This may sound odd, but it is important to find out a way in which to break bad news or to off load some piece of stressful information on to some one else.
You would not want to transfer your anxiety to another person, or cause undue stress.
This may only serve to complicate and worsen the situation for the two of you.
Lets put it this way, one would not like the feeling associated with being woken up to the realization that there is some impending Doom!!! That would surely get your heart racing twice the rate and more in a second, leaving you weak and open to physical and strain that may result in heart and blood pressure related problems.
It is not natural to exert such strain on the human mind and body directly after a state of calm and rest.
Our minds can only manage so much information and regulate our bodies at the same time.
This overload of information and reaction of our mind and bodies depending on if it is positive or negative, too much of each can be dangerous to someone who is already prone to heart disease or have high blood pressure.
It will also be dependent on level of experience as well as age.
Each person is different and will have different reactions to sudden events or stress and anxiety triggers.
So how can one ease the psychological blow?

• There are no sure methods to ease the blow when breaking bad news to someone, especially if you know that the person may have a condition that may drastically be augmented by this type of negative input.
  Caution must similarly be taken when dealing out good news to such persons.
  
• Prepare the person for the new, making them comfortable and making sure that they are in a suitable
• Breaking the information into smaller bits that they will be able to handle, spread over a period of time will help them to get to terms with what may have happened and what distressing information you have to tell them.
  
• Include as much positive bits in the information to counter some of the shock it may produce.
  

all in all, spoon feeding the information will prevent them gagging and help you ease the blow that they may have felt had you dumped it all on them.
You will have been able by this point to manage the stress and anxiety levels which would have otherwise destabilized the person.
It may seem little and troublesome but it will help your friend, co-worker, or loved one get over the anxiety faster and be able to deal with the situation logically.
I remember having to train the people around me to feed me small doses of bad information if there was any, and as a result they were themselves more prepared and adapt to coping with similar confrontational conditions or circumstances they had found themselves in.
It became more of a "learn from other people experience and adapt ones mind to ones own experiences"| using this same information so gained in their day to day lives.