Fall Asleep when You Are Worried About Not Falling Asleep

Sleep is very important to overall health and well-being. For many people, however, sleep does not always come easily. If you're having trouble falling asleep, you may begin to worry about being poorly rested and not being able to function the next day. You may start obsessing over the number of hours of sleep you will get or staring at your clock. Ironically, this stress can make it even harder to fall asleep! In order to get out of this vicious cycle, you need to deal with any stress and anxiety in your life, learn how to calm your mind before bed, and make sure your bedroom is optimized for good sleep.

Steps

Dealing with Anxiety

1. Keep a journal. Try thinking about everything that bothers you and putting it on paper every day. Divide your worries into things you have already dealt with and things that you have a plan for dealing with. While you write, imagine that you are physically removing all these worries from your mind and placing them on the paper. This will help you put your worries away at the end of the day.
   • Try not to leave any of your worries completely unresolved. If you can't deal with them before bed, make a simple plan for when and how you will deal with them so that you won't have to think about it while you are lying in bed.
   • If you worry about things that you cannot solve or influence, like global warming or your children’s well being on a school trip, write those down as well and tell yourself that you are discarding them as you write them down.
   • Do not write in your journal right before bedtime. You want to give your mind a bit of time to relax and forget about the worries that you have written down.
   • You can also try keeping track of your daily habits, including foods you ate and the amount of exercise you got, in your journal. This may help you recognize patterns of habits that are good or bad for your sleep.
2. Calm your mind with exercise. Exercise is good for your body and your mind! If you suffer from anxiety, try incorporating at least 30 minutes of physical activity into your daily routine. This simple lifestyle change can help your body cope with stress.
   • Try to avoid stimulating exercises right you go to bed. It is best to give your body a few hours to wind down between your workout and your bedtime.
3. Confront your worries. If your mind is racing with anxieties or obsessive thoughts, sometimes the best thing to do is to acknowledge their existence and actively work to dismiss them. The next time you find yourself worrying about something for no reason, take control by telling yourself that it is an obsessive thought and encouraging yourself to rise above it. Then distract your mind from the thought by finding a task or another thought to occupy yourself with.
   • It may help if you repeat a mantra to yourself. Try something like: "I am having an obsessive thought about _____. There is no need for me to worry about _____, so I will think about _____ instead.
   • It may also help to take a moment to analyze your worries and think about all of the reasons why they are not productive things to worry about. You can try incorporating something like "It is not worth my time to worry about _____ because _____" into your mantra.
   • If you encounter a legitimate worry that genuinely requires action, focus your energy on brainstorming possible solutions to the problem, instead of ruminating about all of the bad things that might happen. Once you have come up with a solution, tell yourself, "I no longer need to worry about _____ because I have made a plan for dealing with it."
4. Desensitize yourself to the unknown. If you are worrying about the uncertainty of the future, try repeating the worry to yourself several times. As you do so, tell yourself that you don't know what will happen in the future, and that you're okay with that uncertainty. Eventually your mind will become more comfortable with the thought you are having and will move on to other thoughts.
5. Let yourself be emotional. Your worries may stem in part from your resistance to showing other emotions, such as anger or sadness. Don't be afraid to talk about your feelings, or to cry when you feel sad. Releasing your emotions like this will help you feel much better!
   • While it's important to acknowledge your emotions, it's also important not to allow yourself to dwell on negative feelings, as this can lead to more anxiety. Once you've acknowledged how you're feeling, try to do something to lift your emotions. If you're in bed, try thinking about something that makes you happy to improve your mood.
6. Get treatment for depression and anxiety disorders. Many people who suffer from chronic insomnia also suffer from clinical depression or an anxiety disorder. While doctors do not know for sure if one causes the other, there does seem to be some correlation. If you can manage the symptoms of your depression or anxiety, either with drugs or with therapy, you may have a much easier time falling asleep.
7. Seek therapy for chronic insomnia. You might benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy if you have a difficult time falling asleep on a regular basis, even if you don't suffer from depression or anxiety as well. This kind of treatment will help you recognize the causes of your insomnia and change your thinking patterns to help you fall asleep more easily.

Calming Your Mind at Bedtime

1. Establish a relaxing routine. It is important to get your body accustomed to a regular sleep schedule, particularly if you tend to have a hard time falling asleep. Try going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day. Following a regular routine for at least 30 minutes before your bedtime will help your mind and body prepare for sleep.
   • Your routine should be relaxing. Try to choose something that will help you keep your mind off of the worries of your day, but will not overstimulate you. Reading, playing a game, stretching, or working on a craft project are all great options. Find one that is enjoyable for you.
   • If you need some extra help getting rid of your worries, give yourself some time right before bed to indulge in an activity that you find truly relaxing. You can try meditating, taking a hot bath, practicing progressive muscle relaxation, or doing deep breathing exercises. Everyone is different, so try some different activities to find one that helps you reduce your overall anxiety.
2. Unplug and dim the lights. Exposure to bright lights late in the day can disrupt your natural circadian rhythm. Try to avoid watching television or using your computer for at least 30 minutes before you go to bed. It's also best to begin dimming the lights in your house several hours before you go to bed so that your body realizes it is nighttime.
   • If possible, rid your room of sleep-disrupting lights from electronics like clocks and televisions.
   • If you wake up in the middle of the night, avoid turning all of the lights on, as this may make your body think it is time to be active.
   • To enhance your body's natural circadian rhythm, try to expose yourself to as much natural light as possible during the day.
3. Don't obsess over sleep. While it is important to get adequate sleep, it is also important to recognize that one poor night of sleep will not cause you any harm. If you can't sleep, try reminding yourself that you will still be fine the next day instead of dwelling on the consequences of sleep deprivation.
   • Watching the clock will only worsen your anxiety, so avoid doing so at all costs.
   • While the occasional poor night of sleep will not harm your health, chronic sleeplessness might, so seek medical help if you have chronic insomnia.
4. Distract yourself. Sometimes your brain just needs to focus on something relaxing in order to fall asleep. If you find your mind dwelling on your worries, redirect your thinking by practicing one of the following exercises:
   • Think about a happy memory or a favorite story and silently rehearse the story to yourself in as much detail as possible. You can also focus on an everyday object and attempt to describe it to yourself in vivid detail.
   • Focus all of your attention on the natural rhythm of your breath and try to visualize your breath entering and exiting each part of your body.
   • Busy your brain by trying to think of as many items that fit into a certain category as possible. For example, you could attempt to name all animals whose name starts with the letter A.
5. Get up if you can't sleep. If you have been lying in bed for a long time and are unable to fall asleep, it's better to get up than to lie there worrying. Try moving to a different room and engaging in a relaxing activity, such as knitting or reading, until you feel tired.
   • Remember to keep the lights as dim as possible and to avoid dwelling on the negative consequences of not getting enough sleep.

Creating a Relaxing Sleep Environment

1. Prepare your body for sleep. Some people find it helpful to take a warm shower, bath, or sauna before bed. This triggers your body's natural response to cool itself, which will help you fall asleep.
   • Try using soothing aromatic bath oils such as lavender.
   • It is also important to wear comfortable pajamas that are made of a material that will wick moisture away from your body, like cotton. This will help keep you comfortable throughout the night.
2. Make your room comfortable. For the best sleeping conditions, your room should be cool, dark, and quiet. You can use a fan or white noise machine to help drown out outside noises if you like.
   • You should also make sure your mattress, bedding, and pillow are comfortable. Some people respond well to keeping the bed area tidy, too. Make your bed with a set of new or freshly washed plain matching bed sheets. In choosing the bedding go for a quiet colour, without any patterns, and for natural, skin friendly fibers. A fresh, tidy and comfortable bed would encourage sleep or at least make your tossing and turning less irksome.
3. Designate your bed as a place for sleeping. If you never do other activities in your bed, your brain will associate it with sleep, which should make it easier for you to fall asleep when you are there. Avoid activities like watching television, working, and using your phone in your bed.
   • It's best not to perform these activities in your bedroom at all, but if you must, sit in a chair or on a sofa instead of on the bed.
   • Remove all non-sleep-related items from the immediate vicinity of the bed. This means plates, magazines, your laptop, etc. Reduce the items on the night table to a few vitals: an alarm clock, a reading lamp, one book, a glass of water.

Tips

• Beware of alcohol and caffeine, both of which can disrupt your sleep patterns.
• Prescription drugs may also be keeping you from falling asleep, so talk to your doctor about taking your medications at a different time or switching to a different drug. Never stop taking your medications without discussing it with your doctor first.
• Try to avoid napping during the day, especially in the late afternoon.
• Prepare a cup of Baldrian or valerian tea before bed. Baldrian has been shown in some studies to reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep and to improve the quality of sleep. While some other research has contradicted this, it's worth trying it to see if it helps you. Cover the cup and leave the tea to mash for 10-15 minutes on the night desk before drinking.

Warnings

• If you suffer from chronic insomnia, see a doctor. You may suffer from an underlying condition, or you may need prescription medications to help you sleep.
• Never take sleeping drugs without a prescription.

Related Articles

• Fall Asleep with Insomnia at a Young Age
• Fall Asleep when You Have Things on Your Mind
• Calm Your Imagination Before Sleep
• Make Yourself Tired So That You'll Fall Asleep
• Fall Asleep During the Day

Sources and Citations

See also

• Know the Difference Between Sleepiness and Fatigue
• Sleep Naked
• Fall Asleep Fast
• Stop Drooling in Your Sleep
• Keep Someone from Falling Asleep
• Not Be Tired
• Be Nocturnal
• Condition Your Body to Need Less Sleep
• Stay Up For Three Days Straight
• Induce Sleep Paralysis

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• Fall Asleep
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