It’s something I’ve heard so many times over the years — people who manage fairly well during the day but start to feel worse in the evenings. Anxiety creeps in. There’s a heaviness. Maybe it’s a tight chest, or a racing mind, or just that awful sense that something’s wrong — even though nothing obvious has happened.
And what’s worse is that it often feels like it comes out of nowhere.
The day might have gone okay. You were functioning. Keeping yourself together. But when things go quiet at night, your thoughts get louder. And that’s exactly when the anxiety ramps up.
You’re not imagining it. And you’re not alone.
There are real reasons this happens. Some of them are psychological, others are neurological. All of them are human.
During the day, we’re usually busy — doing things, talking to people, focused outward. But in the evening, everything slows down. Your environment becomes quieter. There are fewer distractions. And that’s often when your nervous system — which might have been bracing all day — starts to speak up.
Anxiety at night is a pattern I know well, not just from working with people for years, but from my own life.
When I first started experiencing panic attacks, they happened mostly at night. I’d get through the day, but once the house was quiet, everything in me would start to switch on — not off. My heart would race, I’d get dizzy, and I couldn’t relax no matter what I tried. At the time, I didn’t understand what was happening. I just knew I was afraid of the evening. And I was afraid of my own body.
Eventually the panic started showing up during the day as well. But it started at night. And I know that’s true for many people.
If this is something you’re dealing with, I want to explain a little about why it happens — and what can help.
Your nervous system works in patterns. It learns from your environment, your experiences, your internal signals. And when you go through a stressful period — or live in chronic anxiety — your brain learns to stay on alert, even when you don’t need it to.
At night, when the usual noise of the day fades, your internal state becomes more noticeable. If you’re carrying stress or unresolved activation, that silence can feel threatening. And that’s when the anxiety steps in.
Sometimes it’s linked to memory. If you’ve had past nights where you couldn’t sleep, felt unwell, or were emotionally overwhelmed, your brain may have stored those experiences as “danger.” So even when you’re okay now, your system still reacts — as if to protect you.
Other times it’s hormonal. Cortisol naturally drops in the evening (MayoClinic). That’s meant to help you relax. But if your body’s been leaning on cortisol to keep you functioning all day, that drop can feel destabilising. You feel foggy, or low, or like something’s slipping — and your brain interprets that as threat.
That’s the thing about anxiety. It doesn’t always respond to what’s true. It responds to what feels off.
Even things like blood sugar, lighting, and posture can have an effect. It’s subtle. But your brain is always scanning — am I safe? — and if the answer is uncertain, anxiety fills in the blanks.
This is one of the reasons I created my online course, Retrain Your Brain. It’s designed to help you understand why your system reacts the way it does — and how to calm it. Not by forcing yourself to feel better, but by working with the body and the brain together. Gently. Consistently. In ways that actually create change.
We go into things like nervous system regulation, the neuroscience of fear, and the techniques that help break the cycle. If your nights are filled with dread or racing thoughts, this is the kind of work that can help.
I also write more about this in my article on panic attacks, because for many people, that’s how it begins. A racing heart at night. That strange sense of unreality. The fear of not being able to come down from it. You can read more about that here if it resonates.
What I want you to know is this: you’re not broken. Night-time anxiety isn’t a sign that something terrible is going to happen. It’s a signal from your body — a pattern that’s been learned over time. And it can be unlearned.
CBT, or cognitive behavioural therapy, also plays a powerful role here. It helps you become aware of the thoughts and behaviours that feed the anxiety loop, and gives you tools to interrupt it. You don’t need to analyse everything. Sometimes, it’s about shifting how you respond in the moment.
That’s something I talk about a lot in my article on how CBT helps with anxiety, if you want to read more.
And if you’re looking for a place to start, one of the best things you can do is make the evenings feel safer. Even in small ways. Warm lighting. Familiar sounds. A short, calming routine you do every night — not to avoid anxiety, but to give your system something predictable.
You don’t need to force anything. You just need to show your brain, again and again, that you’re safe now.
That’s what retraining the brain looks like.
Elaine