how to: stop mind racing at end of day and sleep.

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I used to put my tv on a sleep timer and low enough volume that i can hear it but it's not keeping me awake. I'd also face away from the tv so it's light doesn't distract me. I can't stand absolute silence so the faint sound of the tv was enough to keep me sane. Also if the tv was on, my mind would focus on the conversations on the show instead of racing with various ideas an thoughts.

However now that I have my iPhone with speaker, I use that instead of the tv since I can face it downwards and basically hide the screen so I see no light which helps me sleep better too. Sometimes I'll play piano music or Finding Nemo on a sleep timer. I know the script of Nemo by heart so I will think of the script in my head as the movie is playing in the background. Within 10 mins I'm fast asleep

I used to do that with my laptop so I could the screen and not have any light. Now I just leave a fan on all night.

I try to avoid working on my special interests for 30-60 mins before retiring....otherwise I end up thinking too hard and then I don't sleep well.

Instead, I just kind of slob about. It'd be good to get into something artistic (I hear that's a way of helping the mind to get ready for sleep). Playing music would probably do the trick, if I was careful to avoid getting intellectual and geeky about it (which tends to happen), but I don't like making a lot of noise late at night when other people are trying to sleep.

A lot depends on my mood. If anything profound has been happening to me, my brain often just won't stop racing. I have no cure for that, apart from staying up until I'm so tired that I can't fail to fall asleep.

One thing that helps a lot is physical exercise.

Hi Toughdiamond! Something artistic is not a good idea if it is one of your special interests....... you'll never get to bed!
Something frivilous that doesn't engage the mind....... boring movies maybe!

i just simply take pills i can't stop the racing of the mind on my own.

Spend some time on your special interest right before you go to bed.

Intersting question...

Specially because it is 2:30, I am to wake-up 6:30 to go to university, and I am f***** reading a forum instead of sleeping.

Yes, it's not going to work very well if the artistic thing is too fascinating, unless you've got a lot of self-discipline so you can tear yourself away. The main thing is to avoid using the intellect just before bedtime.

That is a big no no for me. My special interests tend to focus around writing programs. Trouble is I go to bed and then write program code in my head and even run and debug programs like that! Makes it very difficult to sleep. Sometimes I give up and get on the computer and type in the code I've written in my head in an attempt to clear it from the brain cells - that sometimes works then I can finally go back to bed and sleep.

One technique that does seem to work for me occasionally is to try to switch my attention to total blackness. A bit like meditation but the object is just the blackness behind closed eye lids. The mind keeps wandering back to the special interest but after gently bringing attention back to unthinking blackness the mind often gives up and goes to sleep.

Nothing works for me.

Sometimes I do that, but not in true blackness. Rather, I consciously engage and watch the light show on the insides of my eyelids to see what might appear -- sometimes clear images, sometimes silohettes (sp?), sometimes "fireworks" or kalidescope (sp?) -- and either my mind eventually relaxes after being satisfied and/or there is nothing more available today, or it just "gives up" and shuts down if nothing (more) appears (relative blackness).

This is my problem... I often wind up planning out detailed scenerios in my head and actually keeping myself awake by doing so. In the past, I would often rely on moderate doses of alcohol to shut my mind down before bed. However, as of late, I have all but sworn off any sort of alcoholic imbibements, so I am looking for something else... On a related note, I could not sleep last night, so I ended up deciding (around 4:00Am) to stay up all night, as I have to be at work discoursing with PhD's at 9:00. I figure that I am better off running on no sleep, as opposed to an hour or two... not to mention that my alarm is basically useless if I have not gotten a full eight hours of shut-eye in antecedent to its ringing.

HI Toughdiamond if one is creating artistic stuff it engages the mind but if one say plays a piece of music, providing you don't get too hung up on perfectionism, could be really a nice way to unwind.

One way might be to simply enjoy something artistic. looking at a few paintings or sculptures for example, rather than being active and creating the art yourself. Playing a piece of music could work as well, as you say. I don't know much about neurology but I've heard that there's one side of the brain that keeps us awake if it's been active, while the other side doesn't, and that those two sides are supposed to be the intellectual side and the artistic side respectively.

Lots of good advice already it seems to me. I too have often a hard time going to sleep. Especially if I've had sensory or emotional overload during the day. Like maybe something really nice happening. That's pretty much a guarantee my organism won't like to sleep.

I've started listening to audiobooks a lot lately. It's even become a bit of an obsession. Not least finding new ones at our local library and ripping them to my hard drive. I think I will soon have some 500 complete novels there Yummie!! !

What almost always works for me is to listen to an audiobook. I imagine it's similar to a child being read to at bedtime Cosy and feeling cared for. Seems at least in my case to be the right type of concentration (to end racing brane).

I also find that listening to an audiobook helps me get to sleep, a lot better than reading a regular book, which tends to keep me awake. For me though, I think the difference has to do with the sensory modality involved, as reading Braille in the dark before bed is just as effective as listening to an audiobook. Focusing on hearing or touch helps to calm my mind down, while focusing on visual stimulation just wakes me up, apparently. It could also be that keeping the light off (rather than on to read a book) allows my body extra time to produce melatonin before trying to go to sleep (light suppresses melatonin production)- though I only spend 15-20 minutes reading though, so it shouldn't make a big difference. Unfortunately I can't take melatonin supplements because I have unpleasant side effects.