It’s time to sleep, but many people they can’t fall asleep no matter how hard they try. Little by little, in the stillness of the night, his mind reaches a high state of agitation and thoughts appear that deeply distress them.
Every night, the same situation: worries seem to have no solution and make rest difficult, sometimes to unhealthy levels.
Why does the same situation always occur at night? How to control those negative thoughts that cause insomnia?
What is worried insomnia?
Our own worries about issues that we believe are yet to be resolved can act as triggers and perpetuators of insomnia.
Those concerns They can disrupt our ability to fall asleep or fall back asleep if we stay awake during the night. Furthermore, in these circumstances rumination of thoughts usually appears, which becomes distorted and leads to magnification of problems, causing distress.
Over time, the process can become more complex, as the person adds to their own concerns the added worry of not being able to sleep with the problems that it entails during the day, increasing the state of alertness at night and creating a vicious circle.
Why do worries increase at night?
The night gives way to internal sensations, in the darkness the limits of the self are blurred. Since ancient times the night has had connotations of fear and danger. Enemies, whether nocturnal animals or other humans, hid and attacked in the dark. We have that engraved in us as a species.
The darkness of the night is related to death, to no longer seeing the light of day, to the unknown… Furthermore, something happens that few people tend to rationalize: it is during the night. the less capacity for action we have to solve problemsthat is why they are magnified, because we necessarily have to wait for the day to resolve them.
How to control negative thoughts that cause insomnia?
People need to rest. Insomnia affects them in all areas of their lives. Therefore, it is necessary to learn to deal with and stop those negative thoughts.
- Identify negative thoughts and organize them depending on their priority, their importance and the damage they cause you. This way, you can face them one by one and the burden does not become so heavy.
- Block negative thinking. There are problems without solutions that, however, torment us without us being able to get rid of them. However, we can stop them, block them. It is not an easy task and requires some training, but when that distressing thought attacks us, we must put into practice a technique from cognitive-behavioral psychology that consists of blocking it automatically. The thought stopping technique It consists of self-control to reduce or eliminate rumination. When anxiety reaches its peak, we must stop it by associating a certain word (“enough”, for example). First we will say it out loud and then stop that negative thought just by thinking it.
- Stimulus control. This is another technique that consists of associating being in bed with sleeping and not with being awake, working, watching television, etc. In this way, you can regulate your sleep schedule and restrict other behaviors that are not compatible with sleep.
- Relaxation. There are different relaxation techniques that can help you sleep better. From deep breathing to counting down, through progressive muscle relaxation.
- Mindfulness-based meditation can be effective for the treatment of chronic insomnia, according to various studies.
Recommendations for sleep hygiene
All of these techniques must be accompanied by adequate sleep hygiene that follows the following guidelines:
- Establishment of regular hours to go to sleep and get up.
- To procure optimal environmental conditions for rest (darkness, noise, temperature…).
- Carry out daily physical exercise.
- Have a light dinner and at least two hours before bedtime.
- Restrict tobacco and alcohol consumption as much as possible.
- Avoid stimulating drinks and energizing foods, such as coffee, tea, cola drinks… especially after midday.
- Make a relaxing routine before bed: breathing, mindfulness, etc.
- Avoid using mobiletablet, computer and television during the last hour before going to bed.
- Do not self-medicate.
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