In the middle of the night:

I shift positions, check the time, punch the pillow into a fresh shape, and then lay there. The worries begin. Always the same concerns: Will my kids find happiness? Will the planet be hospitable when my grandkids are adults? How will I die? Who will care for the dogs? Did Don remember to shut the refrigerator door before he came to bed?

Don likens this fretting in the middle of the night to looking through one of those old View-Masters, where you drop in the reel and click the lever to view a different picture — in this case, a different worry. They’re always the same seven worries.

Overthinking

When I shared the View-Master metaphor with friends, I learned lots of them could relate. Racing thoughts at night are one of the most common reasons for sleep problems. In the wee hours, there’s no distractions to keep us from ruminating, even though we know going over past events won’t change them, and trying to predict the future is fruitless.

I came across an article written by a sleep specialist, Lisa Strauss, PhD, in the Washington Post: Overthinking at night? 6 strategies for better sleep that actually seem helpful.

So let me tell you how I’m using Dr. Strauss’s strategies with my View-Master:

1. Create new View-Master cards

The idea behind this is that the View-Master cannot entertain a picture reel with a clashing narrative. The goal is to switch out the negative thoughts for something better — so pick up a new Reel of Happy Thoughts. Visually walk through a calming and pleasant memory, such as a vacation, or the rooms of your grandmother’s house.

Alternately, listen to a peaceful audio book, podcasts or conversational radio program, or read a calming story or book. Each time the unwanted thoughts arise, don’t push them away. Let them recede into the background and gently return your attention to your soothing distractor.

Don’t choose a picture reel that would keep you up (something equally horrifying, apparently), and don’t focus on sleep as a goal while using it. Just relax. Let sleep come naturally.

2. Click through your terrible View-Master at a scheduled time

Set aside thirty minutes in the early evening, after work perhaps, and click through your View-Master of worrisome thoughts. Even if you can’t solve the problem, maybe think of some things you might do to change them.

If you practice this faithfully, when your mind reaches for the terrible View-Master, you can say “Not now,” and set it aside. I’m not convinced, although research shows this simple strategy can help. Read Surprising Ways to Manage Worrying

3. Make your View-Master audible

Try this daytime exercise in exposure therapy for your thoughts.

• List your recurrent negative and anxious thoughts.
• Record them into the audio recorder on your phone or computer three times in a singular long recording.
• The first time, recite the thoughts in the tone in which they naturally pop into your head.
• The second time, exaggerate that tone.
• The third time, make the tone absurd. Disaster!!!
• Listen to the recording on a loop for an hour a day while you are doing something else such as playing a computer game that doesn’t involve words or sound, or cleaning up.

According to the psychologist, over time, the recording should become boring, like repetitive background noise. When thoughts arise in your head, they are easily relegated to the background. Caution: This may make you feel crappy. You can give it up.

Also see Imaginal Exposure for OCD and Anxiety

4. Look beyond the View-Master

Examining your unattended feelings may change things. Ask yourself questions: “What am I afraid of?” or “What makes me sad?” or “What disappoints me?” Other questions might deal with shame, regret, trauma, etc. Think of it as the View-Master of Deep Questions.

The point is to address bigger issues that you may need to attend to, because they may be what’s catching up with you at night and making you toss and turn.

5. Take a closer look at your View-Master cards

In other words, think rationally. Ha! Do this during the day. Make use of cognitive-therapy techniques to examine those worries and think through what’s the worse that can happen? Is it really in your control?

6. Substitute the View-Master for something else

Make use of bedtime exercises that involve meditation, yoga stretches, journaling. Keep a pad of paper on your nightstand to jot down those worries so you can release them and get back to sleep. You might keep a self-soothing box that has comforting smells such as scented candles, essential oils, or body lotion, or worry stones that you can play with. Or listen soft music. Other self soothing ideas can be found here.

Alcohol and sleep disruption

While researching middle-of-the-night anxiety, I learned that alcohol may help you fall asleep, but it disrupts sleep in the second half of the night. Alcohol suppresses melatonin (a facilitator of sleep cycles) by 20% — this shocked me! I guess having two glasses of wine and then taking a melatonin tablet before bed isn’t a great strategy!

Anyway, after even moderate drinking, sleep is disrupted during the second half of the night. As the alcohol metabolizes, its sedative effects will fade, and the body undergoes a “rebound effect.” People who go to bed with alcohol in their system may wake early in the morning and not be able to fall back to sleep. The more you drink, and the closer it is to bedtime, the more it will negatively impact your sleep. 

And, of course, when your eyeballs pop open at 3am, and you can’t get back to sleep, you’re more likely to pick up that terrible View-Master. Read more about alcohol and sleep at Psychology Today

I hope these strategies help you sleep well!

---

Thank you for visiting

Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist.
Multi-award winning novel: In the Context of Love.
Picture book: Gordy and the Ghost Crab.
Latest poetry chapbook: Sleepwalker

Social media links: LinkTree