10.....Limit yourself to thinking about one subject as you lie down to sleep.
Those who have a lot of anxiety let their thoughts shoot around from one subject to another as they try to go to sleep until, in a matter of minutes, they have created a virtual catalogue of problems. With all these problems, you'll ask yourself, how can I possibly
sleep?
Tonight as you are brushing your teeth, come up with something you'd like to think about when you slip under the covers. Ifother thoughts start to intrude, guide yourself back to that one
subject.
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Megan hates junk mail. Not only does it waste her time, it also creates garbage. There's so much garbage! Megan doesn't know how people can throw out so much stuff. They say the landfills are nearly full.
Where will the garbage go then? It's not just garbage. There's all the waste from nuclear plants and toxic chemicals. What will the environment be like for the next generation? In two generations?
Will the Earth survive? Can it possibly?
Too many of us allow our presleep thoughts to drift like this. Here Megan's minor annoyance leads to concerns about the future of the planet. And those concerns race around, causing
stress instead of relaxation and sending people like Megan in search of sleep aids. Too many thoughts, we now know, even if they don't lead to such a drastic topic as the fate of the Earth, are unsettling and make it much harder to sleep. When our thoughts bounce in and out, each idea backed by another, the stream of ideas makes us more on edge and less ready to close our eyes, shut off our brain for the day, and fall blissfully into sleep.
In studies of college students, shifting between pre-sleep thoughts was found to be related to difficulty in sleeping and lower sleep quality, which, in turn, were related to unhappiness.
Better sleepers are 6 percent more satisfied with their lives than average sleepers, and 25 percent more satisfied than poor sleepers.
Abdel Khalek, Al-Meshaan, and Al-Shatti 1995
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