Just because your body is in bed doesn’t mean your mind is. Even if you have talked yourself into going to bed at a decent time, if your mind isn’t ready to settle down, it might be some time before you fall asleep.
A big culprit is repetitive thoughts, such as asking yourself if you locked the door, or reviewing the tasks you need to get done the next day. These repetitive thoughts can make it difficult for people to fall asleep within the 20-minute window that many specialists recommend aiming for.
One way to let these thoughts go is to simply write them down. According to mindbodygreen.com, by writing down your to-do list at night, you’re essentially putting your stress to bed. A 2018 study out of Baylor University’s Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory found that students who wrote down future tasks fell asleep significantly faster than those who wrote about previous tasks. By getting it out on paper, we’re rinsing out some mental space so the brain can more easily slip into sleep mode.
If this doesn’t do the trick, you can try other calming activities to continue to get your mind off things before bed. For example, try relaxing meditation techniques, such as controlled breathing. Breath work involves tweaking your breathing to achieve a therapeutic effect. There are hundreds of different techniques and routines for doing so, but one of the simplest things to do is to take a long, deep breath through the nose and exhaling out of the nose for two to three counts longer than you inhaled. Doing so should help you begin to unwind.
You can also try listening to your favourite soothing music before you hit the sack.
There’s evidence to show that taking time out to listen to music you enjoy reduces anxiety and lowers your blood pressure through the release of feel-good chemicals called endorphins.
