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Note to Self: Schedule Time to Worry

by Brick ONeil

down-pillow.jpgUnpaid bills, overdue projects, groceries to get, and messes to clean . . . Worry pileups like these at the end of the day can make sleep as elusive as Bigfoot.

A better plan: Set aside time to worry about these things before you crawl under the covers. That way, the space between lying down and drifting off won’t be filled with sleepless fretting. Here’s how to make a date with your worries.

Make a Date with Paper
If nagging thoughts won’t let you nod off, give yourself 15 minutes before bedtime to grab some paper and a pen and jot down what’s on your mind, advise Paul Glovinsky, PhD, and Arthur Spielman, PhD, in their book The Insomina Answer.

suggest listing your concerns on the left page of a notebook and then brainstorming some solutions on the right side. And don’t shoot for perfect problem-solvers. Even temporary solutions should help you sleep.

Writing down what you’re thankful for is good for your health, too.
Are you in the habit of counting your blessings? Doing so could have emotional rewards.
In a recent study, people who recorded in a weekly or daily journal the things in their lives for which they were grateful experienced heightened feelings of well-being. The people who recorded hassles or neutral life events in their journals did not.

Keeping a journal also may help your memory. A study revealed that people who jotted down their concerns experienced improvement in their memories. Researchers speculate that jotting down worries may be a cathartic act. It gives people a designated place to deal with their concerns so that they can worry less at other times, thus freeing up cognitive resources for other things, such as remembering lists.

More Sleep-Better Strategies Keep a sleep diary.
Adopt healthy sleep habits.
Warm up your feet.
Start a walking routine.

Now that you have a primer on how to get to sleep, here’s a blog posting on 1o Reasons to Get Out of Bed

worry, stress, sleep, healthy lifestyle

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Posted in General on November 24th, 2007

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3 Responses to “Note to Self: Schedule Time to Worry”

  1. Sarah Says:
    November 24th, 2007 at 12:51 pm

    This link made me giggle. We’ll see if anyone else responds to “I have to pee! That made me get out of bed.” :)

  2. Brick ONeil Says:
    November 24th, 2007 at 12:54 pm

    Thx for responding, Sarah….loved the list, had to include it in today’s post ;)

  3. Boink Blogs Says:
    November 25th, 2007 at 8:15 pm

    [...] to Self: Schedule Time to Worry Brick ONeil added an interesting post today on Note to Self: Schedule Time to WorryHere’s a small [...]

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