How to stop our racing thoughts before bed
pamharley003
August 23rd, 2025
As the years pass, many of us find ourselves turning in earlier than we once did. I confess, I am one of those early sleepers, and I have even caught myself sneaking in a power nap or two during the day. Sometimes, the culprit behind our restless nights is the wrong medication, while other times, it is a mind that refuses to quiet down as we settle in for sleep.
The true value of sleep often slips under the radar. Some believe they can power through the night without rest, especially college students cramming for exams. Armed with energy drinks and endless cups of coffee, they attempt to outsmart their need for sleep.
We want to have a sleep pattern where we can sleep through the night without waking up. There are various amounts of sleep we are told we need at night. The average adult needs 7-8 hours of sleep each night. When we sleep, we are allowing our mind and body to relax and recharge. Lack of sleep per night promotes a lot of health issues, such as heart attacks and congestive heart failure.
Many of us convince ourselves that we can squeeze more productivity out of the day by skimping on sleep. Yet, those who try to cheat their need for rest often find their job performance lagging behind the next day. This is common for truck drivers; they will try to do an all-nighter of driving rather than resting when needed.
When we lie down at night, we should set a time frame for when we lie down and what time we wake up. We want to be able to relax, so a cool type of feeling, like a ceiling fan or an air conditioner, is on. We sleep in comfortable clothing.
Certain medical conditions can also interrupt our sleep; some examples are snoring, sleep apnea, inadequate oxygen intake, obesity, and acid reflux. These are just some problems that occur when we lie down for the night.
How do you get better sleep? Let’s look in a few ways:
Stress: We need to stop our minds from racing and destress ourselves so we can relax. Stress releases cortisol, which helps you stay alert. This means our brains are constantly racing.
Mental health conditions: When we suffer from anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADHD, OCD, or mixed emotions.
Certain Substances: too much caffeine, whether coffee or soda, chocolate, or prescription medicine. what
What does it feel like not to be able to shut your mind off so you can sleep? It's upsetting. We try to lie down and release our breathing to a calm state so we can relax. We often lie in bed and feel our thoughts racing to complete a task or problem before we go to bed.
We begin to relive certain memories we are having, whether from the past or something that happened recently. We tend to lie awake in bed and cannot fall asleep or shut off our minds. A racing mind can cause us to sweat while we lie down, tremble, and have a rapid heartbeat and a flushed face.
Different ways to shut off our brains:
Stop using electronic devices: try not to use your computer, phone, and tablets before going to bed.
Find soothing activities: try reading a book or magazine until you become tired. Take a warm bath before lying down, and meditation helps relax our minds.
Mindfulness: mindfulness helps us to tune into the present. Also trying yoga and breathing exercises.
How do you relax before going to bed?
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amiablePeace77
August 24th, 2025
Thank you for these valuable informations.
I always make sure to watch something or calming just before sleep and usually do a brief sleep meditation.
WharfRat
August 24th, 2025
I usually have the same silly old daydream about being successful and being recognized "by my peers", including a certain woman.
Amanda84
August 30th, 2025
@pamharley003
What works for me is:
Not having technology in the bedroom.
Making sure it is clutter free.
Spraying lavender on my pillow.
Listening to music.
Routine!
💜💕
1 reply
@Amanda84
I love spraying lavender or even having my sheets smell of rain water to clam me to sleep better.
Only device in our bedroom is one that puts sounds out like the ocean, rain sounds to sleep. it is on a timer where it is on for only 20 minutes.
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QuietLightning
September 6th, 2025
Since this is an ongoing issue for me, I don’t have any great advice. I try different things and sometimes it helps. If you suffer from depression, go easy on melatonin supplements. Melatonin can worsen depression for some.
1 reply
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braindamag3
September 13th, 2025
I have no problem with falling asleep, hit the pillow around 10:30, it's when I get up in the middle of the night, anywhere from 2 to 4AM. Try to back to sleep after that, my mind races and I toss and turn, sometimes for an hour. Usually am so tired of it that I just crawl outta bed by 5AM.
Wish I could get back my sleep pattern or sleeping right through till 6AM. 😔😕
2 replies
@braindamag3
You do the same thing I do. Wake up between 2-4 play boring games nline or try to put myself back to sleep only to toss and turn like you mentioned. Then I need a nap later in the day or morning because I did not sleep well.
1 reply
braindamag3
September 14th, 2025
@pamharley003
but I don’t play any games, I get up to empty my bladder 🤭 and after that have a hard time drifting off. I’ll even try 3 to 9 mg melatonin but most times it does not help 😩
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