How to Shut Off a “Wandering Brain” When You’re Trying to Sleep

Does going to sleep feel dreadful? For many women with ADHD as soon as it is time to go to bed, your brain starts buzzing. If you are busy or stressed, your mind is likely to be on overdrive most of the time. Then when you try to go to sleep at night your mind is still racing, thinking of anything and everything it possibly can. If over thinking is keeping you awake at night, here are a few ways to empty your ADHD mind before you go to bed.

Write down your thoughts –  There many ways that you can document your thoughts and remove them from your head so they don’t rent space and keeping you awake all night. One way is to keep a notebook and pen on your night table, if you have a cell phone there are many different note taking apps, like Evernote.

Visualize – If you are flooded with thoughts as soon as you get into bed, there a simple visualization that you can use to calm your mind.  Imagine that there is a basket next to your bed and every time a thought pops into your head, imagine that thought floating out of your mind and into the basket and that you can review that thought another time but for now all you need to focus on is getting that thought out of you head.

Promise to continue your thinking at another time – Your mind is persistent, it will keep on spinning around ideas, worries, problems and solutions as long as you allow it to. If you notice frequent ideas or thoughts, try making a deal with your mind and say “I will that I will make time to give this thought my attention that it needs, but for now I need to get some rest”.

Turn Off All Electronics- If you are notorious for playing games on your cell phone or I pad right up until bed time then maybe your mind comes more alive as you get into bed. Try switching off your devices and creating some quiet time before you go to bed