For The Ones Who Can’t Turn Their Brains Off At Bedtime

Your head hits the pillow and your brain immediately turns on. No matter how tired you are, no matter how hard it is just to drag yourself to bed, the moment you get snuggled up, you can’t stop thinking. You run through everything that happened that day. You analyze every interaction. You have arguments with people in your head, coming up with the best comebacks to slights left unsaid. And soon, it’s been hours and you still haven’t fallen asleep. Here are some things you should know if your racing mind isn’t letting you get the sleep you deserve.

You’re a thinker.

Despite the fact that your brain, running a mile a minute, is keeping you up, it’s also something that makes you special. You’re a thinker. You analyze everything. You can be counted on to have already come up with the myriad ways that a plan could go right or wrong. Because you’ve already thought about it. You’ve already played out how your interview will go or how you want to redecorate your room. While it isn’t exactly helping you get a solid eight hours of sleep, at least embrace the value that your overactive mind can have.

You’re avoiding something.

There might be a reason why you’re saving all your intense thoughts for bedtime. Anxiety often makes us rage in our heads, but why is sleep so elusive? You could be avoiding something, distracting yourself during the day with work and friends and relentless, mind-numbing tasks so you don’t have to think about the things that are truly bothering you. Then, when you go to bed, you have nothing left to distract you from what you’ve been avoiding. If only you could address those things during the day so your sleep could be left unbothered.

Your imagination is outstanding.

You often live your life more in your head than outside of it. You’ve created whole worlds in there that only come alive in the wee hours when most people have long since drifted off to sleep. Your imagination is stellar, a refuge when your waking life is too monotonous or stressful or sad. Your nighttime thoughts are your superpower and, like most superpowers, it comes with drawbacks. You’re sacrificing a restful night’s sleep for a vibrant mind.

There are things you can do about it.

You don’t have to resign yourself to forever being tired, fresh bags under your eyes greeting you every morning. Although you might hate changing your routine, there are things you can do to quiet your mind a bit. You can stop using your phone in bed, you can drink chamomile tea, you can take melatonin. You could even talk to your doctor about a potential sleep disorder. (Hello, clinical diagnosis of insomnia.) Or you could have anxiety or depression that’s the culprit for your nighttime sleeplessness. Even if it quiets your mind only half the time, that’s better than never getting any sleep.

While you’re up worrying about every detail of your day, there are people who are going through the same thing. Just know that you are not alone.