Imagine this: you come home after a long day at work and you've finally completed all the day's to-do's. But as soon as your head hits the pillow, your brain starts playing all kinds of disaster scenarios and you start thinking about everything that didn't go as you had hoped. "I wish I hadn't said that" or "I'm afraid I didn't prepare well enough for tomorrow's presentation."
Before you know it, you're lying wide awake in bed wondering how to fall asleep with stress.
You may be wondering why your thoughts suddenly start racing the moment you decide to go to sleep. There is actually a simple explanation for this: worry arises when we have not yet decided what to do. Our brain keeps urging us to come to a decision at such a time. When you worry, your brain asks itself the same question over and over again, "should I do something at this moment?"
Do you tend to analyze every detail of the day when you lie in bed at night? Perhaps you are mulling over a conversation you had or your head is already on your to-do list for the next day. If this happens often, your brain associates your bed with thinking (rather than sleeping). Your brain now thinks bedtime is "time to worry.
Stress and sleep are closely linked. The reason your thoughts are keeping you from sleep is probably because you are not taking time during the day to process your worries. Fortunately, you can train your brain to link bedtime with sleep (and not with thinking). But what happens to all the thoughts that normally pop up in the evening? It's impossible to remove all your worries from your life. But if you find that your worries are taking over, it is helpful to learn to deal with them in a healthy way.
How do you make sure your thoughts stop keeping you awake? One way to do this is by already addressing them during the day. Processing your thoughts and emotions during the day will make you worry less at night.
Of course, this sounds easier than it really is. Because let's face it: we are all enormously distracted. We fill every empty minute with screen time, and we even take our phones to the bathroom with us. And these distractions leave us with no room during the day to process our own thoughts.
Want to reduce stress before bedtime? Get more restful moments during the day. Spend time with yourself (without your phone) and allow your brain to process your thoughts.
Not being able to sleep due to stress can be tremendously frustrating. By scheduling time during the day "to worry," you send a signal to your brain that you are working on a solution. Here's how you tackle this best:
One way to make sure negative thoughts don't keep you awake before bed is to already address them during the day. Processing your thoughts and emotions during the day will make you mull less later in the day.
If you often mull before bed, your brain associates your bed with thinking (instead of sleeping). Your brain now thinks bedtime is "time to worry. Fortunately, you can train your brain to do fall asleep - even when you worry.
