30 Days to Better Sleep: For a Racing Mind, Make a List

It can be hard to get to sleep when you have a lot of things on your mind. For people with insomnia, characterized by difficulty falling or staying asleep, this is a frequent occurrence. Difficulty sleeping may provoke anxiety, and one technique to ease a racing mind is to make a list. Why does anxiety disrupt sleep? The time before falling asleep should be relaxing. If it becomes a source of anxiety or stress, it can be far more challenging to fall asleep. Anxiety, stress, worry, or tension will provoke alertness. In a state of anxiety, your mind is triggered to keep you safe. Part of this is maintaining vigilance to your environment and preventing inattentiveness or sleep. This has an evolutionary advantage: if you get drowsy with a lion on the prowl, you will soon become its dinner. Unfortunately, this works against us in modern life. Many people with insomnia will complain that they try to fall asleep and cannot. It becomes a chore to relax and drift off to sleep. After crawling in bed, the mind of an insomniac may rev up. Scattered thoughts may come to mind, like a movie made up of rapidly changing but distinct images. The litany of worries and preoccupations that fill the day present themselves to be addressed. Anticipation for the next day's events may also become provocative. There may be associated feelings with these thoughts that themselves are disruptive and alerting. Let's take an example. You are leaving on a European vacation early in the morning. You know t...
Source: About Sleep Disorders - Category: Sleep Medicine Source Type: news