Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night in a state of worry? Have you not been able to fall asleep because your mind has been racing? Worrying about anything and everything, like money, relationships, work, life, etc. Well, if you have, you are not alone. Worrying before bed or when waking up in the middle of the night is common. Many factors can cause a person to worry, including stress and experiencing trauma, including societal, biological, and genetic factors, which can all influence worrying before and during sleep. I have had nights when I wake up in the middle of the night, my mind racing over one or many things that keep circling and won't let me fall back asleep. When this happens, it usually causes stress during the rest of my night's sleep, and the next day, I am mentally out of it and not focused on my daily tasks. I have tried plenty of remedies not to worry and fall back asleep. Remedies like meditation, breathing techniques, muscle relaxation, and writing down everything that's bothering me before bed. None of these options worked. The closest I have to resolving this is to imagine myself in a peaceful place and trying to distract my brain. That has helped me get back to sleep, but shortly after drifting off, I wake up again, still worried.
I have personally resolved this by doing one of two things before or upon waking in a worried state. I have trained my subconscious to believe, and/or walked through logical steps that place my mind at ease. The first step is to believe. No matter what your faith is, you have to think and train your mind that things will get better. I tell my mind to have "Faith over Fear" over and over again until I know I don't have to fear. I start out saying "Faith over Fear" in a fast repetition, then slow down as I focus my mind on the fact that all will be well. Worrying is fear. I talk my subconscious into believing that the issue I am harping on will be okay because worrying is fear. The second way I train my subconscious not to worry is to think about a topic in a logistical fashion. I tried to think about a nice vacation or a place I like to be, but my mind keeps circling back to my "worry". I have now trained my mind to think logistically when trying to sleep. So, instead, I think tactically about something that interests me. I make sure I do not have all the answers, so my brain searches for the answer instead of what was worrying me. In my case, it's the Bible, but you can choose any topic you still have questions about and don't have all the answers to. This will cause your subconscious to wander down another avenue and, in the long run, help you get back to sleep. I focus on Genesis and Exodus. Usually, I am back to sleep in no time. I try to walk through these books from beginning to end logistically. Again, this can be done with any topic you have, but you need questions that need to be answered. Find a topic you like and let your mind wander on a new topic, and do not worry about the things you have no control over. Most people worry about events that have yet to happen. Practice faith over fear, and you will have sleep.