I hear this too often to ignore. "I can't sleep, I'm just too worried" or "I'm so worried it wakes me up" or my favourite, "As soon as I open my eyes I'm awake with worry!"
These are declarations of many of us who live busy, stressful lives trying to get done what needs doing and remember whatever we missed! Do you recognize yourself? If so, there is a simple solution...Make worry a habit!
You heard it correctly. If you make a point of making time to worry, then you open new amounts of time for sleep. Disciplining your mind to worry is beneficial. It's the brain-drain the doctor ordered. This is how it works:
1. set aside a regular time each night close to "lights out" to worry.
2. set aside a regular amount of time for the worry itself (10-30 minutes max.).
3. get a pencil and notepad and jot down what's worrying you (braindrain it), then jot down your best-thinking solution to solve it.
4. if you wake up worrying during the night, write it down then turn off the lights.
5. tell yourself you cannot do anything about the worries until morning.
Done regularly, you will start to look forward to that anticipated brain-drain before sleep. Then when you crawl between those beautiful 400 threadcount sheets and your head hits the fluffy feathered pillow, you will be pleased with that strange new habit you formed!
Dr. Bev








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