Anxiety so much worse in Summer/hot weather

[Backtothe80splease]

Does anyone else find this?

I’ve suffered with anxiety since I was a child.

I’m in peri now and have a lot of stress with an unwell parent which is certainly not helping with my poor mental health but I have noticed in previous years and am certainly noticing this summer (and especially this week with the heatwave) that my anxiety skyrockets in the height of summer and not sure why.

Tbh you think summer would reduce anxiety but I am feeling just awful. I wake with very high anxiety and don’t come down from it until the evening. By the evening and at night I feel a whole lot calmer.

It also makes my (decades long) IBS much worse which also exacerbates my anxiety.

It ruins the summer for me and I’m finding myself longing for evenings, cooler days and the autumn. I still have anxiety 365 days of the year but it’s not so intense then.

Why though? It is as though the extra bright days (hate bright light and have to wear sunglasses all the time) and warmth are triggering something.

Does anyone else experiencing this? I don’t know how to calm myself (I exercise, eat well, only drink water, meditate, sleep ok).

Yes my anxiety increases in summer. I often have an early evening and pretend it's winter, I pull the blinds and curtains closed get into bed and read with a hot chocolate and shut the summer out.

I do the same! I always stick on an eye mask too as the morning bright light makes me wake up really panicky!

Yes my anxiety is always worse in hot weather too.

@Backtothe80splease - can you remember when (and possibly why) you first started feeling anxious? Finding, and dealing with, the root cause is the best way of tackling it permanently.

Yes I am worse in summer. I'm menopausal and always run too hot anyway, so I get anxious about being hot and sweating, which of course makes my general anxiety worse.

Nogodsnomasters sorry you suffer too, it’s so annoying when all you want to do is enjoy the lovely weather and bright days like everyone else.

fara20 peri is definitely not helping with the situation at all, you have my sympathy.

Eyesopenwideawake I’ve suffered from anxiety since I was a small child. I’ve only ever known a life with anxiety tbh. No idea why I’m this way as I had a lovely childhood. I have always been this way regarding summer and heightened anxiety but it’s getting much worse. Strange thing is that I’m virtually free of it come the evening and night time having struggled all day with my anxiety. The mornings are the absolute worse, I literally wake in a panic and it continues right through to late afternoon (currently typing this with a whirlwind of anxiety racing through my body), I’ve tried everything to help reduce it (hypnotherapy, psychotherapy, EMDR etc), currently in counselling but it’s not helping much. I am on a waiting list for an ADHD assessment so maybe that may give me some insight?

Could it be sensory issues? Have you ever been assessed for autism?

I’m on a waiting list for an adhd assessment so it could be a ND issue?

My DH has a pattern of poorer mental health in the summer too.

Are you on hrt?

I wonder if you have any histamine issues?

I get this to an extent, I don't think I sleep properly, it's like I sleep but it's the really light sleep. Besides rigging out house with blackout curtains like it's the Blitz I don't know what to do.

I’m on a waiting list for an adhd assessment so it could be a ND issue?

I'm AuDHD but I also have a problem with visual processing and coping with bright lights so what you said about sunglasses jumped out at me. Sometimes what we consider to be anxiety - ie a psychological stress - is actually a physical issue caused by sensory stress. That might help you cope with it.

I get this too. Is it the thought of the endless bright days making us feel that we should be doing fun stuff and socialising. I started to feel slightly better after the solstice last week and knowing that the days are getting shorter.

Also the bright sun and the summer noise of people outside causes sensory overload so it might that for you too .

Apileofballyhoo
I tried hrt but I also have endometriosis and it exacerbated the pain.
I have wondered about histamine issues as I have awful digestive issues too but I don’t come out in hives or anything like that so not sure?

WhatNoRaisins
I have to sleep with an eye mask, literally can not tolerate even a chink of light coming through, drives me insane.

IdisagreeMrHochhauser
That does make sense to me, I have a lot of sensory issues. I have just ordered the darkest wrap around sunglasses that I could find online, I’ll look a right plonker but it physically pains me to have so much light in my eyes. It could be a nd issue? Either that or I’m actually a vampire lol!

Xccccc
I think that’s why I’m always calmer in the evening and at night. I can shut the world and people out.

I get heat anxiety, it's a physiological thing I think. It's horrible.

mentalhealth-uk.org/blog/summer-and-anxiety/

Avoiding alcohol is a good tip

I get it Op. I panic when it's sunny and beautiful because I feel that keeping still is awful and things have to be done, I end up overwhelmed and exhausted. Venlafaxine makes a massive difference in my mental well being though, and my psychologist is great so I'm lucky.

Yes, this last week has been awful. Waking up at 3am with a pounding heart, feeling panicky all day. I find the heat really hard to deal with and it makes me feel physically ill, this just seems yet another thing to have to cope with and magnifies all the existing things. Yes, to drawing the curtains and pretending it's winter, it makes me feel safe.

I have adhd and get summer anxiety. I think it's because we don't produce as much melatonin in summer so sleep is lighter?

My anxiety is quite bad at the moment, I like to get out and about during the summer but I'm winter I feel like I can go to bed earlier and relax into the dark. I feel less happy in the winter but less anxious and sleep better

Yes this is me too. Fascinating reading the pps as some things I had never considered (like the sensory issue of bright sunshine). I feel extremely burned out with all the social events I'm expected to attend with DD (and my own).

I think what I'm finding frustrating is I'm doing everything right, blackout curtains in my bedroom, eye mask, cool room, keeping usual routine and it's still not enough somehow.

That’s exactly how I feel. I get more low and depressed in Winter yet weirdly feel more relaxed and at ease than in Summer.
My brain is just totally messed up, makes zero sense to me.

I sorry you all feel the sane but it’s also quite reassuring that I am not alone with this as I have never met anyone who understands this issue.

OP, I've recently been reading about high cortisol levels in the morning, it's called the cortisol awakening response and it can cause high anxiety levels in the morning. I don't fully understand it yet but it might be something you could look into also.