This is my favorite submission to the Healthier Hustle. I am glad it's not just me. 1:30-3:30am, after being asleep for hours, is absolutely when I replay ALL my life's choices. I tend to wash my face and envision all that worry /replay running down the drain. Then I practice the 4-7-8 breathing technique. Close your lips and inhale through your nose for a count of four. Hold your breath for a count of seven. Exhale completely through your mouth making a whoosh sound for a count of eight. This completes one cycle. I usually don't make it through more than 2 cycles before I have fallen back to sleep.
Oh! I love the visualization around washing your face! So cool. Plus I always wash my face as part of a before bed routine, so I could see how re-doing it in the middle of the night might re-set my brain for sleep. Also a great tip about 4-7-8 breathing. I can see how the counting and attention to breath would really interrupt the other swirling thoughts. I'm glad this resonated with you -- you're definitely not alone! But also sorry it resonated, in that it means you're awake in the middle of the night too!.
Yep, 3AM monkey-mind is not uncommon. Sometimes, it's a sugar thing—it's when the body metabolizes that second glass of wine I shouldn't have had after 7pm. Sometimes those middle-of-the-night muses are just human nature taking over (see this article on how humans slept in 2 phases before electricity: https://www.sleepscore.com/blog/two-phase-sleep/). Either way, my remedy is to whisper aloud to my monkey-mind, "There is nothing you can truly do about any of that at 3AM. Rest is what you need." One deep breath, sighed out long like my cat before his nap, and I doze back off.
That's really fascinating about the history of sleep! I also really like your gentle, firm (and so very true) guidance to your monkey-mind. Rest is exactly what is needed to make all those 3AM thing seems just a little smaller. Also love the visual of breathing like a cat before a nap!
This is my favorite submission to the Healthier Hustle. I am glad it's not just me. 1:30-3:30am, after being asleep for hours, is absolutely when I replay ALL my life's choices. I tend to wash my face and envision all that worry /replay running down the drain. Then I practice the 4-7-8 breathing technique. Close your lips and inhale through your nose for a count of four. Hold your breath for a count of seven. Exhale completely through your mouth making a whoosh sound for a count of eight. This completes one cycle. I usually don't make it through more than 2 cycles before I have fallen back to sleep.
Oh! I love the visualization around washing your face! So cool. Plus I always wash my face as part of a before bed routine, so I could see how re-doing it in the middle of the night might re-set my brain for sleep. Also a great tip about 4-7-8 breathing. I can see how the counting and attention to breath would really interrupt the other swirling thoughts. I'm glad this resonated with you -- you're definitely not alone! But also sorry it resonated, in that it means you're awake in the middle of the night too!.
Yep, 3AM monkey-mind is not uncommon. Sometimes, it's a sugar thing—it's when the body metabolizes that second glass of wine I shouldn't have had after 7pm. Sometimes those middle-of-the-night muses are just human nature taking over (see this article on how humans slept in 2 phases before electricity: https://www.sleepscore.com/blog/two-phase-sleep/). Either way, my remedy is to whisper aloud to my monkey-mind, "There is nothing you can truly do about any of that at 3AM. Rest is what you need." One deep breath, sighed out long like my cat before his nap, and I doze back off.
That's really fascinating about the history of sleep! I also really like your gentle, firm (and so very true) guidance to your monkey-mind. Rest is exactly what is needed to make all those 3AM thing seems just a little smaller. Also love the visual of breathing like a cat before a nap!