How to Quiet Your Mind for Sleep
If you almost always seem to be going to bed but your mind is buzzing then it's high time to learn how to quiet your mind for sleep. As you've already discovered, your mind hasn't got an on/off switch. It takes time to slow down in much the same way as a supertanker needs lots of distance to slow or make a turn. Here are some tricks to help you to quieten your mind so that you can get a good night's sleep.
Give yourself an hour or so to unwind before you go to sleep
Slow down whatever you're doing as bed time approaches.
That means stepping away from the computer rather than having one last game of Call of Duty or checking what your friends have been up to on Facebook.
It also means turning off the television, especially if you have a habit of watching something like the news that makes your mind think too much.
And also those work projects - you won't produce your best quality work if you're sleep deprived.
A long soak in a bath can help as can listening to soothing music.
Whatever it takes to move your mind from fifth gear into something closer to neutral.
Try progressive muscle relaxation
You can get guided versions of this and they're often a good place to start but once you know the technique, it's dead easy to use even without these audio aids.
Lay down, ready for sleep.
Then working either head to toe or the other way round, address each part of your body in turn and ask it to go to sleep.
This sounds a bit weird at first but actually works nicely.
It doesn't matter if you don't know all the different names for the parts of your body, just get a sense of the area you're addressing.
And don't be afraid to get into quite small detail - relaxing your scalp, followed by your forehead, then your eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth and lips, etc.
Spend as long as necessary on each body part and before you leave that part just give it the suggestion that it will go deeper into sleep as each next part relaxes and goes to sleep.
Just go with the flow on this and be prepared to have fallen asleep well before you reach the other end of your body!
Stop obsessing about falling asleep
When our mind is too busy, most of us start thinking thoughts about how we can't get to sleep. Which reinforces all the thoughts going through our noisy mind and makes the matter worse.
So when you find your mind obsessing about how you can't get to sleep, distract it.
Let the thoughts that are stopping you having a quiet mind just pass through rather than trying to trap them and hold onto them as though they're the most important thoughts you've had all day.
Using a relaxation MP3 or a meditation technique will help you to shift the focus of your mind away from these distracting thoughts and onto letting your mind go quiet so that you can drift off to sleep naturally.
Give yourself an hour or so to unwind before you go to sleep
Slow down whatever you're doing as bed time approaches.
That means stepping away from the computer rather than having one last game of Call of Duty or checking what your friends have been up to on Facebook.
It also means turning off the television, especially if you have a habit of watching something like the news that makes your mind think too much.
And also those work projects - you won't produce your best quality work if you're sleep deprived.
A long soak in a bath can help as can listening to soothing music.
Whatever it takes to move your mind from fifth gear into something closer to neutral.
Try progressive muscle relaxation
You can get guided versions of this and they're often a good place to start but once you know the technique, it's dead easy to use even without these audio aids.
Lay down, ready for sleep.
Then working either head to toe or the other way round, address each part of your body in turn and ask it to go to sleep.
This sounds a bit weird at first but actually works nicely.
It doesn't matter if you don't know all the different names for the parts of your body, just get a sense of the area you're addressing.
And don't be afraid to get into quite small detail - relaxing your scalp, followed by your forehead, then your eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth and lips, etc.
Spend as long as necessary on each body part and before you leave that part just give it the suggestion that it will go deeper into sleep as each next part relaxes and goes to sleep.
Just go with the flow on this and be prepared to have fallen asleep well before you reach the other end of your body!
Stop obsessing about falling asleep
When our mind is too busy, most of us start thinking thoughts about how we can't get to sleep. Which reinforces all the thoughts going through our noisy mind and makes the matter worse.
So when you find your mind obsessing about how you can't get to sleep, distract it.
Let the thoughts that are stopping you having a quiet mind just pass through rather than trying to trap them and hold onto them as though they're the most important thoughts you've had all day.
Using a relaxation MP3 or a meditation technique will help you to shift the focus of your mind away from these distracting thoughts and onto letting your mind go quiet so that you can drift off to sleep naturally.
