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The morning awakening of a healthy person is usually accompanied by a feeling of freshness and vigor. In this case, does constant anxiety after sleep indicate the presence of a physiological or mental illness? Experts think so. Therefore, you should not ignore this condition in the morning for a long time.
What causes restlessness after waking up?
Anxiety is described as a state of nervous excitement, an unclear premonition of negative events. A person feels in danger, but does not understand what exactly threatens him. Experts consider anxiety to be a precursor to fear.
Waking up with a feeling of terrible anxiety every morning, many wonder where it comes from if they have not yet had time to think about anything bad. But such uncertainty only means that the root should be sought deeper. There are two main causes of morning anxiety:
- anxiety disorder due to severe or prolonged stress;
- diseases that cause hormonal imbalance.
It is important to understand that this kind of discomfort after sleep requires treatment. This mental disorder can seriously undermine a person’s health: it negatively affects the cardiovascular, respiratory and digestive systems.
The Tyranny of the False Self
When we were children, we found ways to receive attention and care from others, avoid negative emotions, and keep ourselves safe. The part of personality formed in childhood still lives in each of us. This part of our personality is located in a part of the left hemisphere of the brain called the amygdala or amygdala.
If as a child we did not receive enough love and care from adults, we considered ourselves to blame for not being loved. We could conclude that something was wrong with us. This is one of the most harmful beliefs of our false self.
Once we came to this conclusion, we learned to hide who we really are. We tried to improve ourselves so that other people would accept us. The more we improved ourselves, the more we lost touch with our true Self, which God created. We have come to believe that we are who we made ourselves up to be. Over time, our false “I” has grown, strengthened and does not want to lose its power at all. Our false “I” is accustomed to being controlled from the outside.
Like a dictator who does not want to be overthrown, our false self is afraid of losing its power and authority. The more internal work we do on ourselves to overcome the beliefs that limit us, getting to know our true Self, the more our false Self resists. It can only have its effect on us when we are sleeping.
Therefore, it often takes over when we sleep, and in the morning we can wake up with the thoughts of our false “I”, which cause us an inexplicable feeling of anxiety. When we sleep, we have no way to limit these thoughts. When we are half asleep, we are completely immune to thoughts that cause us an inexplicable feeling of anxiety. When we wake up, we feel anxiety, the cause of which is the lie instilled in us by our Ego.
In fact, the more you engage in self-development, the more often you may wake up with anxiety as the false self loses its strength and power. What should we do with it?
How does constant anxiety appear?
Anxiety disorder, or fear neurosis, can have obvious or hidden causes. Experts consider it a consequence of mental or physical overload. It occurs due to severe exhaustion of the body.
Factors contributing to the development of anxiety can be different.
- Severe stress. The body may be weakened as a result of a shock: serious illness or death of a loved one, infidelity and divorce, change of residence, dismissal and financial difficulties. For someone with a weak psyche, passing an exam, getting a job, or a quarrel with a colleague may be enough to develop neurosis.
- Prolonged experience. Experts attribute mild anxiety that haunts a person for many days to this factor. To be more precise, this includes problems that have not been resolved within 28 days. These may even be complexes and resentments originating in early childhood. This type of worry creates chronic stress and unreasonable anxiety.
- Physical overexertion. Although it seems that body fatigue should not affect a person’s emotional state, this is not the case. Physical activity uses the same energy as mental activity. When a person works a lot but gets little rest, his body does not have the strength to maintain the nervous system at the proper level. People who are too keen on any sport are often susceptible to neuroses.
Other factors can also weaken the body: changes in weather, excessive consumption of caffeine and alcohol, exacerbation of chronic illness and infection, junk food and the environment. These causes of neurosis are less common, but should not be discarded.
Who is at risk?
People suffering from sleep disorders of varying severity, including insomnia, are most susceptible to panic attacks in the morning. Basically, these are emotionally excitable, anxious and suspicious individuals.
A person's occupation and lifestyle also significantly influence their susceptibility to morning panic attacks. People experiencing a professional identity crisis, who don’t like their work, or who dread starting the workday may experience panic attacks before or immediately after waking up. The mere fact that in a couple of hours they will have to plunge into a psychologically difficult, meaningless atmosphere, spend the whole day among strangers, unpleasant people and picky management, can provoke an intense, brightly colored panic attack.
Changes in place of residence (moving, emigration), going back to work after a long stay at home (for a mother with many children who spent many years devoting her time to small children), the recent loss of a loved one can trigger morning panic attacks. People who sought psychological help and were faced with the problems listed above noted that they fell asleep quickly and easily, but woke up with difficulty and reluctance, and immediately felt pressure behind the sternum, pain in the heart, tremors, increasing anxiety, and fear.
A morning panic attack is often triggered by drinking alcohol in the evening. Some people whose day-to-day activities involve increased stress—resuscitation doctors, businessmen, police officers—make the excuse that they “need to relax” after work, and that’s why they drink. However, drinking alcohol late does not lead to relaxation. On the contrary, studies of the activity of higher brain activity have shown that the night's sleep of a person who drinks later than seven or eight o'clock in the evening does not go through the necessary stages. Bypassing the stage of REM sleep, the lover of evening libations plunges into a deep and heavy sleep, and wakes up sleep-deprived and exhausted. If he has already experienced morning panic attacks as a reaction to chronic stress, then on a “hangover” morning he is guaranteed to have a panic attack.
Why do hormonal disorders occur?
With the help of hormones, the human brain regulates all processes occurring in the body. For example, by producing adrenaline, the body prepares to face danger. Scientists have found that anxiety in the morning can be caused by the production of stress hormones.
The regulation of these substances in the body is controlled by the endocrine system. One of the malfunctions in its work is called pheochromocytoma. This is a disease in which the adrenal glands produce adrenaline and norepinephrine uncontrollably. Both hormones cause nervous excitement and increase blood pressure. Hence the feeling of anxiety after waking up.
A disorder of the thyroid gland, called thyrotoxicosis, leads to an excess of the hormone thyroxine, which is responsible for metabolism. This causes insomnia and anxiety. With thyrotoxicosis, a person may wake up not only in a state of anxiety, but also with increased irritability and trembling hands.
What does feeling anxious mean?
The feeling of unrest in the soul most often implies obsessive fear and anxiety, when a person seems to be “programmed” expecting that something very bad will happen very soon. A person in such a situation is unable to control and justify his actions, and constantly experiences anxiety for no reason. At the slightest feeling of “danger,” an anxious person has an inadequate reaction to irritating factors.
Anxiety and fear bring with them physical ailments such as: throbbing headache, nausea, indigestion (loss of appetite or overeating). When a person is uneasy in his soul, fear and anxiety appear, it becomes difficult to maintain communication with people, to do anything, to realize his aspirations.
The constant experience of anxiety and fear can turn into a chronic disease, when making an important decision will cause another panic attack. In this case, you need to contact a psychologist. His competence includes making a diagnosis and helping on the path to recovery when the soul is restless and fear and anxiety arise.
A restless state of mind, fear and anxiety do not exist without a reason. As a rule, the consequence of such well-being is hidden deep in the subconscious and escapes attention. You can't let the situation take its course. Exacerbation of uncontrollable anxiety and fear entails disruption of the normal functioning of various organs, insomnia, chronic lack of sleep, neurosis, alcohol and even drug addiction.
Why does anxiety keep you from sleeping?
Separately, we need to talk about the occurrence of anxiety before bedtime. In many cases, a person cannot sleep at night due to the reasons mentioned above. The same stress or physical fatigue, excess caffeine, alcohol, or the influence of disease can lead to increased nervous arousal. However, there is another explanation.
There is a mental disorder called hypnophobia. With this deviation, a person is unreasonably afraid of falling asleep. Every time he goes to sleep, he is associated with a feeling of anxiety.
Psychologists are faced with various reasons for the development of hypnophobia: an accident experienced, a horror movie watched, an obsessive thought about death during sleep. According to experts, hypnophobia is much more difficult to treat than anxiety neurosis.
Help from a psychologist for anxiety
When people are uneasy in their souls, they turn to a psychologist (not to be confused with a psychiatrist). A psychologist is not a doctor; he does not write prescriptions or make diagnoses. The field of activity of professional psychologists is stressful situations, constant fears, panic attacks, anxiety, communication problems. A specialist is able to provide not only verbal support, but also real help.
A specialist will help identify those thoughts that automatically fly through a person’s brain that cause such a feeling as “restless in the soul.” This provides a person with the opportunity to look at a problem that has tormented him all the time from a different angle, analyze its meaning, and change his opinion about it. This procedure will relieve anxiety and fear.
To get rid of anxiety and fear, it is enough to make 6-20 visits to a psychologist. The number of required sessions is selected based on the stage of the psychological disorder and the individual characteristics of the person.
Note! It has been proven that the first signs of improvement appear after 2-3 sessions.
How is anxiety treated?
Methods for dealing with feelings of anxiety after waking up depend on what caused the disorder. Therefore, you need to start with an examination of your physical and mental health.
If hormonal problems are discovered, the surest step is to go to an endocrinologist. To get rid of anxiety in the morning, you may need a course of treatment aimed at combating a chronic illness or strengthening the immune system.
If physical fatigue has led to an alarming state, you need to change the rhythm of life and give the body more rest. A person who wakes up with anxiety every morning needs the help of a psychologist.
He urgently needs to determine the cause of nervous tension and learn to overcome it. In some cases, a course of tranquilizers or antidepressants is required.
In the process of dealing with unreasonable anxiety, it is necessary to do everything possible to promote relaxation of the nervous system. What you can do:
- give up caffeine in any form - it stimulates the production of the stress hormone;
- reduce the consumption of alcoholic beverages, which weaken the nervous system;
- play sports (without strain), because it helps fight stress and feel happier;
- resort to relaxation techniques to reduce anxiety;
- doing pleasant things, finding a hobby - this has a very positive effect on mental health;
- reconsider your own philosophy of life - learn to perceive what is happening more positively, notice and appreciate the good things around you;
- organize your vacation efficiently so that after it you feel rested;
- Spend more time with friends and avoid people who cause unpleasant emotions;
- limit the flow of negative information - put an end to gossip, daily viewing of news releases or television series. It is important to remember that all information received by a person settles in his subconscious.
You shouldn't put up with anxiety in the morning. It takes the joy out of life. This could develop into something more serious. This condition is not so difficult to get rid of. Basically, the reason lies in stress, which can be overcome in 3-5 sessions with a psychologist.
Concentrate on the here and now
When in the morning you notice that your mind is attracting you to anxious thoughts, turn your attention to what is happening at this current moment in time. Focus, for example, on the way water flows over your body if you are taking a shower, or on the way the brush moves across your teeth if you brush your teeth. Meditation, when you calmly and relaxedly monitor your breathing, can also be a useful morning ritual. All these activities will bring you much more real benefit than empty worry about your own health, which often overcomes people prone to anxiety. Think about whether negative thoughts and rummaging through them will somehow help you improve your physical condition? Of course not! But running, meditation or exercise will obviously help. Then isn’t it better to devote your morning hours to these activities instead of worrying and worrying?
Drug treatment
Antidepressants, tranquilizers and antipsychotics can eliminate the symptoms, but not the cause of a restless state of mind. The drugs relieve all symptoms of anxiety and fear and restore normal sleep patterns. However, these drugs are not as harmless as they seem: they are persistently addictive, entail many unpleasant side effects, and weight gain.
The effectiveness of using traditional medicine will also not be able to eliminate the true motives of hidden fears and anxiety. Folk remedies are not as effective as the above-mentioned medications, but they are safer in terms of harmful consequences and relieve a restless state of mind.
Important! Before using any medications, you should consult a specialist.
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One word of caution: try not to exercise too close to bed unless it's a meditative type of exercise such as yoga or Pilates.
Start by changing your morning routine
It turns out that good sleep starts with good morning habits. This is actually the most difficult time and can affect your sleep either positively or negatively.
Your morning routine is one of the most important parts of healthy sleep hygiene. Waking up at the same time every day, getting out of bed immediately, exercising in the morning rather than in the evening, and eating breakfast all help your body set its working hours, which means you're more likely to be tired by nights and are able to fall asleep on time. It will also help regulate your internal systems, as your body will better manage energy, stress hormones, and blood sugar levels.
A quick note about breakfast: While it's generally considered a good idea and there's some evidence that skipping breakfast is associated with poor sleep quality, there really isn't enough data yet to make that claim definitive.
