Overthinking at night: a 5-minute routine before bed

When your mind races at night, telling yourself to stop rarely works. A short routine before bed does better: write what's on for tomorrow, choose the first step, park worries for a set time, and close the notebook.

Why the mind gets loud at night

During the day, tasks and conversations keep you busy. When it goes quiet, the things left open make themselves heard. "I still need to…" can turn into a loop that feeds itself. What helps is showing your mind, before you lie down, that everything important is written down and has a time attached.

There's some research behind this. In a small lab study, people who spent ten minutes before bed writing a to-do list for the coming days fell asleep faster, on average, than people who wrote about what they had already done (Scullin et al. 2018). It's a single study with a small sample, so treat it as a promising idea, not a promise.

The 5-minute routine

1. Write tomorrow's to-dos (2 minutes). Be specific. "Call Ms. Keller about the appointment" beats "admin". The clearer the item, the less your mind has to keep rehearsing it.
2. Mark the first step (1 minute). Circle the first action of the day and turn it into an if-then plan: "When I pour my coffee, I'll call Ms. Keller." If-then plans help people follow through (Gollwitzer & Sheeran 2006).
3. Park the worries (1 minute). Put each worry you can't solve tonight on a separate list headed "Tomorrow, 6pm". Limiting worry to a set time and place goes back to the stimulus-control work of Borkovec and colleagues (1983).
4. Close it (1 minute). Shut the notebook or app. Tell yourself: it's written down, and it has a time.

A worked example

Maria lies awake at 11pm thinking about a talk with her boss, a car repair, and whether she should send her sister something for her birthday. The next evening she sits at the kitchen table at 9:30 with a slip of paper. Tomorrow: ask the garage for a quote, order a gift. First step: "When I get on the bus, I'll look up the garage's number." Worry list for Wednesday 6pm: the talk with her boss. She shuts the notebook and leaves it by her shoes. When a thought pops up in bed, she says, "It's on the list," and turns over. Some nights this doesn't work. But it gives her a sentence to answer the thought with.

Common pitfalls

• Planning in bed. Do the routine at a table or on the sofa so the bed doesn't turn into a thinking spot.
• Writing for too long. Five minutes is enough. An essay tends to stir you up.
• Staying on your phone afterwards. If you use an app, close it for the night.
• Expecting a switch. This is a tool, not an off button. Some nights go better than others.
• Lying awake for hours. If you're still awake after about 20 minutes, get up, do something quiet, and go back when you feel sleepy. That's the idea behind stimulus control.

FAQ

Why a to-do list and not a list of what I got done?

In the study mentioned above, the to-do group fell asleep faster than the group who listed completed tasks. It was one study, so it's no guarantee.

What if one worry keeps me up anyway?

Tell yourself it's on tomorrow's 6pm list. If it's very heavy, talk to someone you trust or a professional.

Is this enough for sleep problems?

For lasting sleep problems, see a doctor. This is an everyday routine, not a treatment.

If you like, just try it

Open Shore is free in your browser, no signup. You type what's on your mind, it sorts it, and gives you one small next step as an if-then plan.

Sort my thoughts

Keep reading

• Brain dump: get it out of your head, then sort it
• If-then plans: how to write them, with 12 examples
• More on the research behind Open Shore

Sources

• Scullin, M. K., Krueger, M. L., Ballard, H. K., Pruett, N., & Bliwise, D. L. (2018). The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(1), 139–146.
• Borkovec, T. D., Wilkinson, L., Folensbee, R., & Lerman, C. (1983). Stimulus control applications to the treatment of worry. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 21(3), 247–251.
• Masicampo, E. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (2011). Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(4), 667–683.
• Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119.

Open Shore itself hasn't been tested in a trial. Open Shore is not a medical product and doesn't replace diagnosis or therapy. If you've slept badly for weeks, or the overthinking is hard to bear, please talk to a doctor or a therapist.

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Open Shore is an AI-run product of year00.