Have you ever thought to yourself, “I can’t sleep because my mind keeps racing!”? If this is a regular struggle for you, read on to find out how you can quiet your mind so that you can fall asleep.
“There is always so much on my mind and I only have time to think about my day and planning out my next day when I’m in bed. Why shouldn’t I keep taking advantage of that quiet time to do a lot of thinking?”
Does this sound familiar? Many of us are so strapped for time during the day that we try to brainstorm and get more done even when it’s time to sleep!
If this sounds like you, then read on. This article discusses how managing stress throughout the day and adopting a bedtime routine can help you sleep, and how to do it.
What happens when you can’t sleep because your mind keeps racing?
You probably know this scenario well…
You climb into bed at night but realize you have little hope of falling asleep quickly. Instead, your mind is racing with the thousands of thoughts you didn’t have time to think through during the day.
So, you start running through everything that’s on your mind – from the things you forgot to do to everything on your to-do list for the next day.
Your mind is busy working, but your body is shut down and you have no energy to get up and do anything. You’re stuck in that endless loop where you can’t sleep because your mind keeps racing!
This can happen because we don’t keep up with managing stress throughout the day.
In fact, this lifestyle habit can be contributing to a number of negative things in your life, such as:
- Being snappy with those around you.
- Feeling frustrated with people around you who aren’t doing what you ask.
- Struggling with your weight.
- Having trouble finishing tasks, or finishing them with numerous tasks, because you are not as focused.
- Being more susceptible to cold and infections than others that you know.
When we don’t manage stress during the day, it can lead to overdrive and prevent us from relaxing. This is why we can’t shut our minds off even when it’s time to rest at night.
As you can imagine, managing this high level of stress is both mentally and physically exhausting. It also takes a toll on our health and leads to an increased risk of disease.
Research shows that when we are stressed, our adrenal glands overproduce catecholamines, which are hormones that have neurotransmitter functions in the body. These catecholamines also activate the parts of your brain that is responsible for fear or threat.
When you are lying awake in bed thinking about what you didn’t do that day or worrying about what you have to do the next day, it’s because of these high levels of catecholamines. High levels of these hormones also affect your productivity during the day, too.
When we try to cram too much into our day (and night), chronically high catecholamine levels can lead to long-term memory problems. It also impairs our attention span and other important cognitive processes.
These catecholamines also push down inhibitory neurotransmitters (such as GABA and serotonin) that bind to receptors in the brain and make you feel calm, relaxed, and happy, making it harder to fall asleep.
This type of overdrive can happen even if your cortisol levels are low or if you are in advanced stages of adrenal fatigue, such as when your body is shut down but your mind is racing.
And so, you end up depriving yourself of much needed sleep because your brain just won’t shut off.
Calm Your Mind At Night By Using These Techniques
Getting hormone levels under control can help reduce the anxiety and stress you feel at night. It can also balance neurotransmitter functions so that you feel calm and relaxed.
This starts by managing stress levels during the day so you don’t feel overwhelmed at night.
If you take the time to acknowledge that there are things you need to clear off of your plate before bed, you might be able slow down your mind long enough to get some proper shut-eye.
If you find you can’t sleep at night because your mind keeps racing – the key is staying ahead of the stress instead of letting it build up.
If something is bothering you, don’t take it to bed. This will only cause you to stay awake and worry. You might find it helpful to write out a list or create a voice-recorded note of things that are on your mind. Releasing those thoughts will help quiet the nagging that keeps you from relaxing enough to fall asleep.
Additionally, supporting your brain health during the day will help you stay ahead of the stress, and get things done and put behind you so when the end of the day does come, you’re less likely to have a backlog of thoughts and to-do’s which affect getting to sleep and staying asleep.
Our SolFlow and SolMind line of supplements contain amino acids, vitamins, and minerals to support neurotransmitter production, which are the chemical messengers that regulate your memory, mood, and sleep cycle.
These formulas are designed to promote a calm, focused state to help you better handle stress and help promote healthy sleep cycles.
Here are some other tips that might help:
1. Do a mind dump! Yes, on the couch, in the kitchen with a cup of tea or in your bedroom, just dump whatever is on your mind down! Keep this list. Then write down three things you’re grateful for, three things that went well today, and one thing that could be better.
2. Determine what you can push off your plate until tomorrow. You may also want to see which of your upcoming appointments are needed versus wanted. Schedule these first.
3. Block off time for urgent to-do’s.
4. Make sure you eat well throughout the day and stay hydrated.
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