The quality of a person’s thoughts before going to bed directly affects the quality of his night’s sleep. At the same time, regular thoughts and plans for the next day can lead to a person sleeping poorly or not being able to sleep at all. This conclusion was reached by Australian psychologists from Monash University and the University of Melbourne. Article published in the online magazine The Conversation.
The publication’s authors, Melinda Jackson and Hayley Mikmil, analyzed several studies on the relationship between stress and recent experiences and how well people sleep. In the cases they studied, the main obstacle to falling asleep was cognitive activation, resulting from the brain’s reluctance to distract from some important topic. Moreover, the inability to relax may be due to excitement before tomorrow’s events or watching an interesting TV series.
Scientists have found that a good night’s sleep is often preceded by visual images similar to dreams, while insomnia is associated with thinking about certain problems.
Psychologists warn against forcing yourself to sleep; This only increases the stress level which forces you to stay awake. Instead, experts have suggested a technique called cognitive refocusing.
Its essence is to switch from unpleasant thoughts to pleasant, but not very exciting pictures of your imagination. To do this, before going to bed, you need to choose a fantasy topic related to your interests and imagine yourself in a calm environment, doing your favorite hobby.
Previous scientists named An ideal sleep pattern for people who work at night.