Rushed, stressful mornings are never the goal, but are often a reality for many people.

However, if there’s one time of day to prioritize your inner zen, it’s the morning. There’s something called the cortisol awakening response. Our stress hormone—cortisol—actually peaks in the morning.It’s up about 70%.

The morning is rough from the start. Our bodies view each morning as a stressor.

So even if you follow healthy lifestyle habits—such as eating breakfast, drinking water, and spending time in the sun—you’re still bound to experience stress and anxiety in the morning.

What’s more, therapists say there are some daily habits that can make you feel more anxious in the morning — and you may be doing some of them without even realizing it. Here’s what they mean and how to deal with them:

1.Waking up and going to bed at vastly different times each day.

One way to make the transition from asleep to awake a little easier is to make mornings less unpredictable. Waking up at different times of the day can be really hard on your body because, normally, this cortisol awakening response speeds up in anticipation of waking up.

In other words, your cortisol awakening response doesn’t start when you stand up. Instead, it happens before you even open your eyes. So if you wake up at 5 a.m. one morning, 8 a.m. the next morning, and 10 a.m. the day after that, that preparatory surge of cortisol is not going to happen normally.

This can lead to a huge feeling of fatigue and burnout because your body isn’t ready. So you end up feeling stressed out because you don’t have the protection of the arousal response.

To combat this, it’s important to wake up and go to bed at the same time every day – even on the weekends.

This way, morning reactions happen naturally and predictably without disrupting the trajectory of the entire day.

2.Rushing to get out the door.

One of the biggest problems is the rush and busy mornings.

If you hit the snooze button over and over again, you’ll likely end up scrambling in the morning thinking, “Why am I doing this?” .

This can create a chaotic morning where you can’t go about your normal morning routine. This can make you feel very anxious at the start of the day and can affect the rest of your day.

To combat this, it’s a good idea to create a basic morning routine for yourself. This way, you won’t be caught up in such hectic chaos, which can relieve some of the stress and anxiety you feel.

3.Checking messages or the news right away.

Bombarding yourself with information in the morning won’t make you feel calm.

Checking social media, headlines, or email first thing in the morning can leave you feeling overwhelmed or distracted from completing your morning tasks to have a successful day.

Plus, if the news you receive causes anxiety (which it often does), you’ll feel worse.

4.Not getting enough sleep.

Good sleep is important to reduce anxiety the next day. If you get a good night’s sleep, then you have a really good cortisol wake-up response. This can be a physical kick-start to the day.

A poor night’s sleep means you don’t get the cortisol wake-up response. This means that when you get to the point that afternoon when you should be resting, you are still playing catch-up and still have a stress response.

Then you have another night of poor sleep quality, creating a stressful, bad sleep cycle. The best tip to reduce anxiety in the morning is to get a good night’s sleep.

5.Drinking too much caffeine.

Excessive caffeine can be a major trigger of anxiety. Caffeine already gives you a boost, sometimes causing jitters and sometimes mimicking feelings of anxiety.

The definition of too much caffeine varies from person to person—some people can’t tolerate caffeine at all, while others can drink a few cups a day without feeling anxious. But overall, the recommended intake for adults is 400 milligrams of caffeine, according to the Mayo Clinic. This is equivalent to about four cups of coffee.

What’s more, excessive caffeine intake may unknowingly address issues like sleep deprivation and even dehydration. Many times we rely on things like caffeine or energy drinks instead of checking in with ourselves.

Do you need more sleep? Do you need a break? Do you need extra support at work? Caffeine may be the answer, but it’s certainly not a long-term solution. Using caffeine to satisfy these needs will only force you to hold on and feel more anxious.

6.Drinking coffee on an empty stomach.

On top of that, if you drink caffeine before eating breakfast, you’ll further increase your stress levels.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, drinking coffee on an empty stomach can cause feelings of anxiety in addition to jitters. Why? Your body absorbs caffeine faster when there’s no food in your stomach.

7.Beginning your day with negative self-talk.

Starting the day with negative self-talk or self-critical conversations can also lead to feelings of anxiety. When you look at yourself in the mirror, what message are you saying to yourself? Or do you have any ideas?

Try allowing yourself to fall into negative self-talk patterns, and then think about how these types of thoughts make you feel stressed or anxious throughout the day. (Think about it: Telling yourself that all your coworkers think you’re incompetent or don’t care what you think isn’t going to make you feel calm when you walk into the office.)