It takes her at least an hour or two to fall back to sleep, and the next day, she says, she feels like a zombie. She has used relaxation techniques. She's tried lying in bed and tried getting up. I listen to the radio. Then I turn it all off and try again.
People often wake up feeling anxious.
Sometimes they experience powerful anxiety attacks, sleep researcher Walsh says. Daytime stress increases the likelihood of abrupt awakenings. Conditioned mental arousal. When some people wake up, instead of going right back to sleep, they may quickly become anxious because they're not sleeping and worry that they'll feel terrible the following day, Neubauer says. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.