It’s 3am. You’ve had a headache all evening, you can’t sleep, and you pick up your phone just to check. A few clicks later you’ve convinced yourself it’s something serious.
If that sounds familiar, you’re far from alone. On Tickety Boo, Ian, Iona and I talked about why we do this, why it so rarely helps, and what to do instead. All three of us admitted we’ve done it.
For the bigger picture, including the signs of health anxiety and the treatment options, start with my guide to health anxiety. This article looks at one part of it: the late night search.
We’re not really searching for symptoms
When we end up on Google in the middle of the night, we tell ourselves we’re looking for information. What we’re really looking for is certainty. We want something to tell us we’re going to be fine.
A search engine can’t do that. It shows you every possible explanation, and the frightening ones are the ones that stick. So you go looking for certainty and come away with more doubt.
I know this from my own anxiety years ago. Every time I searched for reassurance, I ended up needing more of it.
Every time I went looking for certainty, I found more uncertainty.
Why it always feels worse at night
There’s a reason this tends to happen in the small hours rather than at lunchtime.
- You’re probably awake because you’re already stressed.
- You’re tired, and tiredness makes it much harder to manage your emotions.
- It’s often not the first bad night. A run of poor sleep wears you down before you’ve even picked up the phone.
- You’re usually on your own, with nobody to help you keep things in proportion.
The same headache at three in the afternoon, after a good night’s sleep, would feel very different.
Your rational brain clocks off for the night. Your anxious brain pulls an all nighter.
How searching keeps the worry going
Checking brings relief, so it feels like the right thing to do. But the relief doesn’t last, and each search teaches your mind that the only way to feel safe is to check again. I’ve written more about this reassurance loop in the main guide.
There’s another trap too. When you focus hard on one part of your body, you start to notice sensations that were always there. Reading a list of symptoms can make you notice them for the first time. And anxiety itself causes real physical symptoms, like headaches, a racing heart and tingling, which I’ve covered in Anxiety and My Physical Health. So the searching can create the very feelings that seem to prove something is wrong.
There’s even a name for it now: cyberchondria. As we put it on the podcast, it’s health anxiety with a wifi connection. And with AI chat tools on every phone, it’s easier than ever to keep asking until you get the frightening answer your anxiety expects.
Chasing the worst case scenario
A lot of people with health anxiety feel they need to know the worst case. But ask yourself honestly: if you found it, would you feel any better? Usually not. You’d just have a new fear to carry, and you still wouldn’t know any more than you did before.
What sits underneath is fear, and a wish to feel in control. That’s completely human. But the control the search seems to offer isn’t real.
When a health scare is close to home
Health anxiety often follows something real. If you’ve watched someone you love go through a serious illness, or lost someone suddenly, it makes sense that your mind starts scanning for the same signs in you. I see this a lot in the therapy room.
The scanning isn’t silly. It’s your mind trying to protect you from something it has already seen happen. What helps then is calming the fear rather than feeding it with more research. If you’re scanning for symptoms, you will find them.
Looking things up isn’t always the problem
We’re not saying never look anything up. With GP appointments harder to get, it’s understandable that people turn to the internet. Used calmly, in daylight, a bit of reading can help you write down questions so you get more from your appointment.
The difference is why you’re searching and what state you’re in when you do it. Preparing for a GP visit is one thing. Searching the same worry for the fifth time at 3am is another.
What to try instead at 3am
- Name it. Before you pick up the phone, say to yourself: I’m frightened right now. Simply noticing it can take some of the heat out of it.
- Write it down for the morning. Note the symptom and the worry, and agree to look at it after you’ve slept. A lot of worries that feel urgent at 3am look very different in daylight.
- Settle your body first. A cup of tea, slow breathing, or a few minutes up and moving around. A calmer body makes for a calmer mind.
- Talk to a person, not a search engine. A voice note to a friend you can listen back to in the morning, or a chat with someone you trust.
- Get proper advice if you’re genuinely unwell. In Scotland you can call NHS 24 on 111 at any time. In an emergency, call 999.
- Book in with your GP. If a symptom is new or isn’t going away, get it checked during the day. That’s looking after yourself, not giving in to anxiety.
Spiralling doesn’t make you silly
Everyone spirals sometimes. Looking for answers and certainty is just what humans do, and all three of us on the podcast admitted to it.
The aim isn’t to never spiral. It’s to notice when you’re in one and not stay stuck there. Health anxiety isn’t really about your health. It’s an anxiety loop, and loops can be broken.
It’s okay to spiral. Just don’t stay stuck in the spiral.
If you need support
If worries about your health are taking over, speak to your GP. Out of hours in Scotland, call NHS 24 on 111.
Samaritans: call 116 123, free, any time.
If somebody is in immediate danger, call 999.
Questions people ask about googling symptoms
Why do I google my symptoms when I’m anxious?
Because anxiety wants certainty. Searching feels like a way to find out you’re going to be fine. The trouble is that search results show every possible explanation, and the frightening ones tend to stick, so you often come away more worried than when you started.
What is cyberchondria?
Cyberchondria is the name sometimes given to health anxiety that is driven by searching symptoms online. It is not a separate condition. It is the same anxiety loop of worry, checking and short lived reassurance, with the internet as the main way of checking.
Is it bad to look up symptoms online?
Not always. Reading calmly during the day can help you write down questions for your GP. It becomes a problem when you search again and again for the same worry, when it happens late at night, or when it leaves you more frightened than before.
How do I stop googling symptoms at night?
Notice that you are frightened, write the worry down and agree with yourself to look at it in the morning. Do something that settles your body, like a warm drink or slow breathing. If the symptom is new or isn’t going away, book to see your GP during the day. If the worry is taking over your life, speak to your GP or a therapist.
You can hear more conversations like this on the Tickety Boo podcast.
This article is part of my guide to anxiety therapy in Glasgow.
If health worries are taking over
You don’t have to keep managing it on your own. Most of the people I see for anxiety come for between two and four sessions, in person at my practice in Carmyle, Glasgow, or online. It starts with a free 20 minute consultation.