Is it normal to wake in morning with a feeling of dread / impending doom?

[nianxiousguy]

Is this all part of general anxiety? Is just a really low feeling of dread, seems to appear as soon as I wake in the mornings.

[ankietyjoe]

Cortisol is highest first thing in the morning and it's common to feel more anxiety (and any of the accompanying symptoms) as soon as you wake up.

[WiseMonkey]

This is very common especially if you've had a lot of stress or worry lately. It can start your stomach churning too ( sometimes an accompanying symptom).

It can continue even after the stressful situation has passed as it takes a while for your system to settle down again.

[CaliGuy]

Absolutely.

In my journey through stress disorder, morning anxiety/panic/doom has been the #1 issue. Go to bed feeling fine, wake up a mess. Right out of sleep, and usually coming out of some vivid or bad dreams.

It does usually improve as the day goes on, and most days I don't have this anymore. But when setbacks return, it's always right out of sleep for me. This has been 80% of the entire condition in my case.

[lebonvin]

Claire Weekes talk about this on her free downloads.

Mornings always worst

[Lencoboy]

Cortisol is highest first thing in the morning and it's common to feel more anxiety (and any of the accompanying symptoms) as soon as you wake up.

This might explain why I often have such feelings and thoughts first thing in the morning, and the feeling of often not wanting to get out of bed.

I reckon it might in part be a hangover from the recent Covid pandemic and the seemingly endless walking on eggshells in order to try to 'stay safe' coupled with when my mom was still living at home with us and having to constantly tend to all her dementia-related issues.

Now it tends to be other things (some relatively trivial and/or already there pre-pandemic), such as my dad watching either the BBC or Sky News channels in the kitchen downstairs whenever I get up last, which it sounds like he's doing right now as I type.

Conversely in the evenings, I usually feel more relaxed and generally less sensitive to stuff, unless it's something very bad or distressing.

[ErinKC]

Yes as others have said regarding cortisol. I’ve read (and know from experience) that while it makes you feel like you don’t want to get up, the worst thing you can do is linger in bed. The cortisol is designed to help you wake, so when you feel this way you should get right up and use up the energy rather than laying in bed letting your mind use it for anxiety.

[Lencoboy]

Yes as others have said regarding cortisol. I’ve read (and know from experience) that while it makes you feel like you don’t want to get up, the worst thing you can do is linger in bed. The cortisol is designed to help you wake, so when you feel this way you should get right up and use up the energy rather than laying in bed letting your mind use it for anxiety.

Yes, I'm totally aware of the fact that laying about in bed in the morning can often do more harm than good to many people.

But like I said earlier this morning, I think I'm still suffering from post-pandemic blues, even though those big worries of 2020-22 (which also involved my mom and her dementia issues) are now mostly 'water under the bridge' and Covid hardly ever seems to get mentioned in the UK's national news headlines of late, so I should ultimately have more cause for greater happiness and cheerfulness as we've now got the freedom more akin to 2019 and before once again, which has mostly been the case since mid 2022.

But unfortunately, 'old habits die hard', so the saying goes.

However, it's rather funny how this particular thread was first created in November 2019, which was just before the original onset of the Covid pandemic, and we were still blissfully unaware of what was then on the horizon for us all over the months and next couple of years to come!

[SXB]

I too suffer with this terrible anxiety - I wake at about 5.00am every day and my mind flips to worry straight away and sometimes into a very dark space - I am desperate for a break from it so any advice given would be really appreciated.

[ErinKC]

However, it's rather funny how this particular thread was first created in November 2019, which was just before the original onset of the Covid pandemic, and we were still blissfully unaware of what was then on the horizon for us all over the months and next couple of years to come!

Recently, I’ve been more nostalgic for preCovid times and feel sad thinking about what like used to be like. I was reminiscing with an old friend the other day because I put him as a personal reference and we were trying to figure out how many years we’d been friends. And then we were trying to figure out when/how we actually became friends. All our memories were one event or another - taking a bus trip to see a show, going to a lecture. And it was all while we were in college 20+ years ago. It got me thinking about the low level buzz or fear that I think Covid will keep imposing on everything we do and it made me so sad. I know it’s not useful to dwell on these things, but sometimes it’s hard to keep them from bubbling up!

[Lencoboy]

Recently, I’ve been more nostalgic for preCovid times and feel sad thinking about what like used to be like. I was reminiscing with an old friend the other day because I put him as a personal reference and we were trying to figure out how many years we’d been friends. And then we were trying to figure out when/how we actually became friends. All our memories were one event or another - taking a bus trip to see a show, going to a lecture. And it was all while we were in college 20+ years ago. It got me thinking about the low level buzz or fear that I think Covid will keep imposing on everything we do and it made me so sad. I know it’s not useful to dwell on these things, but sometimes it’s hard to keep them from bubbling up!

While I'm not specifically fearful of Covid myself of late, I think a lot of us have got into the habit of being excessively fearful ever since, even though such trends were already becoming apparent pre-pandemic (over various other issues, obviously).

Also I think the media right now are having to find more 'scary' stuff to report on in order to fill the void left by extensive reporting on the Covid pandemic from early 2020 through approximately the early spring of 2022.

Like I said upthread earlier today, I think we should appreciate more the freedoms we're currently enjoying once again that we were basically robbed of during all the Covid lockdowns/restrictions, and indeed make the best of what's currently within our control.

[Scass]

Yes as others have said regarding cortisol. I’ve read (and know from experience) that while it makes you feel like you don’t want to get up, the worst thing you can do is linger in bed. The cortisol is designed to help you wake, so when you feel this way you should get right up and use up the energy rather than laying in bed letting your mind use it for anxiety.

Here’s me lingering in bed reading an anxiety forum [emoji23].

[jackieann3]

Same every morning but sometimes lasts all day till the evening, but does anyone have stomach problems headache and feeling of like air in your chest and throat as well, I have all these symptoms but always have a horrible upset stomach as well with these feelings , this used to just come on when I had been up a while in the mornings but the past 2 weeks it's as soon as I open my eyes.

[Lencoboy]

Same every morning but sometimes lasts all day till the evening, but does anyone have stomach problems headache and feeling of like air in your chest and throat as well, I have all these symptoms but always have a horrible upset stomach as well with these feelings , this used to just come on when I had been up a while in the mornings but the past 2 weeks it's as soon as I open my eyes.

Sounds like me exactly this time 30 years ago.

Back then I often used to wonder if I was the only person in the world with such issues and nearly everyone else was just fine, but obviously online forums and the like still barely existed back then in 1994, nor do I think anxiety in general was as openly discussed back then like it is now.

I also think most people back then tended to keep schtum about many unlucky events, apart from redundancy, being burgled or having their vehicles broken into or stolen, all of which issues seemed to be the most widely discussed back then IIRC, but almost never GAD.

[ErinKC]

Here’s me lingering in bed reading an anxiety forum [emoji23].

I'm pretty sure I was doing the same thing when I posted that! But the first step is admitting you have a problem!

[Scass]

I'm pretty sure I was doing the same thing when I posted that! But the first step is admitting you have a problem!

Erin, I have a problem [emoji1787]