11 Reasons You Wake Up Anxious And How To Fix It

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This post is all about why we wake up anxious.

There are so many reasons why we wake up anxious, whether you have morning anxiety, anxiety in your stomach, you’re nauseous, were drinking the day before, you wake up from a nap, or are in the middle of the night, there are many ways to help prevent and fix this feeling.

This post is all about why we wake up anxious!

Why We Wake Up Anxious And Tips On How To Prevent It

1. Didn’t Get Enough Sleep

When you don’t get enough sleep you might notice that you wake up anxious. ALSO if you get bad-quality sleep then you aren’t going to wake up feeling your best. That is why you have to prioritize getting good sleep. This involves so many things and it starts with your routine during the day. You need to find a way to use your brain and body throughout the day so that you are actually tired when it is bedtime.

Here are some daily habits that will get you tired by nighttime:

• Wake up and stretch or do yoga
• Put on clothes and go for 2 walks a day (30 minutes)
• Read a book
• Shower
• Listen to a podcast
• Work on a side hustle

Combining these habits will allow you to be more tired by the end of the day. I get almost all of that done before 8 AM every day and I am already exhausted. Which is fine for me because I do not work right now. But for others, you will want to slow down, add, or subtract some habits to fit how much time and energy you have that day.

2. Your Alarm Scared You

Have you ever noticed that you feel scared when you hear your alarm as someone’s ringtone or when a timer goes off? Well, that is because we hate waking up. And that is understandable! We have to get out of a nice warm and cozy cocoon we have made for ourselves over the past 8ish hours, and all of a sudden this grating noise picks up out of nowhere to tell us that we have to leave this cozy dream and get up and be a human. That sounds awful sometimes.

Here are some tips for waking up without an alarm:

• Start waking up earlier and earlier with an alarm so that you slowly become less dependent on it.
• Go to bed earlier so that you wake up at a decent time without the alarm waking you up.
• Get a Hatch Alarm Clock so that you wake up to a nice sunrise rather than the annoying sound of bells.

These tips are mainly for you to wake up earlier and that is because that is what I do. I don’t have work and my classes don’t start until 10:00 every day, yet I still wake up at 6 at the latest. I love having a slow morning that helps me to stay calm and prevent stress throughout the day. Going on a calming walk and doing a little bit of yoga has also helped me wake up when I feel a little extra sleepy.

3. Stressful Dreams

I hate when I wake up in a cold sweat after having a dream about fighting a giant worm (if you know ACOTAR, you know). That is why I slowly weened off of melatonin because I noticed that I had really odd dreams when I took it every night. But otherwise, we’re gonna have to work on our regular stress levels to figure out why you are having a stressful or scary dream.

Here are some tips for working on your stress:

• Do some things slowly and enjoy them. For example, making sourdough bread is one of the slowest things you can do while making a delicious product.
• Workout. I know it sucks, but there is no way around it. Working out helps to decrease cortisol and has a million and one health benefits.
• Cut out substances such as alcohol and nicotine.

Overall, your regular stress levels are also going to affect the amount and quality of sleep you are getting, so working on your stress is going to help you sleep better.

It really sucks to tell you that you need to work on your stress because I know life is just stressful sometimes, but I do believe that lowering your stress levels in any way you can improve your quality of life.

4. Uncertain About The Day

When you don’t have a game plan for the day, you are going to wake up anxious. There is no way around it. We have to start by making a game plan for your day the night before, this can give you a sense of control over your day and make you feel way more prepared for the day ahead of you. Routines are also helpful for this because you can know exactly what you are going to do right when you wake up every day.

My Recommendations:

• Do the same thing every morning. If you have ADHD and you don’t have a routine, then read this post, because I talk all about why it is so important to have a good routine with ADHD.
• Start writing out what you would like to get done the next day, it will be super helpful to have some goals that you can cross off a list.

5. Overwhelmed By The Day

When we wake up anxious we might be overwhelmed by the day. One way to prevent this is to prepare for the next day, the night before. The best way to do this is to make a to-do list. When we see what we have to do all laid out, we can be less overwhelmed! Try to break down all your tasks before you get to them so that you know exactly what you’ll be doing. For example, if you need to do homework here is how you would break it down:

• Gather notes together
• Review notes
• Do the homework
• Turn it in

Breaking down a task like this will help you to see it laid out and feel more confident about getting it done.

6. Work-Related Stress

Dreading going to work can very well be why you wake up anxious. There are many reasons work might be stressing you out but here are a few of the major ones that can help you identify what you are stressed about:

• Upcoming Deadline
• Working With An Annoying Coworker That Shift
• Manager Who Micromanages You

All of these stressors I have dealt with and the best way to manage these is to write it out. At my job, my shifts are usually over at 9:00, but sometimes when things don’t go as planned I am there until 10:00. While this is annoying, there isn’t much I can do about it. I always tell myself “If I’m here until 10:00, I’m here until 10:00.” Trying to go with the flow can help with work related stress.

If you are dealing with a very toxic work enviornment, I would work on this mindset while applying to new jobs. The best revenge is your success and sometimes leaving a company can be just the push it needs to be better for others.

7. Relationship Issues

When you deal with relationship issues, whether its with friends, significant others, or family, life can feel way more stressful. We lean on those around us when times are tough and having that instability can cause you to feel anxious. That is why we need to focus on cultivating meaningful relationships and establishing solid boundaries that are respected by all parties. I have a whole blog post on boundaries if you’d like to read it, I will link it below.

If you need some ideas for platonic boundaries, here are a few:

• Don’t gossip about each other (even with a significant other)
• Ask before borrowing something
• Don’t go through each other’s things
• Don’t hang out until all your work is done

These are some really simple boundaries that can actually be hard to implement if you haven’t set boundaries with this relationship before. Boundaries are there to protect both of you from hurt and I think that if you keep these boundaries with friends that you will have much more meaningful relationships with an abundance of trust.

8. Social Anxiety

I know all too well about social anxiety because I have gone to therapy for years specifically for social anxiety and trust me it can cause plenty of unrest. Waking up anxious before a presentation, working with people you don’t know well, or even going to a coffee shop can be a serious issue that causes you to miss out on a lot of fun things in life.

Here are some tips for working on your social anxiety:

• Realize you are not responsible for other people’s actions and feelings
• Try talking yourself out of anxiety about a certain situation or asking a close friend to talk it through
• Talk with one or two friends specifically about social situations and ask about them. If you have ADHD or Autism it can make it hard to understand what is weird and what isn’t, so talking with a friend can help you find out.

It is important to not let your social anxiety keep you from experiencing life. If you feel like it is preventing you from enjoying life, then I highly recommend getting a therapist. You can go on Psychology Today and search for a therapist in your area that takes your insurance. This is my favorite hack because I found my therapist and she handles everything with insurance. It has completely changed my life and saved me so much money. Betterhelp is also a great option if you have a little extra cash to spend.

9. Environmental Issues

What I mean by enviornmental issues is your fengshui or sleeping enviornment. Making a comfy bed and having a clean room can go a long way in preventing waking up with anxiety. For example, if the first thing you see when you wake up is a bed full of crumbs or clothes all over your floor, it can cause a lot of anxiety without even realizing it. Here are a few tips and tricks for creating a comfortable sleeping enviornment:

• Clean off your bed so it is just you and the bed (and maybe your phone and a water next to you). This can help you feel more comfortable and helps you to feel cleaner.
• You deserve to have comfortable sleep, so if you have food in your bed, you should wipe off any crumbs that can cause you to feel itchy or uncomfortable while you sleep.
• Put a load of laundry in the washing machine before bed and put it in the dryer when you wake up. This will help you keep your floor clean.
• If you struggle with a depression bedroom, try to make a path to your door, bathroom, and closet. This will allow you to live and function easier without tripping on so many things.

10. Rumination

If you are like me then you probably ruminate before bed. That basically just means you sit in bed thinking or worrying before you are able to fall asleep. This can be exasterbated by not getting enough sleep, so it can be a nasty cycle. To help us get out of this cycle we really have to journal. There is a great journal app on the iPhone that is from apple and should automatically be on your phone and I really enjoy it for easy journaling with the lights off. But if you are wanting to journal before bed here are a few prompts that you can write out on a notepad or the notes app in your phone:

• What would you tell your best friend about your day today?
• What is 5 things you want to do tomorrow?
• What is something you can do tomorrow to get you 1% closer to a goal of yours?
• What is one childhood memory that haunts you?
• What are you thinking about when you lay in bed?

All of these prompts shouldn’t take you more than 5-10 minutes and can make all the difference in your sleep quality. Allowing your brain to dump onto the page can be relaxing and helps you to forget about your worries because you know it is on the paper if you need to reference it later.

11. Caffeine Withdrawl

If you drink caffeine then don’t worry if you wake up anxious. A cup of coffee can fix this in a few minutes! This is completely normal for coffee drinkers. I would be remiss to say that people with ADHD or anxiety should be careful with drinking caffeine because it can actually cause you to have more anxiety.

If you need some good caffeine alternatives, here are my recommendations that I think you should combine all together to replace a cup of coffee if you are looking to cut back:

• Take multivitamins
• Drink extra water
• Take a shower in the morning
• Stretch and go on a walk in the morning
• Stand in tree pose for as long as you can to increase focus

This post was all about why you wake up anxious!

I know that life can feel so hectic that you wake up anxious, and these tips and tricks can help you get some better sleep when you need it and prevent you from feeling so much anxiety when you wake up.

Whether you have depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism, or all four, I understand why you wake up anxious and I believe that these tips will be so helpful for you!

If you have other tips or reasons you wake up anxious, leave a comment below or email me at caroline@thebadalsorises.com. I am always down for a quick chat or to give out some advice!