1220: Why Your Anxiety Sometimes Feels Worse After Relaxing
The Anxiety Coaches Podcast
Gina Ryan
4.6 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 15 February 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In today's episode, Gina discusses how periods of relaxation can actually lead to increased anxiety and consequently confusion and frustration. The distinction is made between quick-fixes for anxiety, including use of substances like alcohol and other more mundane distractions, and genuine, lasting recovery. Enriching practices like early bed time and meditation can be enacted over time to improve the anxiety recovery process. Listen in for more tips on improving your anxiety recovery process today!
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Chapters
0:26 Introduction to Anxiety and Relief
1:56 False Relief vs. True Recovery
6:37 The Importance of Self-Care
7:29 Why We Seek Quick Relief
10:05 What Does True Recovery Look Like?
11:35 The Fear of Stillness
12:39 The Over-Scheduling Trap
15:10 The Late-Night Illusion
16:01 Experimenting with Recovery
17:28 Understanding Nervous System Care
Summary
In this episode of the Anxiety Coaches Podcast, I delve deeper into the intricate relationship between relaxation and anxiety, building on our previous discussion about alcohol and its impact on anxiety levels. It’s vital to recognize that reaching for various forms of relief when we feel overwhelmed is a common human experience. We naturally seek comfort, but we must differentiate between activities that provide short-lived relief and those that lead to genuine recovery.
I explore the concept that not all forms of relaxation foster true healing. While we often turn to quick fix solutions such as alcohol, late-night screen time, or the excitement of social engagements, these methods can lead to feelings of fragility and heightened anxiety the next day. It’s crucial to understand that the nervous system, especially for those living with anxiety, operates differently. Upon exhausting our resources for the day, it's not merely relaxation that we need, but rather a return to a state of balance and safety in our nervous system.
During our conversation, I emphasize the distinction between false relief, which may provide immediate distraction or numbing sensations, and genuine recovery—an experience that is slower-paced, steadier, and far more conducive to long-term well-being. This segment of our dialogue highlights how our common leisure activities might not genuinely allow the body to restore itself. For many, the hours spent binge-watching, planning social outings, or consuming substances like alcohol simply shift us into another state of activation rather than facilitating a true calming effect.
#AnxietyCoachesPodcast #GinaRyan #AnxietyRelief #MentalHealthMatters #NervousSystemRegulation #TrueRecovery #FalseRelief #PanicAttackRecovery #Mindfulness #SelfCare #WiredAndTired #BurnoutRecovery #StressManagement #CuesOfSafety #EmotionalWellbeing #HolisticHealing #InnerPeace #MentalHealthAwareness #OvercomingAnxiety #HighFunctioningAnxiety #RestorativeSleep #Stillness #BodyAwareness #NervousSystemHealth #CalmMind #SelfCompassion #AnxietySupport #HealingJourney #MentalHealthTips #PeaceAndCalm #ACP
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the anxiety coaches podcast, a relaxing and informative show where we explore anxiety, panic, and PTSD, sharing how you can overcome them for life. |
| 0:23.1 | Aloha. |
| 0:24.2 | Welcome back to the Anxiety Coaches podcast. |
| 0:27.6 | I'm your host and coach, Gina Ryan, and I am so happy to be with you again today |
| 0:34.1 | as together we can consider the many ways to bring your mind and body back to its |
| 0:40.5 | natural peace and calm. In today's episode, I want to expand on episode 1218 where we talked about |
| 0:49.9 | alcohol and anxiety and how something that feels like it helps in the moment can actually make |
| 0:56.9 | anxiety worse later on. And today I wanted to widen this lens a little bit because alcohol |
| 1:03.1 | isn't the only thing that we reach for when we're overwhelmed. It's just one of the many ways |
| 1:09.0 | that we try to feel better. And that's important to think about. |
| 1:12.5 | We are not doing these things because we're weak. We're not doing them because we're broken. |
| 1:18.5 | We do these things because we're tired, because we actually want some relief, because we want |
| 1:25.4 | the noise to stop. But here's what I want to gently explore with you today. |
| 1:31.3 | Why does anxiety sometimes feel worse after we've, quote, relaxed? Why do we wake up the next day |
| 1:39.0 | feeling more fragile, more on edge, and more discouraged when we thought we gave ourselves a break. |
| 1:46.6 | I've experienced this, not that I felt more anxious even, but that I had those feelings of |
| 1:53.5 | you know, being a little more discouraged, feeling more fragile. |
| 1:57.1 | So let's talk about the difference between false relief and true recovery. |
| 2:04.8 | Relief is not the same as recovery. |
| 2:08.2 | There is a difference. |
| 2:10.3 | Let's think about this. |
| 2:11.5 | Relief lowers discomfort in the moment. |
... |
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