I want to sleep but I can't. At some point it happens to everyone. We are tired. Exhausted after a long day at work. At the limit of our strength. But thoughts don't allow us to sleep. We close our eyes but, nothing, sleep does not come. The mind keeps active. All worries, real or unfounded, come back with greater force. All the contents that have remained silent or repressed during the day seem to scream in our ears at night.
Indeed, insomnia and anxious thoughts applicants often go hand in hand. Our first impulse is usually to get rid of those thoughts that don't make us sleep by trying to block them. But this attempt to turn off the mind often has the opposite effect and ends up creating more problems than it solves.
How to clear your mind before bed besides counting sheep
1. Repeat a word like a mantra
One of the simplest solutions that will help clear your mind before bed of those thoughts that plague you at night is called "joint suppression". Perhaps the name of this technique is complicated, but it consists only in mentally repeating a word at such a speed that it is impossible for any other thought to appear, which means 3 to 4 times per second.
Basically, you have to turn that word into some kind of personal mantra. This will cause the original intrusive thought blockage which prevents you from sleeping. Ideally, you should choose a syllable or say a short word that has no emotional meaning so that your mind doesn't make negative associations that trigger it.
2. Distract yourself with visualization
At night, worries are often accompanied by intrusive images. You not only think about the problems, but also vividly imagine their consequences. In these cases, the visualization techniques they can be of great help in quieting the mind, although it will probably take some practice before it becomes effective.
A study conducted at the University of Oxford revealed that distracting with images is more effective than simply trying to distract yourself in a general sense by thinking about something else because it gives the mind something specific to do, preventing it from attaching to thoughts and worries. .
So choose a relaxing environment that is easy to imagine in detail, whether it's a quiet beach, a bucolic landscape or a beautiful sunny afternoon in the garden. Once you have chosen the environment, the goal is to immerse yourself as deeply as possible by recreating the sights, details, sounds and smells of the environment. You will fall asleep without realizing it and, best of all, you will be able to rest more deeply.
3. Experience gratitude
Negative thoughts often drag you into a vicious cycle of worry and develop a negative outlook that further worsens insomnia. In fact, a study conducted at the University of Geneva found that when people remembered their regrets before bed, it took longer to fall asleep than those who thought about what they were most proud of.
On the other hand, researchers at the University of Manchester found that people with insomnia were able to sleep better when they focused on positive thoughts and things for which they felt grateful before bed.
Without a doubt, noticing the good things in life, anything you can feel grateful for, will help dispel the dark clouds of worry and help your mind achieve the serenity it needs to give way to sleep. Therefore, when you put your head on the pillow, instead of thinking about all the problems of the day and all the worries of tomorrow, try to focus on those things that you can feel grateful for and let that feeling of calm take over.
Sources:
Schmidt, RE & Van der Linden, M. (2013) Feeling Too Regretful to Fall Asleep: Experimental Activation of Regret Delays Sleep Onset. Cogn Ther Res; 37 (4): 872-880.
Wood, AM et. Al. (2009) Gratitude influences sleep through the mechanism of pre-sleep cognitions. J Psychosom Res; 66 (1): 43-48.
Harvey, AG & Payne, S. (2002) The management of unwanted pre-sleep thoughts in insomnia: distraction with imagery versus general distraction. Behav Res Ther; 40: 267-277.
Levey, AB et. Al. (1991) Articulatory suppression and the treatment of insomnia. Behav Res Ther; 29: 85-89.
Admission How to clear your mind before sleeping? 3 techniques that work was published first in Corner of Psychology.
