However, your brain, the Universe\u2019s most powerful biological supercomputer, decides it\u2019s pranking time. Instead of letting you nod off, it leaves you staring at the ceiling, thoughts speeding through your mind like a cheetah on roller skates.<\/p>\n
But why does this happen? How come your mind stops you from sleeping exactly when you need it the most? The answer: it\u2019s likely you\u2019re over<\/em>tired, effectively too tired to fall asleep.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve heard the term before, it\u2019s probably been used to describe a baby. That\u2019s because when an infant has been up for longer than their little bodies can manage, they enter a state of \u2018overtiredness\u2019 where stress and sleep difficulties ensue.<\/p>\n However, the same problem can also occur in adults when unchecked emotions stall your body\u2019s default shutdown programme. Worse still, if you\u2019re persistently overtired, getting to sleep can get harder and harder.<\/p>\n Fortunately, there are ways you can break the cycle. Below we not only explain what overtiredness is, but also three easy, science-backed steps that will help put it to bed for good.<\/p>\n Being overtired is a cruel paradox. While you may feel<\/em> exhausted from physical and mental chores, your brain is actually overstimulated and in a state known as hyperarousal. Not like that<\/em>: being aroused in this instance just means your mind is on high alert and hasn\u2019t had the chance to unwind before bedtime.<\/p>\n It\u2019s this state of thinking that halts some of the key functions that allow your body to sleep. In particular, the build-up of sleep pressure.<\/p>\n As a process, sleep pressure is largely what it sounds like. When you\u2019re continually awake during the day, various neurochemicals and hormones in the brain, such as adenosine, increase in concentration. It\u2019s their build-up that largely drives your need for sleep.<\/p>\n \u201cInterestingly, over the same time as sleep pressure builds, the brain can become more and more excitable,\u201d says Matt Jones<\/a>, professor of neuroscience at The University of Bristol.<\/p>\n \u201cThe neurons in your cerebral cortex [the outer layer of your brain] tend to fire increasingly frequently over the course of an extended period of wakefulness.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cA key theory is that sleep resets your sleep pressure \u2013 sleep effectively stops the brain from getting more and more excitable and metaphorically exploding!\u201d<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n As you might guess, being in a state of hyperarousal, with thoughts from the day racing through your mind, royally screws this system reset.<\/p>\n Specifically, it impacts a small part of the brainstem called the locus coeruleus.<\/p>\n \u201cActivity in this brain region needs to be slow to enable us to transition into sleep. But during hyperarousal, activity here is abnormally high. And that resists the mechanisms that allow sleep pressure to increase and let us get off to sleep,\u201d says Jones.<\/p>\n Worst still, if you are regularly overtired and miss out on sleep, your brain may become more stimulated by troubling thoughts the next night.<\/p>\n One 2019 study found that people who suffer from insomnia were significantly more likely to mull over a recent embarrassment<\/a> at night than healthy sleepers.<\/p>\n And, as one Dutch study showed, insomnia sufferers can be hypersensitive even to the sound of their own heartbeat<\/a>, which may keep them awake for longer.<\/p>\n \u201cRested brains are good at ignoring things that happen all the time but have no real consequence. But if you suffer from insomnia, you\u2019re less able to let go \u2013 consciously or unconsciously \u2013 of irrelevant information. That accumulates a massive burden on the brain,\u201d explains Jones.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In a nutshell, if you\u2019re overtired and key brain regions are still in a state of hyperarousal when your head hits the pillow, you simply haven\u2019t processed everything important from your day.<\/p>\n As Dr Alex Scott<\/a>, lecturer in psychology at Keele University, explains, this is actually extremely common: \u201cAs humans in today\u2019s society, we are normally quite bad at regulating our emotions and processing things that have happened to us. We simply don\u2019t get the opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cThis means at the very end of the day we\u2019re left unable to think about our emotions in a positive way. Instead, we blow things out of proportion and ruminate over our worries in bed.<\/p>\n He adds: \u201cRuminating is a quick fix that we use to try and feel in control, but we\u2019re not really positively processing these thoughts \u2013 it\u2019s not conducive to good mental health.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more tired we get, we\u2019re more likely to use a maladaptive strategy to tackle our worries, like ruminating or blaming others.\u201d<\/p>\n So, if ruminating isn\u2019t likely to terminate your overtiredness, what will? Scott has three key strategies you can use.<\/p>\n The frustrating truth: you can\u2019t will yourself to sleep. In fact, the more effort you put in, the harder it will be to drift off. That\u2019s why strategies like counting sheep have been shown to not help you get to sleep any faster<\/a>.<\/p>\n What can help, however, is accepting this fact. \u201cWe need to acknowledge that sleep is an automated process. It won\u2019t happen if you try and make it happen,\u201d says Scott.<\/p>\n Instead, focus on what you can control: processing your emotions with a worry diary (see next step).<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n We get it: penning a worry diary sounds like a prospect deserving of your eye rolls. But, according to Scott, this simple exercise regularly betters the shut-eye of patients with sleep problems.<\/p>\n Writing the diary is simple enough. Before bed, list your worries on a page, whether it\u2019s related to work, health, your social life \u2013 whatever. And that\u2019s pretty much it.<\/p>\n The act of writing down these worries itself may help reveal how much these anxieties aren\u2019t rooted in reality. For other worries, you may want to write down a quick action plan for how you\u2019ll tackle them tomorrow, a practice that, as Scott says, will help you temporarily put the problem aside.<\/p>\n \u201cIn no way am I saying that once you\u2019ve put them down on the page, your worries will be solved. When you turn the lights off and your bedroom is quiet, those thoughts are going to be there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is more a tool to force you to process your emotional responses around the things that are keeping you awake.\u201d<\/p>\n And if your worries are still running rampant in your mind come 2am? Rinse and repeat: if you can\u2019t get to sleep after 15 minutes, get out of bed and find a peaceful part of your home to write more worry diary entries, covering the same ground if needed.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the worst things you can do is stay in bed tossing and turning,\u201d explains Scott.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about managing what\u2019s called \u2018stimulus control\u2019. This basically means it\u2019s a good idea not to associate your bed with too much worrying \u2013 that can lead to more sleep problems.\u201d<\/p>\n How do you make sure you have time to process your day? Set an alarm for it \u2013 preferably an hour before bed. According to Scott, Using this time to unwind and relax will help you fortify your mind against emotional exhaustion.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever works in this hour will depend on the individual,\u201d he says. \u201cIt might be reading a book, it may be doing some mindfulness or writing a worry diary.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the key is safeguarding time before bed. It\u2019s to make sure that the winding down process is not occurring when you\u2019re trying to actually sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n Prof Matt Jones<\/strong> is a neuroscientist at the University of Bristol. He studies the science of sleep and also the brain regions associated with the processing of memory and decision-making. His work has been published in over 40 academic journals, including Frontiers In Neurology<\/em>, Sleep<\/em> and the Journal Of Neuroscience<\/em>.<\/p>\n Dr Alex Scott<\/strong> is a lecturer in psychology at Keele University. His research investigates the role sleep plays in the experience of mental health difficulties. Scott\u2019s work has been published in journals including the British Journal Of Health Psychology<\/em> and the British Medical Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <\/body><\/html>\n Unchecked emotional exhaustion can scupper your slumber when you need it most. Here are the simple tools you need to reset your sleep \u2013 and enhance your emotional regulation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25281,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"7"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/how-hidden-overtiredness-is-ruining-your-sleep-and-how-to-fix-it.jpg",1200,540,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/how-hidden-overtiredness-is-ruining-your-sleep-and-how-to-fix-it-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/how-hidden-overtiredness-is-ruining-your-sleep-and-how-to-fix-it-300x135.jpg",300,135,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/how-hidden-overtiredness-is-ruining-your-sleep-and-how-to-fix-it-768x346.jpg",768,346,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/how-hidden-overtiredness-is-ruining-your-sleep-and-how-to-fix-it-1024x461.jpg",800,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/how-hidden-overtiredness-is-ruining-your-sleep-and-how-to-fix-it.jpg",1200,540,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/how-hidden-overtiredness-is-ruining-your-sleep-and-how-to-fix-it.jpg",1200,540,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Unchecked emotional exhaustion can scupper your slumber when you need it most. Here are the simple tools you need to reset your sleep \u2013 and enhance your emotional regulation.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How being overtired ruins your sleep<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2023\/03\/woman-sleeping-bed-53326b0.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>How to stop being overtired<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. Stop counting sheep<\/strong><\/h3>\n
2. Keep a worry diary<\/strong><\/h3>\n
3. Set a bedtime timer<\/strong><\/h3>\n
About our experts<\/strong><\/h3>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"