Five Ways to Lull a Restless Mind

How did you sleep? This is a very important question. Answering it, we evaluate our general condition: “How do I feel? Am I here or not? Everything is natural. Sometimes the day is so hectic that in the evening we barely crawl to bed, dreaming of falling down and falling asleep, but as soon as we lie down under the covers, annoying thoughts begin to rush in our heads. What is most paradoxical is that the more we exhaust ourselves in a day, the more difficult it is to lull the brain.

Insomnia is a modern «trend»

If you know this, know that you are not alone. Insomnia attacks regularly occur in 30% of adults, and their number is increasing every year. Even if you are one of those lucky ones who usually falls asleep easily and quickly, you have probably had nights when you tossed and turned from side to side, trying in vain to turn off your annoying brain. But he kept mumbling about business, worries, debts, ideas and plans, scrolling through awkward moments, humming obsessive songs and not wanting to stop, even if you beat your head against the wall.

The brain is always on

The fact that the brain refuses to obey is quite natural. He works like a bee. His destiny is to buzz tirelessly so that we remember, compare, calculate, plan, decide, in a word, act like people. No matter how much we want to calm the brain, it is useless to accuse it of violent activity — it cannot do otherwise. In addition, our brain is very persistent. He has an extremely responsible job of helping us stay mindful and productive.

Therefore, if he considers something very important, you can’t just go and tell him: “Listen, stop fussing. Tomorrow we will deal with all urgent matters and urgent decisions. No matter how! But we can stop fighting the stubborn brain, which is sure that it works for our good, and try to lull it to sleep. Here are five tips to help you calm your racing thoughts and fall asleep peacefully.

A few words about chronic insomnia

Before proceeding, it is necessary to make a small but extremely important digression for the 10% of people who suffer from chronic insomnia. Namely:

• unable to sleep or often waking up almost every night;
• this goes on for more than a month;
• it interferes with a normal life and leads to nervous breakdowns.

If all this applies to you, try the following techniques, but be aware that they will not help you cope with severe sleep disorders. Most likely, you have already unsuccessfully tried to defeat insomnia more than once: followed the rules of sleep hygiene, meditated, used lavender oil, and so on. Just in case, do not particularly hope that these tips will become a panacea.

It is better to ask your doctor to refer you to a specialized specialist who treats insomnia with proven methods. Everyone else — that is, those who have problems with sleep only from time to time — can safely apply these techniques today.

1. Give yourself an “anxious break”

Seems like pretty stupid advice. Who wants to worry about a schedule? But be patient. Set aside 15-30 minutes a day for anxiety — just not before bed! Don’t try to do other things at the same time. It is important to focus on everything that you have no control over.

If at the end of the break it turns out that the brain is trying to cling to problems that you can’t do anything about, and starts to drive the same thoughts around the second circle, just tell yourself: “That’s it, the alarm limit has been exhausted for today.” Or: “Thank you, brain! Let’s put those worries aside until tomorrow’s anxious break.»

The point is to limit the space for worries. Settle them in a specially designated corner so that they do not rush about like crazy, all day long. You probably know how difficult it is to turn off disturbing thoughts. Try telling yourself not to think about the pink elephant.

Now tell me, what did you just think? So, instead of telling yourself not to worry, give your brain the opportunity to take worries out of the general system and place them in a specific time frame. Soon you will learn to put off any problems until the next “anxious break”.

2. Put painful thoughts out of your head and onto paper.

What if the “anxious break” didn’t help? Or has the day been so stressful that you can’t relax and fall asleep? A round dance of thoughts is spinning in your head without stopping, so that, God forbid, you don’t stop worrying about something important. In this case, they need to be «unloaded». This technique is best used before going to bed, trying to catch everything that is stuck in the head.

For ideas that deserve special attention, it’s a good idea to keep a diary. But you can do without a diary, do not paint everything point by point and do not finish sentences. It is not necessary to write thoughtfully, sublimely and competently. Even fragmentary thoughts scrawled on a napkin will work. The main thing is to transfer them to paper so that the brain is convinced that you have not forgotten anything. You can tell him, “Don’t worry! Everything is written down, we will deal with it tomorrow, when the time is right.”

3. Play scenes

Have you ever noticed how fast thoughts race? The fact is that the brain is a talking device, trained to instantly select words and compose stories. In fact, all our thoughts are short stories through which we make sense of the world. It is worth losing vigilance, as the brain begins to chatter at breakneck speed, jumping from topic to topic. Fortunately, we can switch to another type of thinking that is not as hasty as the default one, and it is called imagination.

It’s much easier to adjust the speed by playing the scene in your mind. Imagine walking through the rooms of a large house or walking from tree to tree along a winding forest path. Try to fully immerse yourself in the plot, use all five senses. What does the forest look like? Is it warm and dry or does it have a fresh breeze? What does it smell like here? Look at the leaf — what color is it? Run your fingers over it — what do you feel?

When you do this, the images take up space that the brain would normally rush to fill with messy reasoning. From time to time it will distract you from contemplating the pictures. This is fine! Don’t resist the thoughts and don’t try to get them out of your head, it’s like fighting the proverbial pink elephant. Caught some thought — thank the brain and again direct your attention to the sheet that you were looking at.

4. Travel through the body

This technique is very similar to the previous one. The only difference is that you will not wander through an imaginary forest, but through your own body. Focus on your breath first. No need to change the rhythm and try to breathe evenly. Use natural breathing as a link to the body. As soon as intrusive thoughts begin to distract you, calmly redirect them to breathing.

Breathing can «scan» the entire body. Always start with your toes. Again, there is no need to change or think about anything. Just listen to the sensations. Are your fingers warm? Cold? Closely? Free? Move them, feel them. Do not hurry. When you’re done with your toes, move on to your feet. Slow down a bit and move to the ankles, calves, shins, knees, and so on. Slowly move your attention higher and higher, lingering on each part of the body for as long as you want.

5. Listen to audiobooks and podcasts

Sometimes we are exhausted to such an extent that there is simply not enough strength for body scanning and visual fantasies. It’s OK! Since the brain insists on the conversational genre, give it such pleasure and take another interesting story to distract from obsessive thoughts.

Audiobooks and podcasts are great sleeping pills. Choose something quieter, without intricate sound effects, harsh voices and fast music. You can set a timer to turn off after about 30 minutes. Don’t get too carried away with the «perfect choice» though. You can listen to anything, for example, a detective novel. The main thing is that the recording should not be boring and monotonous. You should be interested, because the point is that the brain is carried away by the content of the audio clip and stops worrying.

It may happen that none of the above techniques will help calm the overexcited brain and it will flatly refuse to fall asleep. Dont be upset. Everyone has nights like this. This does not mean that from now on you are doomed to chronic insomnia, and tomorrow will be deleted from your life. The best way out in this case is to simply stop trying to sleep.

Get up and do something useful. Watch your favorite series, read a book, write a letter. Hooray! This night you have found time for yourself. Soon bodily fatigue will make itself felt, the eyelids will become heavy and sleep will overcome the active brain. It’s time to go back to bed and sleep sweetly.

About the author: Jade Wu is a clinical psychologist specializing in sleep disorders.