0:00 Morning anxiety isn't about waking up being anxious about something. Morning anxiety feels like you've gotten hit by a truck before you've even had a chance to think. You're feeling feelings of impending doom, heart palpitations, even panic attacks. This can feel so overwhelming that [music] you feel like it's just ruined your whole day. And you might ask yourself, why is this happening? Will this last forever? You'll notice even in [music] the evenings you'll feel a bit calmer, but then the next morning it hits [music] you all over again. Well, what you're experiencing is very normal. It's called the cortisol awakening response. And when you understand the science, you can begin to work with your body instead of
0:46 against it. So, in this video, I want to help you understand why you're experiencing these symptoms, [music] what caused you to experience this in the first place, and how you can overcome this so that you can start waking up feeling refreshed [music] and excited about the day, not anxious about it. Number one, what's really going on? I want to break this misconception that morning anxiety means that you're stressed about something today. What you're dealing with is very different. And it shows up even before you've had a thought. My body used to wake [music] up with a panic attack every day. There was no reason. Each morning, I'd wake up feeling breathless. My heart would go through the roof. I would be getting intense stomach cramps. And worst of all, I'd feel like I'd be starting my day 10 steps [music] behind
1:33 everybody. Any optimism that I had that maybe today would be a good day, that would just go out the [music] window. When morning anxiety would hit me, I didn't want to go to work. I wanted to cancel all my plans. I just wanted to sit at home and try to figure out why this was happening so that I could fix this. If you're waking up feeling the same way, you're not broken. In fact, this is quite normal. And what you're dealing with is something called the cortisol awakening response. [music] Think of this cortisol awakening response as your body's builtin morning ignition switch. Cortisol is a stress hormone that helps you wake up. Think of cortisol as your body's natural stimulant. In many ways, it could be your own personal barista. Your body releases a surge of cortisol within the first 30 to 45 minutes of waking up. It
2:21 helps you transition from restfulness to wakefulness. This is a survival advantage. It forces us to get out of bed. Otherwise, [music] we'd just be sleeping all day, non-stop. But here's the interesting part. What you're dealing with is a cortisol awakening response. But we all have a cortisol awakening response. [music] You have it. I have it. But why are you waking up feeling like you've just been punched in the gut? Like it hits you so hard it's taking the wind from you. Well, the reason why it hits you so hard specifically is because your nervous system has become sensitized. When the cortisol awakening response kicks in, what naturally happens to everybody is their heart rate elevates slightly, their blood pressure goes up, their
3:06 energy and alertness increase. But when your nervous system is sensitized, it doesn't interpret the cortisol awakening response as, "Hey, wake up." It [music] completely overreacts. It interprets it as something is wrong. It responds as if there's danger. It's the same signal, but it's a different interpretation. Think of it as a smoke alarm. When the battery is low, you'll start noticing that it beeps all the time. When the battery is low, you'll notice the smoke alarm is a little more sensitive. And that's what you're dealing with. Because your nervous system is sensitized, this natural wakefulness that you experience from the cortisol awakening response, your body interprets it as danger. [music] This is why it hits so hard. Now, you might be thinking, okay, why is my
3:53 nervous system sensitized? Well, this can be for a lot of reasons, but what essentially happens is that your body has a stress threshold, how much stress it can hit. And what happens is that you can have a big stressor, you can have smaller stressors, but once you get closer to that stress threshold, your nervous system becomes more sensitive as a consequence. These stressors can be anything. This could be a medical scare. Maybe something happened to your family member. Maybe something happened at work. Maybe it's relationship stuff. Stressors can be anything. It could even be good stressors. Having a baby, getting a new house. Once your body hits a stress threshold, your body starts interpreting that stress as danger.
4:39 [music] You're experiencing so much stress that your fight orflight systems kick on. What happens as a consequence is that your nervous system becomes more sensitive to stress. It's looking at this as a stressful situation. And so what it does is that it wants to become more sensitive to stress, more sensitive to danger specifically. This is a survival advantage. [music] Imagine waking up and there was a tiger in your room. You would naturally have a flood of adrenaline, a flood of cortisol. And what would happen is your body would kick on this fight orflight response. Now imagine you were able to escape. The next morning, your body won't wake up lightly. It thought that there was a tiger in the room. And if it notices that you're in the same environment,
5:24 it's going to kick up the alarm [music] system even higher. So, it's important to understand that what you are specifically dealing with isn't a cortisol issue. Your nervous system is sensitized. And [music] because your nervous system is more sensitive, natural biological processes like the cortisol awakening response hits you much harder. So, you might wonder, okay, how do I overcome this? Well, awareness is often the biggest shift. Just knowing that what you're dealing with is normal and not a threat and something you can overcome will prevent you from spiraling and making things worse. But what can you do to actually reverse this? Well, the first thing you need to do is stop trying to reduce the morning anxiety sensations. Most people when they wake
6:12 up, they begin to check their heart rate. They catastrophize what's going on. They fight every sensation. They try to do things to calm down immediately. But all you're doing is reinforcing the cycle by sending danger signals to your brain. What you are saying is that this is dangerous. [music] I want to run away. Your nervous system doesn't know if you're running away from a feeling or an actual tiger. So when you're trying to avoid and run away from this morning anxiety sensations and feelings, you're telling your nervous system that there is danger. So instead, all you need to do is let the sensations be there. I get it. It's easier said than done. But if fighting it, if fixing it, if focusing on it, if getting frustrated by it
6:58 helped, you would notice it would already be gone. And [music] so the way to reverse the cycle is to let the sensations be there and continue on with your day. What I used to do is that when I would have morning anxiety and I would have intense [music] panic attacks, I feel like my diaphragm was contracting. I would get feelings of impending doom. What I would do is cancel all my plans. I didn't commit going to work. I would just sit at home. And at that time, I would just Google search what's going on, try to fix this, try to fight this, feel sorry for myself that I'm going through this cycle all over again every day. But when I started healing on the journey, I would wake up and I would feel these same sensations except I would continue on with my roles and responsibilities. I would wake up, I'd
7:43 go to work, I'd hang out with friends after. I would basically live normally. Now, I still had these sensations and many times I felt like I couldn't even do these things because these sensations were so intense. But all I did was just allow the feelings to be there and continue on my day. What would happen is that my morning anxiety would often last all day. Sometimes I'd come home in the evening at 6:00 or 7 and I would still be feeling lingering feelings of that morning anxiety. But as I continue the routine, as I let the symptoms and sensations be there, I would notice that the morning anxiety would subside over time. Instead of lasting till 6:00 or 7:00 p.m., it would last till 3:00 p.m. and then it would last till 11:00 a.m. Sometimes the sensations would come
8:30 back. It wasn't linear, but the overall trend would be that the morning anxiety would lessen over time. Eventually, the morning anxiety would only last maybe for a couple of hours in the morning and then a few minutes. Over time, the morning anxiety went away. Once my nervous system recognized that there was no danger, that there was nothing wrong, that Shawn was living his life normally with these sensations, well, the nervous system began to desensitize. And as the nervous system desensitizes, the cortisol awakening response didn't feel [music] like a punch. It felt like you would naturally wake up like you would before you fell into the cycle. The goal here is consistency. [music] The goal here is practice. It's not
9:15 about trying to eliminate the sensations [music] or feelings immediately. So, if your mornings feel heavy, overwhelming, or feel like your body is [music] starting the day in panic before you've even had a chance to open your eyes, take a breath and remember there's nothing [music] wrong with you. Your body isn't malfunctioning. It's reacting from a place of sensitization, [music] not danger. These sensations feel intense, but they are temporary. They are not a prediction of how your day will go [music] and they aren't a sign that this will last forever. Once you stop fighting the feelings and allowing them to be there, you'll begin sending signals [music] to your brain that it's been waiting for. Signals like, "Hey, I'm safe." [music] And that's where things begin to shift.
10:02 Not all at once, but quietly, gradually, [music] in ways that you might not notice right now. A slightly softer morning, a little less spiraling, and a little more space to [music] breathe. These small changes are proof that your nervous system is learning safety again. So hold on to this. This pattern is reversible. Your mornings are not the enemy. >> [music]
