Are your unresolved issues keeping you awake?
How often do you find yourself awake at 3:30am with a random conversation from the previous day going around and around your head? Even if you try to focus on something else, your mind always goes back to that same thing. Over and over and over and over…. Sound familiar? I can’t believe he said that… I should have said this… I should never have said that… why did we agree to that…
Why is that? Why do we always wake up around the same time and go over the previous day’s conversations?
And everything always seems worse at that time in the morning, doesn’t it?
In the early hours of the morning we usually dream more – and dreaming is your brain’s way of processing everything that has happened during the day. All it takes is a minor disturbance, and there you are, at 3:30 am, processing it wide awake!
You might manage to get back to sleep eventually, but before you know it, the alarm is going off, and you’re dragging yourself out of bed, feeling like rubbish. That 3:30 am recap of the yesterday’s events has ruined today!
So what can you do?
Remember that old saying, “never go to bed on argument?” Turns out it’s right. Try and resolve your issues and say things you need to say before you go to bed. If you can, talk it through with someone so that it’s clear in your mind before you go to bed. If you can’t do either of those, at the very least get a pen and paper, and write it all down – many people find this stops the words from floating about in their head. Going to bed with a fuzzy head full of “I don’t know what to do” is absolutely fatal to your beauty sleep!
If you have tried talking it out or writing it down, and still find yourself waking up in the wee small hours, try repeating a positive affirmation over and over, to drown out whatever your mind is already playing. That should have you back to sleep in no time.
Failing all of this, if you still find yourself awake at stupid o’clock, give yourself a light day. Cancel everything you are able to, and take it easy. Be kind to yourself, do some yoga nidra (yoga sleep). If you can, try to finish that conversation, resolve the argument, write down everything that was said before and how you feel about it all. Find a way to get it all out of your system and hopefully, between this and a nice, relaxing day, you will sleep tonight.
Love
Anandi x