Is September Stress Making Your Heart Race?

November 10, 2025 | Categories: Mental Health

By Diana Kelly Levey

You probably felt bummed out at the end of summer when you had to return to school as a kid, and the feeling can be similar as an adult when you’re trading carefree days for packed schedules and a faster pace at work.

The change in seasons and schedules could cause you to develop a case of the “September blues” or “autumn anxiety” if you don’t get a handle on stressors that crop up. Experiencing stress due to a hectic fall schedule is a mental health problem, and Welsh therapist, Gillian Scully, coined the phrase “autumn anxiety” to describe the anxious symptoms she was noticing in patients at the end of summer and early September. Those feelings of stress or anxiety can manifest i into a number of symptoms, from loss of appetite, to fatigue, mood swings, illnesses, difficulty falling asleep and trouble staying asleep, according to the American Psychological Association.

“September is one of my busiest months of the year,” says Connie Habash, LMFT, author of Awakening from Anxiety: A Spiritual Guide to Living a More Calm, Confident, and Courageous Life. “I think that’s because summer’s a time to be outdoors, to have fun, to go on vacations. And September comes with this ‘back-to-school,’ mindset, like…it’s time to get more serious,” Habash says.

Your September stress could be due to a number of factors—from busy back-to-school activities and packed schedules for parents, being aware of all holidays and end-of-year deadlines barreling down the pike, or being sensitive to the change in seasons and feeling anxiety about darker days (and cold weather) arriving.

Here’s how autumn blues can impact your health, and what to do to combat these stressors.

How September Stress Hurts Your Health

We all handle stress, pressures, and anxiety a little differently. Here are some signs and symptoms that autumn blues are wreaking havoc on your health.

Loss of appetite or overeating ‘comfort foods’: Changes in appetite—not due to your increased mileage or training—could be a sign you’re stressed.
Fatigue: In addition to just being busier this time of year, your nervous system can get more amped up, causing adrenals to be overused, which can also lead to exhaustion, says Habash.
Sleep disturbances: “You may find that you’re ruminating a lot mentally, making it hard to fall asleep, or, your wake up too early in the morning and your mind starts going and can’t be stopped, so you can’t get back to sleep,” says Habash.
Headaches and migraines: Head pain is a common symptom of anxiety disorders and the return of headaches or migraines in someone who’s suffered from mental health issues before could be a sign they need help managing their anxiety and stressors.
Tension in the neck, jaw, back: When you’re constantly tensing or clenching your muscles or your jaw due to stress, that can also lead to tension headaches in addition to pain in the upper back, shoulders, neck and jaw, says Habash.
Mood changes: You might find you have a shorter fuse, less patience, or feel down during this change in seasons.
Gastrointestinal issues: “I find that stress can cause acid reflux, upset stomach, irritable bowel, diarrhea or constipation, disturbances in the whole digestive system definitely happen for a lot of people when they have increased anxiety and stress,” says Habash.
Increased colds and illnesses: Your immune system can be dampened by stress and exhaustion, says Habash.
Exaggerated startle response

If you’ve been diagnosed with anxiety before or if you’ve had seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or depression, this change in seasons has the potential to hit home harder, warns Habash.

Why You Get Anxious at the End of Summer and How to Handle Stressors

Cause: Your kids are back in school.

Although this might be called “the most wonderful time of the year” for parents according to commercials, adjusting to their child’s school schedule, packing lunches, setting up new childcare arrangements, keeping track of after-school activities and checking homework is enough to make any parent’s head spin.

How to handle it: Find pockets of time where you can use fall as a reflective season. Start a meditation routine after the kids go to school or, practice stress-reducing activities during their activities, like walking around the field where they’re playing soccer or phoning a friend to talk. These practices can help you feel calmer. Consider finding a therapist or booking an online therapy session through an app to get to the root of your stressors and learn healthy ways to gain control during this hectic time of year.

Cause: Your company is ramping up projects.

Different industries have various “busy seasons” but after what seems like a slower summer pace in the summer due to employees being on vacation, the end of August and September tend to pick up speed in many workplaces in America.

“When September rolls around, I think there’s this awareness in a lot of corporations that we really only have a good two and a half months to be productive,” says Habash. Then the holidays roll in and things slow down because people are out of town. “There’s this extra pressure once Labor Day is over like, ‘We’ve got to hit the ground running,’ and that can be very stressful for people.”

How to handle it: Practice mindful moments throughout the day. “The number-one thing I recommend is a practice known as presence; it’s related to mindfulness,” says Habash. “I define presence as awareness and attention in the present moment, with an open heart and a quiet mind.” Train your attention and awareness to shift away from all the thoughts spinning in your head into what is here and now. “To get present, sit quietly at your desk, closing your eyes for a few moments and think, ‘I feel my legs on the chair, I feel my feet on the floor, I’m noticing my breath, my inhalations and exhalations,’” suggests Habash. Try this with the Relax app on your Fitbit throughout the workday, particularly before stressful meetings and when you feel yourself getting overwhelmed. You could also go for a brief walk outside and find a park or green space: Research finds it can boost your mood.

Cause: You hate the shorter, darker days ahead.

There are still a few weeks to go before we have to “fall back” and lose an hour of daylight, but for many of us, nothing signals the end of summer like darkness creeping in earlier each day. The link between darker days and your souring mood isn’t just in your head; the lack of sunlight and the vitamin D our bodies take from it is associated with depression and other mental disorders.

How to handle it: Exercise outside when it’s light out, or work out in a brightly lit room. Do some workouts during a lunch break or before work if it’s light out. Research finds that exercise and light therapy are treatments for depression, and combining the two packs a one-two punch with mood-boosting benefits. You may also want to use a light therapy box in the morning, evening or during your workday to help those brain chemicals associated with mood and sleep.

For any autumn anxiety problem, consider making time throughout the day to notice things you can be grateful for, suggests Habash. Studies find that people who consciously note things in their life to be grateful for tend to be less depressed and happier overall. Set a reminder on your phone for a daily “gratitude moment”—a time when you’ll pause and be appreciated of something good in your life. “A gratitude practice can help alleviate depression and sometimes calm anxiety,” says Habash.

You could take back control by spinning your stressors into grateful statements, like:

I’m grateful that my children are healthy enough to go to school and play sports.
I’m grateful I have a job.
I’m grateful that I’m healthy enough to exercise.
I’m grateful for the upcoming winter holidays and family traditions those bring.

What are your tips for healthy ways of handling the September blues?

This article originally appeared on Fitbit’s blog.