hey, I just posted on the other post, below, about anxiety ... and it got me thinking... yes, why IS anxiety worse after sleep?!!!! that is very very true! I notice it's MUCH worse for me when i first wake up, or after a nap!!!! ME TOO!

i wonder why that is? Obviously, it's something physical, maybe our hormones go ballistic when we sleep? WHAT? it's got to be some sort of chemical change!

I think part of the answer to why it's worse when we wake in the morning is because when we are anxious our cortisol (the stress hormone) goes up even more and it's at it's highest between 6-8am in the morning and peaks around 9am. This would partly explain the intense early morning anxiety. Apparently it is at it's lowest in the evening and by midnight it's at the lowest point this is why I feel calmer in the evening like I'm almost back to my usual self but by morning all heck breaks loose again. Claire Weekes describes this phenomenon well in her books.

At the moment I live for the evenings but dread the mornings

Rox

Hi MD,
I second the post above.....also for myself i figure mine is higher after I wake because I just feel wierd when I get up for a little bit, I am uaually still very tired I don't get going easily in the morning, I am almost always spacy until i completely wake. Things look and feel strange when I get up... also some of my dreams(if I remember them) leave me with an odd feeling which at times has affected me through the day depending what they were. HUGS Michelle

Another point for those of us with severe symptoms, once our brains are awake and thinking we are thinking about what symptoms will be here today which alone causes anxiety or can put us on gaurd.

I agree with you all - I took a nap this afternoon, not really sleeping but kind of dozing and the whole time I was feeling really weird. Anxiety and head spinning until I woke up and got around and made some sense of what I was doing. Lord, I hate feeling disorientented like that!!!!

Me too!! Naps are not refreshing for me now.Sad!!!

Can't nap anymore either. I get incredibly restless!!!

janeann