I used to, more so when I woke in the middle of the night than in the morning.
I started exercising a lot more and now find I am so tired I don't wake up before my alarm, reducing alcohol intake helped too.
Ask HN: Do you wake up with anxiety?
31–40 of 71 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you wake up with anxiety?
#32HRV breathing (deep belly breathing) and "accepting" my anxiety during the breathing helped me, but one has to train consistently.
some books on the topic (by phds or mds, not wuwu-shamans):
> Invincible: How we can train our hearts to beat stress and achieve success
> The Healing Power of the Breath: Simple Techniques to Reduce Stress and Anxiety, Enhance Concentration, and Balance Your Emotions
Re: Ask HN: Do you wake up with anxiety?
#33It seems a simplistic answer but... hard physical work does wonders. Workout is OK but cutting woods, moving earth, building wooden things really put mind to peace.
Maybe our wonderful tech work is just the new version of the boring secretary job in old movies.
We need to run, sweat, build.
I wrote the best pieces of code and engineered long lasting architectures after such activities.
Re: Ask HN: Do you wake up with anxiety?
#34One thing that helped me manage anxiety was to monitor my caffeine consumption more
closely. I found that if I went over a certain threshold (> 4-5 cups of espresso)
my overall functioning was pretty severely impacted. Sometimes this resulted in me
waking up super stressed and not relaxed at all in the morning and not getting
enough sleep overall. Now I have a strict no coffee/tea after 14:00-15:00 policy. If I feel particularly stressed after a work day I go for a run to really exhaust my remaining energy.
I also tend to make lists ~1-2 hours before going to bed, categorised by project, for the next day, so that I can let go of all the tasks that I can't accomplish right now. I really like Things (paid app for macOS / iOS) for that purpose, but also toyed with org-mode and task-warrior.
Re: Ask HN: Do you wake up with anxiety?
#35Angst when waking up can be tied to cortisol/etc dysfunction - hormone/endocrine imbalance.
Cortisol gives us "panic", it's how we wake. Not showing off, just figure it could help your research.
Re: Ask HN: Do you wake up with anxiety?
#36Go outside as soon as possible after waking up.
Re: Ask HN: Do you wake up with anxiety?
#37When you have anxiety and there’s a “reason” for it, it’s not actually anxiety. This is called stress, since you know that the underlying cause is work. It’s an important distinction, similar to panic attacks versus anxiety attacks. Knowing the cause is half the battle.
Re: Ask HN: Do you wake up with anxiety?
#38It seems a simplistic answer but... hard physical work does wonders. Workout is OK but cutting woods, moving earth, building wooden things really put mind to peace. Maybe our wonderful tech work is just the new version of the boring secretary job in old movies. We need to run, sweat, build. I wrote the best pieces of code and engineered long lasting architectures after such activities.
Yeah, for some time I was constantly tired from sitting almost all day in front of computer for several days. After a heavy session of snow removal I felt much more happy and energetic. To think that as a kid I hated it.
Re: Ask HN: Do you wake up with anxiety?
#39> I want to do a pulse check to see how common it is for folks working in tech, to suffer from this level of anxiety.
Common or not, if you have anxiety/depression it means something is not right.
If you can afford, try therapy, go to a psychologist. It is better to get professional help than to get random free advice from the internet. And also: eat properly, sleep properly, exercise properly...
Re: Ask HN: Do you wake up with anxiety?
#40Absolutely. Same thing as you-- for the same reasons, I dread going to bed. I dread waking up. I do everything I can to avoid being at my desk. This all started about six months into quarantine. Went away briefly but now back with a vengeance. While I do have some personal drama going on, I'm thinking SAD is playing some part in this too-- the days are shorter and darker. I was already prone to that pre-COVID. Mind t…
I outfitted my home where I work with 100 watt equivalent LED light bulbs and LED shop lights aimed at the ceiling for super bright indirect lighting.
The result has been several years of easier waking in the morning all year and no more SAD during winter.
The downside is the gloominess of other people’s dimmer lighting is very apparent to me.