Morning Anxiety?

Anxiety first thing in the morning can be the strongest!

Of course anxiety at night can be disruptive as well, see this post with a Yoga Nidra practice help with that.

But for me and many of my students’ morning anxiety is equal to or even worse than bedtime anxiety.

Morning anxiety also has a hormonal cause: Cortisol, often called the “stress hormone,”. It is higher during the first hour after waking for people experiencing stress.

When this happens it it can make it difficult to even get out of bed!

Then, when you do get up, that anxiety has started the day in a way that’s hard to shake.

For me, that morning anxiety would then turn into a restless haze which stops me from getting anything done which of course would just make me feel worse.

And on it would go like a vicious circle.

This used to happen to me all the time and I’m not gonna lie, some days it was debilitating!

If I could just get out of the bed on the right foot, I could get some work done and get outside have some fun!

But on those anxious mornings, nope … my whole day would be off, sometimes for days in a row.

I recently learned a simple, easy and super effective way to stop morning anxiety in its tracks.

Using this little mind switch first thing in the morning has made a massive shift in my life, so of course I just had to share it with you!

The person who introduced me to this technique is Mel Robbins.

I go into more details about how this works and how to do it in the video below.

Another thing that helps me with morning anxiety (once I am out of bed), is engaging in exercise. I especially like to put on music and dance or go for a walk even if It’s just around the block. This increases endorphins and elevates your mood.

Limiting stressors such as waiting to check news or social media and using an alarm clock instead of a smartphone are also helpful.

I know this is hard but so worth it! I kicked my cell phone out of my bedroom over a year ago and it has made a big difference.

I also take the time in the morning to have a bath and read for bit.

I know those of you with kids won’t have this luxury, but what small self-nourishment practice thing could you do?

Creating a sense of focus the night before such as daily planning or to-do lists can help with the restless brain fog state.

And of course resources like Yoga and Meditation are super helpful with anxiety and I have a bunch of classes as well as a on demand video library.

Try some of these simple tips and let me know how it goes!

nyk