Why Does My Anxiety Feel Worse At Night?

Feelings of anxiety are different for everyone. Some of us might find our anxiety is triggered by specifics events or is worse at certain times of the day. If your anxiety feels worse at night, this can make it hard to get to sleep and impact sleep quality.

In this article, we’ll explain what anxiety is, how it can impact us at night, and suggest some tips to try and manage your anxiety.

Everyone’s experience of anxiety is different. Some of us find that our anxiety is triggered by certain situations or things. Or we might feel anxious at certain times of the year, or around specific events.

Some of us feel that our anxiety is worse at night. But even this experience can be different for different people, such as:

If you’re often very busy in the daytime, you might find that you are distracted enough from your anxiety or worry that you don’t think about it too much. This might change at night when things are quieter. It can be very common to find it hard to sleep because of anxious thoughts.

If you have a phobia of the dark, the nighttime might make you very anxious. You might not like leaving your home when it’s dark, or need to always have some kind of light on to stop you feeling anxious.

If you’re anxious about something happening the next day, you might feel anxious the night before. For example, if you have a big presentation at work, you might find yourself worrying about how it will go, whether you’ll remember what to say, or what might go wrong. Even if something fun is planned you might still feel anxious, like if you’re hosting a social event and there’s a lot to organise or set up.

Some of us might have worries about going to sleep. For example, if we experience nightmares or sleep paralysis. Worrying about these frightening experiences might prevent us from getting to sleep. If they happen in the night, they might make us too anxious to get back to sleep.

If you have PTSD related to a traumatic event that happened to you at night, there might be things about the nighttime that you find very triggering such as the dark or sounds. This might make you feel very anxious at night.

These are just some reasons you might feel more anxious at night. You might have an experience we haven’t listed here that’s personal to you.

If you’re finding your anxiety is difficult to manage at night, there are things you can do to help.

Everyone finds different things helpful when it comes to coping with anxiety, so it’s OK if these things don’t work for you, or if what works changes over time.

These are just a few tips to get you started, but Mind has more information on managing anxiety and worry on their website.

Browse more relaxation tips on the Mind Relaxation Hub, only on Dreams’ Sleep Matters Club.