brain rest (restorative sleep) helps control cortisol levels in the morning, and prevents the signs that usually occur.
2. Light dinner: Avoid overeating before bed
Heavy meals can cause discomfort during the night that prevent us from having good quality sleep, which increases our morning anxiety levels.
3. Relaxation techniques in the morning: Breathe before starting the day
At the moment of waking up, Before getting out of bed, take a series of guided breaths Do it in the following way; Take air through your nose and take it into your lungs, hold it there for a few seconds (10-15) and then let it out through your mouth in a calm and controlled manner. As if you were gently blowing out a candle, repeat the procedure several times, until you feel a state of relaxation that becomes general.
