Do a brain dump before bed for better sleep
Please tell me you know what a “brain dump” is, or at least that you don’t think I’m weird for using the term?
In case you don’t know what a brain dump is, it’s essentially taking some time to write down all the shit that is going on inside your head. As I said in last week’s post with eleven tips to help you sleep better, “write down all the things you can think of that you have to do. Every last thing. Now it’s on paper and the little man in the file room upstairs who has been running around with his hair on fire can calm the fuck down and go back to gliding around on his desk chair.”
If you find that when bedtime comes, you have too many thoughts still clamoring for your attention, a pre-bed brain dump can really help. If you are one of those people like I used to be, who lies down for bed and then starts making mental lists of all the many things you meant to do but didn’t, the things you want to do and hope to remember, and (possibly) a list of all the ways you are somehow “failing” by not doing ALL THE THINGS already, then a brain dump can help to quiet that noise.
It will work if you do it just prior to bed, but it works just a bit better (in my opinion) if you do it a bit earlier in the evening. Brain dumps tend to be either morning affairs, or late afternoon/early evening things for me. No matter when you get to it, the idea is that you vomit all that stuff that’s swirling inside your brain onto paper.
Yes, you can type it. But I find that I’m more likely to think broadly if I do it by hand. And I’m also more likely to keep going, rather than looking for the quick hit and then getting distracted by moving on to the next thing. You can try a different page for each “category” of life you think of, or you can just write it all down as you think of stuff in a giant mishmash, and sort it out later. (Personally, I’ve done both, and both work equally well.)
Either way, general categories to look for things to write down include:
work
side hustle (if any)
personal
family
health-related
financial
deadlines
shopping
food and meals
exercise
house-related
volunteering
people to contact
ideas
The above categories are super general and just to get you thinking if you sit down to do a brain dump and your brain (predictably) decides to clam up at first. And yes, I know that last one, “ideas”, is extra vague, but it can include thoughts that keep coming up for you. Like what a word means, or why your sister is mad at you, or whatever.
While your brain is happy to throw all those things at you when you finally get quiet at the end of the day, it doesn’t like to interfere when you are actively doing stuff, including making a list. If you take some time to just sit for a few minutes while pondering what goes on the list, you will likely find that your brain will be happy to tell you ALL THE THINGS.
From what you need at various stores to making appointments or scheduling vacation to filing forms with the government to setting aside time for that sex with your partner or buying Epsom salts for a hot bath, the little man in the file room upstairs who runs around bellowing things at you when you try to fall asleep will be happy to run back and forth until he is exhausted and has no more things to share.
What to do once you’ve got it written down
Now that it’s all out on paper, your brain doesn’t have to keep track of it all for you, and it can relax. This is especially true if you consult that brain dump from time to time and make progress on doing the items you wrote down. (It is SO satisfying to cross things out.) You can prioritize certain tasks, schedule things if you want, table others . . . but you can’t really do any of that if you don’t have it out and down to mess with.
The next morning (and every morning, really), consult your latest brain dump to pick at least one thing, but no more than three, off that list to accomplish during the day. It could be “call your mom”, or “cancel that appointment”, or “create a spreadsheet for X”. If you do that every day, for a week, especially if you are tackling at least one priority each day, you will not only have the satisfaction of crossing things off your list (SO satisfying, did I mention that already?), but you will also have completed between 7 and 21 things off that list, which makes you feel productive and further calms the little man in the upstairs file room, so that he doesn’t get in a tizzy at bedtime.
Now an e-book
If you, like me, prefer reading offline, then I’ve rounded up all the content in this sleep tips series and formatted it to print as an e-book. On sale for just $10.
