When You Can't Stop Thinking At Night...

Have you ever noticed that your thoughts can get pretty dark when you’re laying awake at night?

I’m going to tell you a simple solution to help with this problem.

First, why does this happen?

Well, there’s actually two pieces to the puzzle here.

The first is that most of us are stimulated by something from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep.

We’re really just not used to the experience of being alone with our mind because we’re constantly doing something.

This can make our thoughts extra challenging to experience.

The second reason is because when we’re in bed we’re often half asleep and our brain is in a more susceptible brain state.

It’s more likely to accept information when it’s in one of these brain states (like the Alpha or Theta brain state).

That means when you have a series of negative thoughts at night time they can feel more challenging and real simply because you’re in this brain state!

So what do we do?

You need to get all of your unwanted thoughts out onto paper at two crucial times.

One is before bed.

Think of it like emptying out all of the stuff of the day onto paper so you don’t have to worry about it while you sleep!

The other time is if you can’t sleep in the middle of the night. If you’re awake with ruminating thoughts in the night, try journaling them all out onto paper instead of laying in bed with all of your rumination.

Here’s one more: try repeating a few words in your mind while you’re in bed to keep your mind busy. I call this a "sleep mantra."

I like saying “thank you for sleep.” Counting can also work.

Keeping your mind busy prevents it from going nuts and overthinking!

I hope you try these tools out so you can get a great night’s sleep.

I also hope you found this helpful.