How to stop racing thoughts at night: the bedtime writing method

Writing a specific to-do list for five minutes before bed can shorten the time it takes to fall asleep. In a sleep-lab study, students who did this fell asleep in about 15 minutes, compared with about 25 minutes for those who wrote about finished tasks.¹

Why the mind races at night

Unfinished tasks and worries keep the mind active when nothing else competes for attention. The Baylor University team behind the main study cites a National Sleep Foundation figure that about 40 percent of American adults have difficulty falling asleep at least a few times a month.²

Two patterns are common:

• Task loops. You keep cycling through tomorrow's list.
• Rumination. You replay problems without moving toward a solution.

The study behind the method

Michael Scullin and colleagues tested bedtime writing with polysomnography, the lab standard for measuring sleep. The 2018 study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General involved 57 university students.³

Participants spent five minutes writing either a to-do list for the coming days or a list of tasks they had completed. Those in the to-do group fell asleep faster.⁴

Scullin noted that nine minutes is comparable to improvements seen in clinical trials of some prescription sleep medications.⁵

Limits of the evidence

One small study of students does not settle the question. The sample was young and the writing task was brief.

The finding is useful as a low-risk habit to try. It is not a treatment for insomnia.

The five-minute protocol

Write a specific list, then close the notebook or app.

1. Set a timer for five minutes, just before you get into bed.
2. List tasks for the next few days, one per line.
3. Add a next action to each, such as "email Dana about the invoice".
4. Put the list away.
5. If a task pops up later, tell yourself it is already written down.

Specific beats vague. "Plan the project" is weak. "Draft the outline for the Q3 report on Tuesday morning" is strong.

When the problem is worry, not tasks

If the loop is worry rather than a list, rumination is the likely pattern. Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco and Lyubomirsky define rumination as repetitive negative thinking about your distress and its causes.⁶ It links to depression and also to anxiety, binge eating and binge drinking.⁶

Three techniques have research support:

• Distance yourself. In Ethan Kross's studies, people who referred to themselves by name or as "you" reported less anxiety and shame than those who used "I".⁷ A 2017 study found third-person self-talk reduced emotional reactivity without heavy cognitive effort.⁸
• Write about it. James Pennebaker's expressive writing studies had people write about stressful events for 15 minutes on four consecutive nights.⁹ The US Department of Veterans Affairs describes expressive writing as showing small to moderate benefits for PTSD symptoms.¹⁰
• Test the thought. A thought record lists the evidence for and against a worry.

What to avoid at 2 a.m.

Avoid screens, email and problem-solving once you are in bed. Screens and fresh information give the mind more to process. Keep a notebook by the bed and write one line if a thought will not leave.

Persistent insomnia needs a clinician.

A one-week experiment

Run the method for seven nights and track two things.

• Minutes you think it took to fall asleep.
• How worried you felt at lights out, from 0 to 10.

If nothing changes after a week, stop and speak to a doctor if sleep remains a problem.

Where Mandaboard fits

Mandaboard keeps both kinds of nighttime writing in one private place. Add a task as a card on your board with ⌘N. Put a worry in the Thought Log with ⌘4, then ⌘N, and rate it before and after. Everything stays on your Mac.

Mandaboard is a self-help tool, not a treatment for sleep or anxiety conditions. See Working with thought records.

References

Footnotes

1. British Psychological Society. Researchers say this 5-minute technique could help you fall asleep more quickly. Research Digest. ↩

2. Baylor University. Can writing your to-dos help you to doze? (2018). ↩

3. Scullin, M. K., Krueger, M. L., Ballard, H. K., Pruett, N., & Bliwise, D. L. (2018). The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep: A polysomnographic study comparing to-do lists and completed activity lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(1), 139–146. PubMed Central. ↩

4. Scullin et al. (2018), APA PsycNet record. Reports faster sleep in the to-do condition and a specificity effect. ↩

5. TIME. Sleep tip: writing a to-do list helps you fall asleep faster (2018). ↩

6. Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Wisco, B. E., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Rethinking rumination. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(5), 400–424. SAGE. ↩ ↩²

7. Kross, E., Bruehlman-Senecal, E., et al. (2014). Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: How you do it matters. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(2), 304–324. PubMed. ↩

8. Moser, J. S., et al. (2017). Third-person self-talk facilitates emotion regulation without engaging cognitive control. Scientific Reports, 7. Nature. ↩

9. Psychology in Action. Classic psychology experiments: James Pennebaker's expressive writing paradigm. ↩

10. US Department of Veterans Affairs. Therapeutic journaling. ↩