How to Deal With Sunset Anxiety, According to Therapists

If shorter days and fading light leave you panicky and cranky, here are a few ways to cope.

October 15, 2025

All products featured on Self are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.

With the days getting shorter and the sun setting earlier, a familiar unease might start to creep in. Maybe it takes the form of panic or guilt about how fast time passes, or a quiet crankiness that your day has already ended before you were ready for it to.

This overarching sense of loss and dread is called sunset anxiety (which, to be clear, is not an official diagnosis—nor is there much research on it). Still, the lack of hard evidence doesn’t mean the phenomenon doesn’t exist.

“What I know is that everyone’s anxiety is universal but also very unique to them,” Debra Kissen, PhD, psychologist and CEO of the Light On Anxiety CBT Treatment Center in Chicago, tells SELF. In other words, there are lots of reasons why dusk can stir up discomfort. For some, it’s tied to a sensory shift—the fading light, the sudden quiet. For others, it’s more existential: the reminder that time is passing quickly, yet there’s still so much left undone.

Read on to understand what might be behind your sunset anxiety—plus, how to ease the melancholy when it hits.

What causes sunset anxiety?

As you might expect, people who are naturally more anxious or have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder may be more likely to feel uneasy at sunset. Some research also suggests that “evening types” (or night owls) are more likely than morning people to experience nervousness and racing thoughts from the afternoon onwards.

Besides a propensity for worry, however, a lot of other things could be at play. If the mantra behind your sunset anxiety is “I didn’t do enough,” or it resembles Sunday scaries, productivity guilt could be to blame. “Productivity guilt happens when we have unreasonable expectations of how much we can accomplish within a given period,” Israa Nasir, MHC-LP, therapist and author of Toxic Productivity: Reclaim Your Time and Emotional Energy in a World That Always Demands More, tells SELF. Then, when we fail to meet them, we feel bad.

Anticipatory anxiety—when you’re worrying about the future in the present—can play a role too. “As the day ends, we’re reminded of everything we didn’t do,” Nasir says. “On top of that, we know that the next day will begin and have its own tasks, so the things we left incomplete may feel even heavier”—an internalized pressure that tends to hit especially hard for perfectionists.

It’s also the case that your personal body clock may have something to do with this. The dimming daylight is a signal for our bodies to start winding down, Dr. Kissen points out, which is why when the sun starts going down—and you haven’t had a chance to fully enjoy personal time or to disconnect—it’s no wonder nightfall can represent a bummer.

How to deal with sunset anxiety

Combatting unpleasant feelings at sundown will depend on what’s causing them in the first place. If you think a lack of human connection, movement, or time outside might be to blame, for example, try to schedule that into your day as a form of self-care. “I consider it like taking a vitamin or going to the gym—stuff that’s hard to do in the moment but good in the long run,” Dr. Kissen says. It may be a matter of recognizing what’s important to you (a nature walk, a satisfying lunch), and forcing yourself to do it the same way you’d dutifully go to the dentist, she adds.

Starting a routine after the workday is over is another way to ward off anxiety and give you a sense of purpose, according to Nasir. This can look like booking evening workout classes, weekly post-work dinners with friends, or even just making it a habit to walk outside before hitting the sack.

As common as sunset anxiety may be, it’s worth considering professional help, especially if your symptoms are affecting your sleep, relationships, or work. Those darker hours can feel gloomy for anyone, but being able to notice that unease—and knowing there are ways to cope—can help you face the inevitably fading light with a little more calm (and less existential dread).