Overthinking and under-sleeping.

When my anxiety got worse overthinking was on the menu every night, it would affect my sleep terribly. I would get into bed early, 8.30-9 pm ready for a great nights sleep, and then the thoughts would start. They were racing through my mind faster than a kid filling up a bag at the lolly pick n mix.

I tried so many things, melatonin, magnesium supplements, not consuming dairy before bed, no caffeine all day, no alcohol, no tech or screens before bed, reading before sleep … nothing worked. The lights would go off, and my mind would fire up.

I could lay there until 11,12; sometimes even 1 am replaying events of the past over in my mind. What I said to someone, what I did this one time, what people think about me making my individual decisions, the list goes on.

Then there are the actual lists, my mental to-do lists. Everything I need to accomplish in my whole life could become relevant and require decision making that very night before I could sleep.

I started looking for new ways to combat this, exercise, dietary changes, being mindful of the content I was consuming in the media. Still, nothing worked.

Then I found a fantastic sleep meditation video on youtube. It’s 11 hours long! I listen to it every single night, the same one over and over. I think I’ve trained my brain that when this comes on, it’s sleep time and it works a treat. I’ve been listening to it now for a few months, and once I turn it on, I’m asleep within half an hour and sleep through the night. It’s like magic!

I’ve always loved my sleep and have felt like I need a good 10 hours per night to feel rested. Since listening to this sleep music, I find I feel recharged after only 7 or 8.

If you’re having trouble switching off your mind and crossing over into sleep land, I suggest you give it a try.

Youtube is full of different options; this is the music that puts me to sleep each night.

I wonder if I put it on during the day if it would put me to sleep.

I have never been able to day-nap. Might be time to try.

J