Can Journaling Help You Sleep Better?
Let’s Understand What Science Says
Imagine it’s 10:30 PM.
You are done for the day.
You switch off the light and go to bed.
But you can’t sleep.
A hundred thoughts are running in your head, when you try to close your eyes.
- Upcoming deadlines.
- That cute girl you saw at the station.
- The unkind words you said to your colleague.
- etc., etc.
A study found that journaling is an easy and effective remedy in such a situation.
But how does writing help?
You’ve a hundred thoughts running in your head all day. Writing helps to make peace with those circling thoughts.
The study puts it this way…
There’s something about the act of writing — physically writing something on paper — that tends to offload it a little bit, or help us hit the pause button on it.
The result is that it reduces overthinking and worry. And if you’re decreasing those two things, you’ll naturally fall asleep faster.
Now, what should you journal to sleep better?
The study advises to write your to-do list before bed.
And writing your to-do list is more effective than writing what you accomplished that day. The reason is that when you have a task that’s unfinished, it’s on your mind more than any task you have completed.
Also, your mind remembers the unfinished tasks a lot better than the completed ones. Because negative emotions are always more powerful than positive ones.
Therefore, as unfinished tasks pile up, you become more and more anxious.
That’s where writing comes into the discussion, because it frees up your mind.
The study also found that people woke up less at the middle of the night and slept longer when they wrote their to-do lists before bed.
Conclusion
Write your to-do lists before bed to sleep better and for longer hours.
Thank you,
Joydeep Biswas
I walk, think, and publish articles on writing, introspection, and self-improvement.
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