Morning seems to be the time when anxiety is at the highest level for most anxiety sufferers. Waking up with a stomach full of knots and heavy sensations was a daily thing for me. The palpitation, the tingling and hot sensation could be so strong that I sometime felt nauseous upon waking. It’s the same feeling as if you are about to step out and give a speech in front of 10 thousand people. But you’re just waking up and lying in your bed.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, our cortisol level is at its peak in the morning. Our sensitized nerves, when flooded with cortisol, will produce symptoms and sensations throughout our body. To make matter worse, as anxiety sufferers, we focus on every single sensation and emphasize it.
You might ask, then how come “normal” people don’t feel those symptoms? Well, there are two answers for that. First, their nerves are not at the sensitized state like our nerves are. Second, they don’t have the body scanning habit like we do.
I remember waking up in the morning, and the first thing I do is to scan my entire body to see if the existing symptom is still there or if there is any new symptom that just come up. I would lean my body from left to right to see if I was dizzy, or I would stand in front of the mirror checking to see if there is any new rash or mole that I didn’t know of.
If the symptom was there, I would feel so discouraged and carry on my day with a heavy heart. My spirit would tumble, and my energy level would drop to a lowest level and stay there for the rest of the day. I would go through the day like a zombie, stressed, tensed and an overall feeling of dread. I would zone into my chest area and listen in to my heart rhythm all day long. If palpitation didn’t come upon waking in the morning, it will come during the day because of how much attention and stress I put on it.
According to Dr. Claire Weekes in her book Hope and Help for Your Nerves, the best way to deal with morning anxiety is to get up and out of bed right away upon waking, regardless of how you might feel. This helps burning away as much of the initial cortisol as possible.
Take a shower, go for a walk, make a cup of coffee, let the dog out, involve into as many activities as you can. Activate all 5 of your senses and pull them away from symptom searching and scanning. If symptoms persist, use A.C.E.R. to combat them. But never lay back down and give in to your anxiety symptoms. Do it even if your anxiety is screaming “you can’t” to you.
Your mornings might not feel good for some time to come as your mind and body are getting used to your new routine. Your subconscious mind will need some time to be retrained. Stick with these methods and the suffering from morning anxiety will subside. You will feel energetic, refreshed and ready to take on the day again.