is your depression or anxiety worse in the morning?

[Peterbear]

I have realised after 20 odd years of living with depression and anxiety that my mood always perks up by the afternoon. Anyone have any ideas for how to feel les awful in the morning? I literally feel terrible until about 12 but like a different and generally content person by afternoon /evening. Am on meds long term for depression and thyroid.Just literally feel like a different person as the day goes on and had a revelation today that not everyone feels like this.Thanks for any ideas.

Could you take your meds at a different time? Are you getting enough sleep/relying on caffeine? Can you think of a way to start the day really well?

I am the same, and what I have found works best for me is listening to music or speaking to a friend in the morning. Or if I can't do that, even re-Reading old message. I like to read memes or jokes. I used to watch E4 in the morning before work, usually Friends, everybody loves Raymond or Fraser which are light and a bit funny but don't suck me in too much. I avoid the news and things like that, but do try and get difficult tasks and phone calls over with if I can. Then I try and get outside. I try to enjoy my afternoon bubble as much as possible and keep it going through to bed time. I only make short to do lists and break them down into tiny tasks and reward myself for getting through another day whether I've ticked any off or not. I write my to do lists in the morning not the night before and add to them through the day. At 8am it will just say "take a shower" because it feels like an effort, but by 3/4pm I've got loads done and feel ready to tackle more once kids are in bed. If you asked me the night before, I'd tell you I was going to do a million things, at 8am a shower seems like an effort, in the middle of the afternoon I can set appropriate goals.

Mine is definitely worse at night.

I find it’s the start and end of the day. Usually when I’m lying in bed and my body is tired but my mind still active. When lying in bed at night I’ve started doing some of the Calm meditations. They seem to help a little. In the morning getting up and about and focusing on a set of chores (rather than lolling about) also stops that ‘alone with my thoughts’ feeling.

But I don’t have any magic solutions I’m afraid, I came onto this board this morning to look for some advice myself as really struggling with my own anxiety at the moment.

Mine is much worse later on the day especially when it gets dark. I'm not scared of the dark at least not when I'm at home or on a town etc. But just something about it adds to my anxious thoughts

I don't know how to manage it, but I definitely find that mornings are the worst time. I have had some success with trying to get into a gym/exercise routine in the mornings as that seems to jump start my brain but it's really hard to force myself into movement some days, and of course, it doesn't always fit with family/work commitments.

Mornings are much, much better for me and I wake early so between 5am and probably 11, I can feel really quite good and then it takes a turn from about midday.

It's really quite common to feel worse in the mornings. It's that sense of dread when you wake and trying to find the motivation to face another day.

I find forcing myself to get up and go for a short walk, even 5 minutes round the block no matter the weather does help me.

Yep, I feel like shit in the mornings and I can't lie in bed once I wake up as my mind is full of really shit thoughts. So I wake up and get up straight away, and then try and do some exercise straight away. It helps me, and feels far nicer than listening to the crap that I tell myself first thing if I just stay laying in bed. When I feel worse though I wake myself up with it at night, it's almost like my mind doesn't want me missing out on a good battering before the day starts.

Worse - must be a dip in blood sugar.

As I understand it levels of cortisol Rise as your body prepares to wake up. If you suffer anxiety your levels of cortisol are higher so maybe that is why anxiety is worse in the morning.

That’s interesting. I assumed it was more the ‘oh fuck another bloody day and nothing has changed’ reflex?

Crippling morning anxiety was one of my worst menopause symptoms. HRT fixed it thank god.