Why is it that just when our heads hit the pillow our thoughts take off in a sprint?
Our brains have this annoying tendency to ruminate on worst-case scenarios and other negative reflections at night — and all that worry is seriously disrupting our ability to fall asleep.
“Anxiety is an emotion that actually wakes us up,” Steve Orma, PsyD, a clinical psychologist and author of Stop Worry and Go to Sleep: How to Put Insomnia to Bed for Good, tells The Huffington Post. “There are all kinds of physical changes happening that ramp you up, which is the exact opposite state of what you need to be in when you’re trying to fall asleep.”
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“They are both extremely common,” he says. “A lot of people think there’s something wrong with them when they experience these conditions, but it’s important to know that it’s normal — even though it’s certainly not a pleasant experience. It’s just a problem in their thinking and their behavior patterns. It’s very treatable.”
This GPS Guide is part of a series of posts designed to bring you back to balance when you’re feeling off course.
GPS Guides are our way of showing you what has relieved others’ stress in the hopes that you will be able to identify solutions that work for you. We all have de-stressing “secret weapons” that we pull out in times of tension or anxiety, whether they be photos that relax us or make us smile, songs that bring us back to our heart, quotes or poems that create a feeling of harmony or meditative exercises that help us find a sense of silence and calm. We encourage you to visit our other GPS Guides here, and share with us your own personal tips for finding peace, balance and tranquility.
