What do you think about when you’re laid there trying to sleep? Grabbing a notepad and writing things down can help, even if you get into a loop and have to write stream of consciousness about how you’re writing about writing. Eventually the troublesome ones will rise and you can write about those.
Other tips:
Avoid caffeine at least three hours before bed.
If you can’t avoid screens before bed, install something on any device with a screen that changes the screen colour temperature in line with the daylight cycle where you are. Redshift is a common one on desktops.
Have a “no screens in the bedroom” rule regardless. The bedroom is for sleep. Possibly that other thing that people use beds for. You can dress and undress in there too. Do nothing else in there. (Except maybe the notepad thing.)
Have a consistent bedtime routine.
When you’re in bed, try holding your breath while your mind is racing. The aim is not to pass out, just to associate the stress of one thing with the stress of another. Then when you can’t hold on, breathe deep and relax. It will take a while for your breathing to normalise. Do this as necessary once it has.
I like to play an illogical little game with myself that my room is upside down and the more I relax and sink into the bed the less likely I’ll be to fall up off the bed towards the ceiling, that is now somehow the floor.
Search your brain for the off switch that says “I’ll think about this tomorrow when I’m better rested”.
If you’ve been in bed for an hour without sleep, get up. Drink water. Read. Paper, not screen. Write in that notepad. Sketch. Do a word search. Stay awake until you’ve at least been to the bathroom to excrete what you drank. No work or projects. Nothing taxing. Only distractions. Go back to bed and try again.
Drastic measures: If you’ve gotten up three or more times under the previous rule, think about staying up. Tell yourself that’s it, you’re going to power through the next 20 hours. If that’s a terrifying concept, maybe the option of hiding from it under the covers will work one way or the other.
Last resort: Medication. I have to admit that I’m currently on meds that, as a side-effect, do help me fall asleep, but all of the above helps in the middle of the night if I wake up with mind racing, and it used to help a lot before I was on these meds.
What do you think about when you’re laid there trying to sleep? Grabbing a notepad and writing things down can help, even if you get into a loop and have to write stream of consciousness about how you’re writing about writing. Eventually the troublesome ones will rise and you can write about those.
Other tips:
Avoid caffeine at least three hours before bed.
If you can’t avoid screens before bed, install something on any device with a screen that changes the screen colour temperature in line with the daylight cycle where you are. Redshift is a common one on desktops.
Have a “no screens in the bedroom” rule regardless. The bedroom is for sleep. Possibly that other thing that people use beds for. You can dress and undress in there too. Do nothing else in there. (Except maybe the notepad thing.)
Have a consistent bedtime routine.
When you’re in bed, try holding your breath while your mind is racing. The aim is not to pass out, just to associate the stress of one thing with the stress of another. Then when you can’t hold on, breathe deep and relax. It will take a while for your breathing to normalise. Do this as necessary once it has.
I like to play an illogical little game with myself that my room is upside down and the more I relax and sink into the bed the less likely I’ll be to fall up off the bed towards the ceiling, that is now somehow the floor.
Search your brain for the off switch that says “I’ll think about this tomorrow when I’m better rested”.
If you’ve been in bed for an hour without sleep, get up. Drink water. Read. Paper, not screen. Write in that notepad. Sketch. Do a word search. Stay awake until you’ve at least been to the bathroom to excrete what you drank. No work or projects. Nothing taxing. Only distractions. Go back to bed and try again.
Drastic measures: If you’ve gotten up three or more times under the previous rule, think about staying up. Tell yourself that’s it, you’re going to power through the next 20 hours. If that’s a terrifying concept, maybe the option of hiding from it under the covers will work one way or the other.
Last resort: Medication. I have to admit that I’m currently on meds that, as a side-effect, do help me fall asleep, but all of the above helps in the middle of the night if I wake up with mind racing, and it used to help a lot before I was on these meds.