These days, I’m doing a little bit better then I have been, but does anyone else get this? As soon as I open my eyes, it’s like a jolt of anxiety comes. I’ve recently been using an Apple Watch and it’s so interesting to see how high my heart rate goes.
Has anybody worked out a solution for this. It’s a fairly horrible experience. I’m guessing it happens because I had to be alert as soon as I woke up in childhood in order to stay as safe as I could
Not the OP, but I suffer similarly. I will try this advice, thank you!
How do I do that? Connect, be present with it?
With IFS we actually have conversations with these parts of ourselves to get to know them and hear their story. There are a fair number of steps and subtleties involved, but to start with you can find the part in your body (wherever you feel the anxiety the most at that moment), and focus your attention there to establish an initial connection. Then you can ask it questions - what do you need from me, what would you like me to know about you, things like that.
I'd recommend doing some reading about IFS first, as there are other intervening steps that are often required.
Thank you for that detailed answer!
So helpful, thank you
Pete Walker talks about going into emotional flashback during sleep, and then waking into it. Going from a restful place straight into the emotional deep end is very jarring.
Similarly, I seem to ruminate as part of my dreams, and then the transition from sleep to wake is just me becoming self aware of the rumination. So if it’s anxiety inducing thoughts, I’m on for a rough morning until I can stop and try to feel out what I’m ruminating about/why.
👍. I still haven't figured out how to respond to this. I usually just dissociate on my phone for a couple hours unless I need to work (irregular hours part time job).
Oh, MAAAAN, exactly!!!
I get this too, OP. It is truly the worst feeling and can make it hard to fall asleep, since it creates a loop and you start to fear waking up. I haven't figured out a way to stop it, but just wanted to let you know I can empathize and hope you figure it out.
It used to happen every day for me, and with it came emotional flashbacks. I don't know if this is a solution, it's more that I became aware that I was immediately in freeze or flight – I would either stay in bed for hours, or start rushing for no reason.
What helped for me is doing yoga, breathing exercises, self soothing, doing things very slowly, trying to choose the pace I was going at. Now I kind of do it automatically, when I feel myself running or freezing – I start doing everything as slowly as I possibly can.
It's exhausting though, god, it's just so much work sometimes, and that feels very unfair when you've just woken up.
Thanks for this advice
I used to get this. What I would do is I would immediately turn on some music. Pick a CD/playlist that you know is calming to you. I listened to a lot of instrumental music because I couldn't deal with lyrics. I also had a stuffed animal in my bed. Yes, I was an adult with a stuffed animal and I hugged it when I needed to.
Absolutely no need to qualify that “Yes, I was an adult with a stuffed animal” —there is no shame in that. It’s tactile and comforting. I have a few stuffed animals - old and new and I don’t care if people have opinions about that. I’m not allowed to have a pet in my apartment, but they can’t take away my stuffed friends ☺️
Thank you ❤️. I think I'm just always ready to defend myself. I'd love to have a pet, but can't afford one atm. But stuffed animals are great too.
This happens to me in the middle of the night. I will jolt awake in full panic. In those times I try to ground myself by feeling the weight of my blankets, feeling my body supported by the bed, feeling safe in the dark, feeling my dog breathing next to me. I try to time my breath to match my husband or dogs to regulate it again. And then I count backwards from 1,000 until I fall asleep again, or put something on my phone to listen to until I feel ready for sleep again.
Happens to me too.
If you stay in bed you battle sensory deprivation. Alone in the darkness with your thoughts. This takes practice to battle. That’s what meditation does.
So, don’t deprive your senses, for now, until you choose to start that journey, if you do choose that.
Get up. Right away. Sounds. Lights. Smells. Stick your face in the freezer. Turn on music or TV. Warm water on the face. Hold an ice cube. Clap loudly right in front of your face. Jumping jacks. Turn on music. Spray perfume or smell your favorite food or a candle or scented oil. Brisk walk. Greet your pet. Read the news. Shower. Oh and the best one: streeeeeehtch.
One love.
Waking up with a racing heart rate could be related to sleep apnea or uars, worth checking if you’re at all suspicious about it. REM sleep is particularly important for mental health.
That said, it could be related to your trauma history. Still worth checking though.
Trauma is a real reason and also, it’s worth looking into how to have your blood sugar a healthy level upon waking. That jolt is Cortisol. What has helped me with the “waking immediately into anxiety” is being mindful of how I’m affecting my overnight blood sugar. Another HUGE relief has been listening to the YouTube Channel “Minds in Unison” sleep subliminal recordings. The releasing anger one was transformative in one night.
Anxiety on waking is a normal, but not so bad for most people. The body's cortisol (stress hormone) increases and that wakes you up.
Does cortisol wake you up in the morning? Melatonin eases you into sleep—and helps you stay asleep—while cortisol helps get you up and keep you awake. Cortisol is normally at its highest level in the morning; this morning cortisol is what helps get you out of bed in the morning. Cortisol levels then gradually drop as the day goes by.
Yeah but it’s more like ‘I’m going to die’ anxiety, and less just general anxiety
That's your body's reaction to the cortisol, thanks to CPTSD.
Could be a combo of physical and psychological symptoms. Just feeling physically stressed can make it more difficult to redirect myself from triggers; I think you mentioned you’ve had some flashbacks to negative morning experiences which could be coming up.
This is me! I grew up with PTSD without even knowing. Then found out being an insomniac isn't normal. Waking up anxious isn't normal either.
My biggest solution is that before going to sleep, you need to calm yourself down the best you can. I rely on audio/music. When you're able to sleep in a calmer state of mind, you will wake up in a calmer state of mind.
I don't know if this is it for everyone, but worth a try.
I’m the same. Operating in a daily loop with it. It’s re-traumatizing
It’s pretty painful as well. My body tenses up, I am making noises, I tried to get it out. It’s like a panic attack without tears.
I wake up every morning at 3:30 in the morning, and can’t fall back asleep until about 430, and I wake up for work at 5:30.
I’m sorry you’re going through that, I know how stressful it is, and I don’t have any answers for you. I fell asleep last night, telling myself that everything was OK and I was going to figure it out. And I validated my feelings and felt like I was working toward a little bit of internal resolution. I thought for sure that this would be the thing that would help me wake up calmer and smoother. It didn’t.
Some mornings it’s so bad, I can hardly breathe, and like last night, I only ended up with four hours of sleep, and I woke up in pain. I’m at the end of my rope, I genuinely hope that you find help for you get here too.
Frequent deep relaxation / guided relaxation / guided meditation / hypnosis / self-hypnosis may help with reducing your background levels of anxiety which in turn would improve the quality of your sleep - which in turn would improve the quality of your REM sleep: the bit that splits out the emotional and narrative elements of our memories thus allowing us to move on.
Yeah I had this for the longest while, and this is what I learned while working it through.
Feeling are messengers. Anxiety is usually telling us we're feeling threatened by something/someone we're emotionally attached to, which may be real or imaginary, but feels threatening nonetheless.
Once we figure out what the feeling is trying to show us and we take action to tackle that issue (which is easier said than done and may require psychological support), things usually get better.
yeah, I experience this as well - when I wake up from naps as well... it's so horrible
It’s terrifying. Debilitating. Check my comment above for some ideas to help.
Yeah, waking up is one of my main triggers. I think it’s about waking up as a kid not knowing what the day is going to bring. Every day was chaotic and scary in a different way, so I think I just learned to be scared of every new day.
Only very recently, like in the last week, have I noticed a difference in my morning anxiety after 18 months of therapy. For the first time, my opening sensation hasn’t always been anxiety and even when it has been this week, I can let it ‘wash through me’. I tell myself that the fear is about an old thing that HAS happened and can’t happen again.
Like telling myself “nah, I get it. This IS scary shit but the worst has already happened. You’ve dealt with it and it can’t happen again. So relax.”
That took a looooong time to get to and sometimes I didn’t think it was possible. But I’ve found that the worst of my anxiety can be managed and that is such a relief.
I’m looking forward to next week to see if this is the new me!😅
I call it the morning panic
God this is me right now, I think it's related to emotional flashbacks like some have said here before. I also get nightmares more frequently now so that factors in also but I get anxiety when I don't dream too.
I'd say box breathing, meditation first thing in the morning and handle it like an emotional flashback (more info in the book Complex PTSD: from surviving to thriving)
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Mine is significantly lessened if i take melatonin (5mg, your dosage may vary). I feel calmer and more relaxed the day after, and it's more than just having slept well. I found out it might have something to do with GABA, a neurotransmitter. I recently started taking GABA supplements, and for me, it stops that panic anxiety feeling.
I have this too! It seems to come back in periods. At least it turns off when if I live in flight/freeze mode. I recently started trying to connect with myself, and now it's back.
It's a horrible way to wake up. I often get it the worst when I nap.
I use the Oak app to do a calming deep breathing technique and I try to do it as soon as I open my eyes.
Every morning I'm borne into suffering. For me, it's high hyper vigilance. When asleep my brain doesn't remember we're not going to wake up in my abusive family's house, so I wake up in terror every day. I have to meditate and focus on regulation skills and breathing exercises upon regaining consciousness every morning. It's training my brain that we aren't back there anymore. It takes forever to heal bc the conditioning is way down in the midbrain.
On a side note, this clip from Bo Burnham describes my mornings well (and makes me laugh).
I get that a lot, randomly. I’ll wake up already anxious or with my heart pounding or sometimes just really depressed. Not sure what causes it but I’ve found that while in therapy it has helped tremendously, to the point that I’d say right now it’s not as common for me.
This happens to me too. It's SOOOOO rough! Waking up like it's zombie apocalypse outside your home, and they are breaking in..... Wait no, I'm safe .... My emotional feelings, "Not Safe! Not Safe! Not Safe!" Me Aaaaargh! Pops in headphones with calming music sometimes helps. Or I turn on something to dance to and just dance it out. Or do chores. Just started therapy, and definitely going to bring this up, as it happened to me (again) this morning. Sometimes, I would write long angry rants to those who I feel are a threat towards me. Ugh...... To not do this, I place my phone on not to distract me with certain apps like email, messenger, Facebook, Instagram, and any other app that feeds my anxiety or compulsions ummm like Amazon shopping .... I place those apps on "don't distract", like some people would use to not be distracted during work times, and need to focus. I have the don't distract option on from 9:30pm - 11:00am the following day. I leave my journal app available, so then that is my only go to I can rant on my phone during those times. I discovered mornings are the most difficult part of my day, but by 11am, my Cymbalta is kicking in, and I have smoked a few bowls, and am busy with other things. I also feel like when I have emotional nightmare flashbacks right before wakening, I feel like one of my inner child... Lately it has been my angsty and angry teenager, and I wake up full of anxiety, angst, anger, and I just want to cry, yell...... It's SOOOOO frustrating. Cause I don't like feeling like that at all..... Especially upon waking up.....
Hey, I relate a lot to what you’ve written. Good luck on your therapy journey. Thanks for sharing
Hi there. That's a possible reason, but it's also the case that when we're asleep, conscious parts of the brain go offline and unconscious parts get more blood flow. So in my world (Internal Family Systems) we'd say that a part of you (parts largely operate in the unconscious) is experiencing anxiety, and right after waking tends to be time you feel it because that's when the part has the most access to consciousness.
If you can be present with the part when this occurs - experience it without pushing it away, connect with it, get curious about it - you might learn more about it and even develop a relationship with it. Hope this helps a bit.