You’ve had a long day, you’re exhausted, and can’t wait to doze off into a deep sleep. You rest your head on the pillow and what happens? Boom, your mind wakes up!
You can’t stop thinking about your day and the events that unfolded. You worry you could have done more, and then get anxious about all the things you need to do tomorrow.
It’s frustrating, all you want to do is sleep so you can be at your best tomorrow. You’re not alone. It’s a common problem, one I encounter regularly.
But by using the strategies in this article, it may not be immediate, but I can now often drift off with no issue. That means you can too. Keep reading to find out how.
Why Do You Overthink at Night?
The main reason you overthink at night, is because your mind hasn’t had the opportunity to process the day. We all live such busy, hectic lives. From work, family life, self-development, and personal goals, there is a lot going on.
Our poor brains have to process and manage a lot. Most of time we end up operating on auto-pilot mode. This has its advantages because we can manage a lot of things at once.
But, the downside is we never get a chance to digest everything properly.
And of course, when is it most quiet with no distractions? Nighttime. Now your mind has the time and space to start reflecting and processing. Not ideal though, because you want to sleep.
Technology doesn’t help either. It’s best to keep your phone or laptop usage limited at night. I’m sure you’re well aware of that though.
So, what else can we do to calm that overthinking mind?
Let’s take a look.
Get Out of Your Bed
I can’t stress this enough. Staying in bed when you can’t sleep is the worst thing you can do. Why? The longer you stay in bed thinking, restless, or using your phone, the more you associate it with wakefulness.
Your mind and body form a negative relationship with your sleeping space. The fact that you won’t be able to sleep then becomes a self-fulling prophecy.
Your mind starts to expect to be awake in your bed.
The only way to break this cycle is to get out of bed when you can’t fall asleep. Put a time limit on it too. 20 minutes is a good ballpark figure to go with. If you don’t drift off within that time, get up and leave the bedroom.
Go to another room and do something relaxing and enjoyable. preferably without involving screens. Once you make this a habit of, your mind will start to realise that your bed is for sleeping only.
Get Your Thoughts onto Paper
The worst thing about overthinking at night is that we get stuck in thought loops going round in circles. There almost seems to be no way out. No solution. No way of stopping them.
One way to solve this is to write your thoughts onto paper. It’s almost as if you can take them out of your mind and put them somewhere else.
Being able to see your thoughts written down helps to get them into perspective.
It can give you fresh outlook and allow you to come up with solutions your problems. Why not make this a regular habit?
Write To Do Lists
This goes hand in hand to journaling, but it’s more specific. Find yourself thinking about all the things you need to do tomorrow? Write them down on a to do list. Use a calendar diary or note pad.
Now the list is no longer buzzing around in your head none stop.
You can go further and elaborate. Think of a specific problems and challenges that you’re concerned about. Come up with one little step you could take tomorrow to work towards resolving them. Put it on paper.
One step, no more. Little by little. That’s how you solve anything in life. Now you have some positive action you can take tomorrow, you don’t have to overthink at night.
Meditate for a Calmer Mind
My website explores mindfulness practice and meditation often. Meditating helps you to observe your thoughts, rather than getting overwhelmed by them.
It’s like brain training. You learn cultivate self-awareness by paying attention to present moment. This includes observing your thoughts, emotions, feelings, and senses.
Developing mediation practice helps to calm the mind. In time you will a live in the present moment more, whilst day dreaming about the past or future less.
See my article ‘How to Observe Your Thoughts with Meditation’ for some tips on how to start.
Move to Release Your Energy
Exercising will reduce stress hormones like cortisol and release endorphins.
It’s also a healthy was to release negative energy you may be storing. Feeling angry? Hit a pinch bag, lift some weights. Feeling overwhelmed? Do some cardio, run, cycle, join a fitness class.
Even if it’s 30 minutes, can you spare that a few times per week or more?
Or to go for a walk. Exposing yourself to fresh air and nature benefits your mental and physical wellbeing. Any form of exercise will help you to feel more relaxed in the evenings before sleep.
Talk to Someone
It might seem like obvious advice but talking to someone can help you vent to get things off your chest. Whether that be a trusted friend, relative, or partner. Express how you’re feeling to them. Have some meaningful communication.
This is another way to get those thoughts out of your mind, whilst having someone there listening to you. Humans are social by nature. We need to communicate with each other.
Doing so can heighten your mood. Your brain will even release ‘feel good’ chemicals during conversation. Once you’ve let off some steam, you can reciprocate and listen to the other.
Wind Down to Prepare Your Mind for Rest
Having a wind down routine can be helpful before going to bed. If arrive home late after a busy day, your mind is likely to be very stimulated.
Using your phone late at night is also likely to cause this. I have an article related to ways to reduce endlessly scrolling on a phone, if that’s an issue you have. So, what does winding down before bedtime look like?
This will be different for everybody. You could read, meditate drink a herbal tea, listen to music, or do gentle yoga.
Why not invent your own wind down routine? Be creative.
Distract Yourself
Ever heard of that classic recommendation of counting sheep? There is a logical reason to this suggestion. When you overthinking, your mind is overstimulated.
Why not preoccupy it with something else? Rather than your own problems and worries. You can do this using imagery distraction.
Imagine being somewhere that you can fully immerse yourself. A place where you feel happy and relaxed. A cherished memory, a holiday, or doing a task you love.
Pay attention to the sights, smells, and feelings that arose when had that experience. Bring it all back.
Don’t pick something stimulating like sex or playing a sport. This will likely make you feel awake. Choose doing something, or being somewhere you felt relaxed and care free.
Or do a mental puzzle or repeated a word.
Mouthing a word takes focus and mental energy. Choose one with no relevance like ‘circle’, ‘the’, or an inanimate object like ‘chair’. When you silently mouth the word, envisage it appearing in your line of sight.
This is effective as it leaves no room for your original intrusive thoughts. You can also do math equations by counting down from a thousand in jumps of 7 e.g. 1,000, 993, 986, and so on.
Those are examples. See if you can come up with some of your own ideas to preoccupy your mind.
You Can Tame Your Overthinking Mind
Now you know why you overthink at night and what you can do about it. It may feel impossible at times to calm that overanxious mind, but you can.
Please don’t get overwhelmed with trying to incorporate all the suggestion above at once. To start with, get out of bed after 20 minutes when you can’t sleep.
From there, start incorporating the others. Everyone is different. If some don’t work for you, that’s no problem. Experiment. Little steps remember.
There is always an alternative mindful way to be. One you can develop by taking positive action. Did you find these tips helpful? I’d love to know in the comments.
Take care of yourselves,
Chris from Mindful Way to Be
