Why can't my mind stop thinking when I'm trying to sleep?
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Last Updated: 09/04/2021 at 6:28am
★ This question about Sleeping Well was starred by a moderator on 5/12/2016.
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Because when you go to sleep, since your body is not doing anything anymore, it is normal for your brain activity to increase. You think about what you've done today, which makes you think about a thousand other stuff that happened in your whole life, you can call it a"stream of consciousness". Your body wants to sleep but your mind is acting otherwise. Try relaxing yourself with soft music.
Anonymous
August 1st, 2015 3:37pm
Sleep is actually a phase where you lead yourself to a state of mind, where brain is suddenly directed to refrain from any other work which you were previously doing. So now all the concentration is to a certain peak or just collected like a water in bowl, So which ever thoughts you have is going to strike the water again and again. If you want to stop thinking, then you need to drain the water out. How to do that? Simply direct your brain to think something else, something that will make you relax. So mind will be like "Oh, Now I have no work to do". :)
You probably have a hard time letting go of mistakes you have made in the past. Try to divert your mind and focus on slow, light breaths, if anything bad comes up, block it by chanting in your head or pausing the thought.
Anonymous
August 2nd, 2015 5:28am
Your over thinking things, the best bet is to be calm and dont overthink. Listening to music or reading a book usually helps
Anonymous
August 2nd, 2015 1:29pm
It is difficult to sleep when you have a lot on your mind. I find writing it down helpful so I can process it with a fresh mind after some sleep.
Anonymous
August 2nd, 2015 9:18pm
I'm just an over thinker. I run scenarios a 100 times in my head before I finally fall asleep. It can suck most of the time.
This can be for many reasons. One being have you being using alot of electronics before going to bed e.g on your phone if so try not using them an hour before you go to bed so your brain can relax. Other reasons can be stress related or anxiety.
In my experience its because something is worrying me and being in a quiet room lets me listen to my thoughts more easily
Imagine a beautiful setting, anything you like, a beach Island. Take 4 breathes in then hold it for 7 and release on 3. This breathing technique helps you calm down, as well prep your mind that it's time to sleep.
Anonymous
August 5th, 2015 4:34pm
Well, there can be several reason why you're still thinking while trying to sleep. From personal experience: I try to stop stimulating my mind by being online, watching TV, etc. an hour or so before sleeping. Being online just before sleeping is one of the most common reasons for your mind to be awake when you're trying to sleep. I would do something calming just before sleeping such as a relaxing bath, praying, chanting a mantra, reading, drinking chamomile tea, and just lying down and let thoughts pass without letting them take over. Also, making a to-do list can help as this is what might keep us awake for quite a bit. These are just my suggestions though...
Anonymous
August 6th, 2015 9:47am
Is there anything that Is on your mind? Before going to bed, have a nice cup of tea maybe even draw out or rite out your problems that you'e thinking, if not you could always take sleeping pills to help you out.
There can be many reasons, maybe you're anxious, and stressed. Maybe you've had a lot of caffeine in the day. Maybe you need to relax more. Only you can know.
Meditation is an excellent way to power down at the end of the day in preparation for sleep. There are several free apps that offer quiet meditation. Also, make sure your environment is conducive to rest. (ie no light from televisions, cellphones, etc.)
There are multiple issues that can keep the mind active, or over-active when trying to sleep. 1- Too much energy. You haven't used all that power God gave you for the day, so when it comes the time to sleep, your mind is trying to burn that extra energy left. There's too much. 2- caffeine. I don't need to explain that one. It's best to keep away from caffeine when the day is slipping into the night. 3-stress. Built up stress doesn't take a rest. Bathing before sleeping can help relax the muscles and mind. 4- Internet. It's recommended that you turn off your devices one hour before you go to sleep. Playing video games, going on Facebook or whatever you may be up to, is re-awaking your mind. It will not help you sleep and should not be a means to help you sleep.
Anonymous
August 7th, 2015 6:31pm
Because you crop up everything you saw, heard and smelled that day, you're brain can't progress it fast enough.
Anonymous
August 7th, 2015 9:34pm
Because at night you have nothing else to do, you're just by yourself and your thoughts can get the best of you.
Anonymous
August 8th, 2015 5:55am
It seems you are taking too much stress Try to be relaxed and calm think about positive experiences and it will be helpful for you
Anonymous
December 27th, 2015 9:03am
It is normal for your brain's activity to increase because your body is not doing anything which makes you think about things that happened that day or the whole year or your whole life
Here try this. When you lie down to go to sleep think about the number 100, then start counting backwards most people fall asleep before they even hit 50.
Anonymous
January 27th, 2016 10:46pm
Worriness or stress. when your mind keeps running even when you are trying to sleep it means you are worried about a situation or upcoming event. Or stressed out about a location you have to arrive on time to or scoring well on a test. The person is not feeling relax with so much things they either did or got to do.
Many people have this problem. The best solution is imagining. You should start imagining about something so that you cannot think about anything except this. You can fall asleep easily with this. This worked for me . So i hope this helps you too. :)
Anonymous
December 18th, 2015 2:45pm
because you like to think about some stuff winch are more important from sleeping or you want those stuff to happen
Because, at night, it´s when our brain is the most active (scientifically proven), i´d say it´s not a big issue, yeah, it can be at times, when it doesn´t let you sleep, but that way you can think of what´ll happen´ tomorrow :P
Anonymous
January 13th, 2016 12:37am
It's a natural reaction. Your mind can seem completely calm until your head hits the pillow and then it seem to go crazy worrying about every single thing. Try to regulate it. You can do this by listening to music and listening to the lyrics, reading a book or a magazine to distract yourself. Or focus on thinking about one thing in specific, but try to make it positive. Like if you're excited for something you're doing the next day.
This is usually because your brain is focused on something that is troubling you or something your excited about. Its often hard to sleep if you're worried about something or angry about whats happened during your day.
For example you maybe worried about a job interview the next day and all you do when in bed is keep rerunning possible conversations in your head.
Its very annoying and I find listening to music is often a good way to distract yourself, I usually listen to rain music or birds.
Anonymous
December 27th, 2015 8:43am
From personal experience, I find that it's because during the day there's so much stuff going around and you don't tend to think about certain things that may be troubling you. Then, during night it all rushes in your mind and overwhelms you.
The more you oppose yourself to stop thinking, the more it will trigger to generate a lot of thoughts and it will make you awake, so first of all accept the fact that what you think might happen, but in every scenario many solutions are available we're just scared of trying it. So just don't be afraid that this negative things might happen, because if you're going to think it for a long period of time, it's like you are wasting your time without generating any concrete outcomes. If you want to lessen up your worries, try to note them in a paper, probably it will help you to relieve some stress.
The mind thinks about your whole down on its own. I don't remember why, but I read it in an article once. It is automatically "programmed" to do so, I guess is what you can say.
The mind likes to think. The problem is more what it's thinking about. Thoughts that tend to excite the mind like regrets, problems, worries, likes, hopes and fears, can prevent the body and mind from calming down enough to fall into sleep. If you can replace these with thoughts that are have less energy to them, sleep may come quicker. The classic "counting sheep" approach where you concentrate on something repetitive and meaningless actually works for some people although I find it better to rest my awareness on the feelings in different parts of my body, starting with the feeling of my head touching the pillow, them going down though my shoulders, arms, back, legs, etc. Just feeling whatever sensations are there. This works well because it causes the body to relax as well as occupying the mind with something calm and pleasant.
It's because most of our thoughts gather up when our brain is trying to rest. Even in our sleep itself, the brain activity does not stop- most of our subconscious thoughts pop up at these moments.
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