Finding it hard to get out of bed?

What stops different people from getting up?

For Lina it is sleepiness, for Yevhen fear of the day, for Marharyta a morning that starts with heavy news, and for Hlib not knowing where to begin. The section “What can make getting up difficult?” explains why this affects getting up so much.

If at least one of these stories resembles yours, note what is holding you back. If none of them fits, the questions in the section “What happens in the first minutes after waking?” can help you describe your morning.

What happens in the first minutes after waking?

Think of one recent morning and answer a few questions about the first minutes after waking:

• Did you wake up on your own or with an alarm, and how many times did you snooze it?
• What did you feel in the first minutes: sleepiness, heaviness in your body, anxiety or unwillingness to start the day?
• What were you thinking about while lying there?
• What finally helped you get up, and how did you feel half an hour later?

To describe the change as a whole, answer three more questions:

• How long has getting out of bed been hard, and does it happen almost every day?
• How many hours do you sleep, and do you feel rested afterwards?
• Do you have low mood, apathy, loss of interest or a sense of hopelessness?

If sleepiness is the main obstacle in the morning and it gets easier after half an hour, it is worth looking at your sleep and routine first. If you sleep enough but anxiety, heaviness or not knowing where to start keep you in bed, look at the section “What can make getting up difficult?”.

Who can help when every morning starts with a struggle?

If your main difficulties involve mood, thoughts or behaviour, it is worth starting with a psychiatrist. They will ask about your sleep, what happens in the first minutes after waking and what changes during the day, and will discuss help with you. If you are awake but dread the day, mention that too. With marked physical complaints, an assessment by a family doctor is also appropriate.

The initial psychiatric consultation page explains what a psychiatrist asks about at a first appointment. The profiles on the clinic’s doctors page can help you choose a specialist.

What can make getting up difficult?

Morning difficulties can be linked to too little or disrupted sleep, a shifted schedule, physical weakness, stress, worries about the day ahead or changes in mood. But even when you have slept enough, getting up can be hard. To start the day, you need three things:

1. Energy for the first action – getting up, washing, dressing.
2. A goal for the morning, even a very simple one: “have a coffee on the balcony” rather than “get through the whole day”.
3. A sense that you can manage this goal.

It is good if the first task of the morning is also pleasant. When one of these is missing, getting up can feel harder than the rest of the day. In our example, Lina lacks energy after sleep, Hlib lacks a clear goal, and Yevhen feels the day is beyond him.

If your mood and interest in life have also been low for weeks alongside the difficulty getting up, this may be one of the signs of depression. Finding it hard to get up in the morning does not yet mean that you have this disorder.

Making mornings easier without self-blame

You do not have to win the morning by willpower. Here is what can help:

• A sleep routine. If the problem is lack of sleep or a disrupted routine, it helps to go to bed and get up at roughly the same time, sleep enough and reduce what disturbs your sleep.
• One small goal. Break the morning into the smallest possible steps and choose the first one: sitting up in bed or opening the curtains. For Hlib, for example, the goal “put the kettle on” is enough.
• Phone after getting up. If, like Marharyta in our example, you start the morning with the news in bed, try getting up first and opening the feed later.

You do not have to wait until you feel like starting the day. But if every morning takes excessive effort, it is important not to rely only on disciplining yourself but to understand the cause.

A hard morning can be part of different states

A hard time getting up is often just the visible part. See whether other changes are there too.

• Excessive sleepiness. You want to sleep not only in the morning but during the day as well, as may be the case for Lina in our example. This complaint is described on the page about excessive sleepiness.
• Low energy. It is hard not only to get up but also to take on familiar tasks afterwards. The page on low energy looks at how to describe this.
• Psychomotor retardation. Your movements and replies have slowed down, and other people notice. See the page on psychomotor retardation.
• Reduced activity. Familiar activities gradually disappear from your week, not only in the mornings. Compare your state with the description of reduced activity.

If you recognised yourself in several points at once, that is not unusual: these changes often go together.

Another hard morning: what to do

1. If difficulty getting up lasts several weeks, becomes more pronounced or happens despite enough sleep and rest, see a doctor.
2. If you also have marked physical weakness, dizziness, breathlessness, pain, noticeable weight change or other physical symptoms, it is important to get medical help: start with a family doctor.
3. If low mood, loss of interest and enjoyment, apathy or a sense of hopelessness persist, or basic everyday actions become hard, book a consultation with a psychiatrist.
4. If the morning is hard after a short night or a disrupted routine, start with the steps in the section “Making mornings easier without self-blame”. If it does not get easier, go back to point 1.
5. If it is hard not only in the mornings, compare your state with the descriptions in the section “A hard morning can be part of different states”.