How to calm a racing mind and finally get to sleep?
By: Self First
Tags: Improvement, Self Care, Calm, Self Love

Mind-wandering or rumination is typically associated with self-reflective states that contribute to negative processing of the past, worrying/fantasizing about the future, and disruption of primary task performance. This constant ruminating can lead to chronic stress which is having limited control over worrying thoughts and attention problems, although stress can sometimes be a good thing, helping us to stay alert and prepare us for adversities in our lives. Chronic stress can damage your body, physically and mentally, our body under prolonged stress produces a hormone called the corticosteroids which suppresses our immune system, troubles with sleep and digestive issues, which makes our body prone to viruses.

It has been researched that stress can affect one’s learning and attention processes and working memory.

To beat this and have a healthy lifestyle here are some things you can do to calm your mind and stop the stressors.

Write down your thoughts and worries.

Journaling what’s bothering you can act as a venting session, you can also come up with plausible solutions while writing your thoughts down. Categorizing and wording out the problem will help you understand the source of your negative thoughts.

2. Teas before bed-

Herbal teas such as Chamomile, lemon balm are effective in reducing sleep or simply boil mint or sage leaves in water and drink it after dinner, this helps in relaxing your mind and your digestive system to help sleep better.

Another technique is to put your head between your knees, or stand and hang your head and arms toward your toes. Getting your head below your heart has restorative effects on the autonomic nervous system (ANS)

3. The lion’s breath-

Sit comfortably and take a deep breath through your nose and open your mouth wide and breathe out with a “HA” sound and repeat it a few times. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing your heart rate and blood pressure.

4. Practice mindfulness and meditation-

Meditating for just 10 minutes every day can have a significant effect on our health.

Sometimes we can’t meditate as we cannot put a full stop to our thoughts, here; you can simply take a deep breath and chant “OM” as you exhale this creates positive vibrations in your body which also forces you to stop thinking.

5. Create a sleep routine-

Before going to sleep, make a sleep routine so that you prepare your body to sleep. Such as, drink tea, take a shower, brush your teeth, meditate, and read a book. Doing these tasks every night will condition your brain to sleep.

6. Listen to soothing relaxing music-

Music keeps your thoughts away and relaxes your mind.

7. Progressive muscle relaxation

Pick a body part; starting from your eyes, mouth, arms, legs, and foot. Tense the part for a few seconds and release it and relax for 10 seconds and move on to the next part. This can improve sleep and eases headaches and stomachaches.

8. Guided imagery

Lie down in a comfortable position and close your eyes, imagine a nice story or a memory and build a story around it. If your mind starts to wander, let it flow and continue imagining where you left off. This promotes in calming your mind and lets you sleep with positive thoughts.

9. Backward ABC’s

Say the alphabets in the reverse order, you won’t be able to think about anything else while you recite the alphabets.

10. Breathing exercises (The 4–4–8 rule)

Breathe in and count to four, hold your breath for four seconds and exhale slowly and count till eight seconds. Repeat this several times, this will relax your mind and body.

11. Still not sleepy?

Get off the bed and sit in a chair or the floor and read a book, listen to music, draw, and other activities you can think of.

Struggling to sleep while on the bed can make your brain associate bed to disturbance or lead to more anxious thoughts. Your sleeping place should always be associated with sleepiness and feelings of relaxation. Do not work, eat, watch, or scroll through your phone on your bed.

The long battle with your anxious thoughts and the day to day work can tire you down and even falling asleep is a struggle for you that can get really irritating.

Hopefully, these suggestions will help you have a better quality of sleep, although it might take time to fix your sleep cycle, don’t be disheartened if it doesn’t work right off the bat.