If your alarm hasn’t gone off yet but your chest is already tight, your heart is racing and your mind is already spinning through tomorrow’s to-do list, you’re not imagining it and you’re not broken.

That jolt of dread before your alarm even goes off. The racing heart while you’re still under the covers. The intrusive worries hitting you between the bathroom and the coffee pot. If this sounds ...

After a long day or a stressful situation, you might hear the advice of “just sleep it off” or “you’ll feel better in the ...

Waking up does not activate an increase in the release of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol does, however, increase in the hours prior to wakening as part of the body's preparation for the next ...

Research suggests people who often use cannabis start their day with higher cortisol levels than people who don't, indicating a relationship between frequent cannabis use and a possible dysregulation ...

Previous studies suggest that the cortisol awakening response (CAR) shows a biphasic pattern—either an increase or a blunting—in response to exercise involving overload, potentially reflecting ...

When you hear the term "warm water," many people likely associate it with Eastern medicine practices like yoga, Ayurveda, meditation, or mindfulness.The habit of drinking warm water first thing in the ...

Science finally explains why mornings feel so hard. Here’s what the cortisol awakening response is doing to your body each day. AFP via Getty Images That jolt of dread before your alarm even goes off.

That racing heart before your alarm goes off has a name. The cortisol awakening response may explain your morning anxiety.