How to Turn Off Your Brain at Night: 8 Proven Ways

Many people with sleep struggles are familiar with what it’s like to lay down while feeling exhausted beyond words but have a brain that doesn’t want to switch off. This can be incredibly frustrating and is a common problem that occurs when your body is out of sync. 

Having these difficulties doesn’t mean you aren’t trying your best to get good rest. And you’re not alone. In fact, between 39 and 78% of Americans have lost sleep due to racing thoughts over various life issues. This article will teach you the reason people often have trouble turning their brain off for the night and what to do about it, including strategies and sleep programs such as Sound for Sleep.

What to Do Tonight When Your Brain Won’t Shut Off

For those lying awake right now and searching for answers, we have several strategies to try. We have intentionally placed these methods in a certain order, since we advise trying certain ones before others. If you try the first one to teach yourself how to turn your brain off at night and don’t get many results, don’t give up. Try that method for about a week before making the decision to move on. If you still don’t get relief from sleeplessness, simply move on to the second technique and try that for a week.

Be sure to jot down how each method makes you feel, and how long you tried it for so you can recall which have been effective and which haven’t worked for you. Read on to learn what these strategies are, why each of them works, and how to carry them out in your nightly routine.

Technique	Time Needed	Who it’s best for
Stop trying to fall asleep	5 minutes	People who put a lot of energy into getting more sleep
Cognitive shuffling	5 minutes	Those who have racing thoughts and enjoy games
Deep breathing	1 minute or less	People whose anxiety may cause shortness of breath or shallow breathing
Music	1-2 minutes	Light sleepers and those who find peace from calming music
Progressive muscle relaxation	6 minutes	People with muscular tension as a result of their anxiety
Get out of bed after 20 minutes	1 minute	Those who spend a lot of time in bed tossing and turning while they try to get to sleep
Speak your worries	5 minutes or less	People with a lot of concerns on their mind and those who don’t often journal or vent to others about their problems
Don’t look at the clock	1 minute	Those who fixate on how much sleep they will get if they fall asleep at a certain time

Stop Trying to Fall Asleep

This strategy sounds a little too good to be true, but it is a great foundation to start with if your brain has trouble switching off. Many people spend a lot of energy and effort trying to optimize their sleep to be just right. But this can often have the opposite effect, especially if you start to experience stress from not seeing the results you want.

This strategy, called paradoxical intention, involves taking the pressure off the act of sleeping and instead focusing on getting any amount of rest. Technically, just laying in bed is giving our body a rest, so try to shift your mindset to recognizing what the act of laying down is doing for your well-being.

Paradoxical intention is a great fit for people who feel like they’re trying too hard to sleep and are dwelling on the thought of getting better sleep. This strategy can be a great way to relieve the mental pressure that prevents our brains from letting us sleep. By easing the cognitive resources we are using, our brain becomes less alert and more able to slip into a relaxed state that shows you how to quiet your mind for sleep.

While this strategy is simple, there are some steps to help you get started:

1. Spend time in your dark bedroom while you find a comfortable laying down position that you usually fall asleep in.
2. Once you are physically settled, remain in that position with your eyes open and simply let your racing thoughts about sleep arise and then pass by you.
3. After sitting with them for some time but not taking any action to fall asleep, you will feel more comfortable with your thoughts and slowly switch your brain to a more relaxed state.

Give Your Mind Something Boring to Do (Cognitive Shuffling)

Cognitive shuffling is a relatively new technique that shows great promise for helping people get to sleep. Developed by Dr. Luc Beaudoin, cognitive shuffling has a similar basis to paradoxical intention in that it emphasizes how overly focusing on certain thoughts can delay sleep. For this reason, cognitive shuffling is ideal for people who struggle to get to sleep at night or wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time getting back to sleep.

In order to practice cognitive shuffling to learn how to clear your mind for sleep, you will use a series of neutral, meaningless, boring images and thoughts that help create a sense of monotony. This simple task not only takes your mind off your worries, but creates a routine that the brain can switch to autopilot for. You can think of cognitive shuffling as a meditation-style game where you mentally draw out the images you are imagining.

There are several ways to go through cognitive shuffling. One of these includes the following steps:

1. Find a comfortable position laying down in bed.
2. Think of a random word (it should be at least 6 or 7 letters long) that you don’t have much of a connection to. This will differ from person to person based on their experiences, but some examples are anyone, arrowhead, and compound.
3. Mentally go through the word one letter at a time and think of a word that starts with that letter. For instance, if you use arrowhead, you would start with A and may visualize an apple, some wall art, an ant, etc.
4. Once you get bored or can’t think of any other words for that first letter, move on to the next letter in your original word.
5. Repeat these steps until you reach the end of your original word or fall asleep.

An important part of this strategy is keeping the words neutral so that you don’t have any strong emotions attached to them. If you think of and visualize a word that makes you feel overly happy, distressed, uncomfortable, or anxious, you can use some deep breathing or progressive muscle relaxation strategies (described later in this article) to recenter yourself.

When you feel regulated and ready, you can resume cognitive shuffling by moving on to another word. You can repeat these steps as long as it takes for you to fall asleep, as there is no recommended amount of time to run through cognitive shuffling.

If you prefer, you can choose some alternative steps for cognitive shuffling:

1. Find a comfortable position laying down in bed.
2. Think of objects, images, etc. that start with the letter A. This may include an apple, an anteater, an anvil, an aerial view of a landscape, and more.
3. Once you can’t think of anything else beginning with the letter A or you get bored, mentally imagine objects and images for the letter B.
4. Repeat these steps until you reach the end of the alphabet or fall asleep.

Slow Your Breathing

While we may not even recognize it, our breathing says a lot about our mental state. We tend to breathe quicker and more shallowly when we are anxious or distressed, which is why deep breathing is known to be effective for those in times like these. The same goes for people who are anxious about going to sleep, which undoubtedly has an impact on their ability to shift their brain off for the night. Deep breathing is known to improve sleep quality and shorten the amount of time it takes to fall asleep.

One of the most important factors to keep in mind related to deep breathing is to focus more on the exhale rather than the inhale. You do need to take a sufficient amount of air into your lungs in order to fully exhale, but the exhale is where we really feel the old air leave our bodies and make room for new air.

There are various types of deep breathing, including box breathing, belly breathing (diaphragmatic breathing), alternate nostril breathing, pursed lip breathing, and humming breathing. We will walk you through the steps to 4-7-8 breathing, which is considered especially helpful if you want to learn how to turn off your brain so you can sleep. 4-7-8 breathing involves the following steps:

1. Find a comfortable position laying down in bed. You can keep your eyes open or closed.
2. Count to 4 as you slowly inhale through your nose.
3. Hold your breath (without force, but while remaining comfortable) for a total of 7 seconds.
4. Gently place your lips together (as if you are about to blow on something) and exhale slowly through your mouth for 8 seconds. Do your best to steady your exhale while still ensuring you get as much air out of your lungs as possible.

Use Calming Sound to Settle Your Mind

Many people may rely on music to calm themselves and boost their mood during the day, but music can also help settle the mind in the evening to help prepare for sleep. Steady, soothing sounds found in music give the mind something to hold on to rather than allowing racing thoughts to fill space there.

The music that is most helpful for sleep may vary from person to person based on their preference. However, evidence does show that some tunes (such as classical music, lullabies, and Celtic music) are particularly effective for getting to sleep.

Sound for Sleep by SoundSory offers an integrated playlist within a bone conduction pillow speaker. This type of pillow speaker gives you a personalized listening experience that doesn’t impact your partner or anyone else in the room. This program is screen-free (protecting us from any blue light that is known to keep us up through the night) and doesn’t require the use of any medications or supplements.

With an 8-night structured music program, Sound for Sleep has professionally processed tracks that have each been hand-selected to show you how to quiet your mind to sleep. This technology comes with a USB-C charging port for easy battery replenishment, automatic shut-off, and an 8-hour battery life, helping you stay connected all night long without any need for your intervention.

Relax Your Body Muscle by Muscle

It’s common for anxiety and racing thoughts to manifest in the body, which can lead to headaches, nausea, and (most notably) overly tense muscles. By addressing this tension, we can make our bodies more comfortable and simultaneously clear our minds in preparation for sleep.

Progressive muscle relaxation is one great way to do this. This technique allows for greater body awareness and deeper relaxation that comes one muscle group at a time. Progressive muscle relaxation works by tensing one group of muscles in the body for a short period of time, then relaxing them. You move through each muscle group in the body, which is essential because we don’t always know where our tension is before we practice this exercise.

Follow these steps to practice the technique:

1. Find a comfortable position while laying down in bed.
2. Starting at your toes, bend both of your feet at the ankle so that your toes point upward toward your face. Hold this position for 30 seconds, then relax.
3. Tense your calf muscles, hold for 30 seconds, then relax.
4. Lift your legs just a bit off the bed, hold for 30 seconds, then relax.
5. Squeeze your buttocks together, hold for 30 seconds, then relax.
6. Squeeze your hips together, hold for 30 seconds, then relax.
7. Gently arch your lower back and suck your stomach in, squeezing and holding for 30 seconds, then relax.
8. With arms rested at your side, squeeze them against your body while tensing your stomach and holding for 30 seconds, then relax.
9. Make a fist with both hands, hold for 30 seconds, then relax.
10. Bend your arms at the elbow and squeeze your upper arm muscles; hold for 30 seconds, then relax.
11. Bring your shoulders up as close to your ears as possible, hold for 30 seconds, then relax.
12. Tuck your chin into your chest, squeeze and hold for 30 seconds, then relax.
13. Tense all of the muscles in your face by squeezing your eyes closed, clenching your jaw, pressing your tongue on the roof of your mouth, squeezing your lips together, wrinkling your nose, and furrowing your brow. Hold all of these muscles for 30 seconds, then relax.

Get Out of Bed if You’ve Been Awake for 20 Minutes

This is another simple technique that is part of a therapeutic technique called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). If you are in bed and laying awake for too long while you try to get to sleep, your brain will learn to connect your bed with trying to get to sleep rather than sleep itself. This link will only make it more and more difficult to sleep as time goes on.

Therefore, if you’re in bed for 15-20 minutes without any success in falling asleep, it’s best to get out of bed and help your brain reset to focus on something new altogether. When this happens, it’s recommended to shift to a simple, non-stimulating activity that doesn’t require too much thinking or effort. Some examples include meditating, reading a boring book that you know doesn’t interest you, gently stretching your body, sitting in a comfortable chair with a heated object (blanket or hot water bottle), drinking a warm but non-caffeinated beverage, or meditating for a short time.

There are other options that can also work. The most important thing to remember about this strategy is to avoid screens at all costs, as the blue light exposure will only make it more difficult to get to sleep.

Say the Worry Out Loud

The problem with racing thoughts is mostly that they don’t have anywhere to go. Therefore, it creates a loop that allows us to continue dwelling on them over and over again without any relief from how they make us feel.

This is why our next strategy works: it helps break that loop and gives the anxious, racing thoughts a place to go rather than staying in our mind. Saying your worries out loud in a sort of brain dump allows us to clear our minds and get ready for the next step, which is sleeping.

We can verbalize these worries out loud as a way to vent them to the world around us, or you might find it effective to jot them down on paper to separate them from us in another way. If you choose to do the latter, follow these steps:

1. Get a piece of paper (or notebook) and something to write with. Don’t do this on your phone.
2. Set a timer or keep an eye on the clock so you can write for the next 5 minutes.
3. Start writing without any filters or breaks so you can get everything that’s in your head out. You may find that some of your writing flows into other worries that weren’t once in your head. Or maybe they tend to focus on what you were once dwelling on. This is perfectly fine either way.
4. When your time is up, stop writing and place your paper elsewhere. Some people prefer to place their writing in another room to help them even more fully separate themselves from what they wrote.

Stop Checking the Clock

In a similar vein as focusing too much on sleep, checking the clock as you try to fall asleep can have the opposite intended effect. Some people may look at the clock so they can mentally calculate how many hours of sleep they would get if they fell asleep at a certain time. But this only fuels the anxiety surrounding not being able to sleep.

In addition, looking at your phone to check the time exposes you to blue light, which makes it even harder to sleep.

Instead of just saying to stop checking the clock, the best way to implement this strategy is to distract yourself from the time it takes to fall asleep. You can do this by using some of the activities we listed in another section, specifically those that you should turn toward when you get out of bed after 20 minutes of trying to fall asleep. These are far more likely to help you get to sleep than staring at the clock and simultaneously increasing your racing thoughts.

What to Do When You Wake at 3 AM and Can’t Switch Off

Sometimes they go hand in hand, but waking up in the middle of the night is actually a separate problem from not being able to fall asleep in the first place. You shouldn’t feel stressed about brief nighttime awakenings as long as you’re able to get back to sleep. These are normal and don’t need any sort of addressing.

But if you need help falling back asleep after waking up, there are some strategies you can try. As we mentioned before, cognitive shuffling can be good for both of these concerns. Another trick is called the Military Sleep Method, which is designed to be highly efficient, as it was initially used by soldiers who had limited downtime. In two minutes or less, you can use the Military Sleep Method as follows:

1. Find a comfortable position to lay down in.
2. Relax your entire upper body, including your face and shoulders, with hands and arms resting comfortably at your sides.
3. Inhale once through the nose, taking a slow and deep breath in.
4. Exhale once through your mouth, taking a slow and deep breath out.
5. Relax your entire lower body, including your calves and feet.
6. Take 10 seconds to imagine a relaxing place that helps you clear your mind. This can be anywhere that brings you comfort. If that doesn’t help you, you can also use these 10 seconds to repeat a helpful affirmation or mantra.

There are many reasons why it can be difficult to switch your brain off. We will go through some of the common ones in the next section and detail what strategies may be most beneficial for these concerns.

Why Your Brain Won’t Switch Off at Night

When our brain is overly alert and aroused, we have difficulty switching off. This means we either stay mentally active longer than we need (or want) to or we tend to be mentally active more easily than we should be. Regardless of which of these categories you fall into, there are ways to address the causes of hyperarousal that keeps us awake. First we need to learn why these causes keep us awake in order to understand how to best manage them. 

Cause	Why it Keeps You Awake	What to Try Tonight
No distractions	We aren’t occupied in bed so there isn’t anything else to focus on	Cognitive shuffling
Brain is still problem-solving	We are still working through problems or concerns from earlier that day	Saying the worries out loud
High stress hormones	Hormones keep our brain in  a constant state of alertness	Deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation
Stimulation/screens before bed	Blue light and strenuous activities keep us mentally active and alert	Soothing music without the use of screens
Caffeine, alcohol, nicotine	Consuming these substances too close to bedtime stimulates the brain	Adjusting the timing of using these substances
Body clock is out of sync	Circadian rhythms are programmed to keep you up at night and tired during the day	Stop trying to fall asleep, stop checking the clock
You’ve learned to be awake in bed	You have begun to associate bed with stressful, awake time	Get out of bed if you’ve been awake for more than 20 minutes

There’s Nothing Left to Distract You

When people have racing thoughts at night, they’re very likely to have them during the day, too. But most people have a lot going on during the day, so there are many opportunities to distract them from those thoughts. Once the activities of the day have ended and we free up more time to relax or spend with loved ones, it’s common for those racing thoughts to get louder and more difficult to manage. This can especially impact our ability to get to sleep.

Your Brain Is Still in Problem-Solving Mode

If you have unfinished work from earlier that day or you’re focused on what tomorrow will bring, your brain won’t have the time to power down before you sleep. This, coupled with laying still in bed without anything else to do, will allow your brain to rattle off solutions and answers in an attempt to deal with those problems, projects, or whatever else you’re thinking of.

Stress Hormones Haven’t Come Down

Hormones play a big part in our ability to get to sleep. In particular, a stress hormone called cortisol tells our body that it’s time for action, which keeps us alert, awake, and ready to respond to potential dangers around us. Ongoing stress during the day tends to keep these levels high in our body, which extends through the night. As you can imagine, this isn’t an ideal situation for our sleep readiness.

Screens and Stimulation Before Bed

Any form of stimulation can impact our ability to sleep, but there are many types that we may not know about. Blue light, which is given off from electronic devices such as TVs, tablets, cellphones, laptops, and more, is known to impact our alertness and keep us awake at a time when we should sleep. But strenuous exercise, mentally taxing activities such as homework or paperwork, and more can also stimulate us and keep us awake longer than we need to be.

Caffeine, Alcohol, and Nicotine

It has long been known that our daytime habits influence our nighttime habits and vice versa. What we consume stays in our body for a certain amount of time, meaning it has the potential to keep us awake based on when it enters our system. This goes for large meals and snacks that take the form of greasy, hard-to-digest foods, but certain substances are even more impactful.

For instance, any caffeine (energy drinks, some teas, coffee, and soda) stands to impact our sleep if it is consumed 10 hours or less before bedtime. Similarly, alcohol and food items will affect our ability to fall asleep if ingested 3 hours or less before bedtime. Nicotine will do the same if it’s consumed in any form 4 hours or less before bed.

Your Body Clock Is Out of Sync

Our body has an internal clock (called a circadian rhythm) that gives us a sense of when it’s time to go to sleep and when it’s time to wake up. If we naturally wake up at 7 a.m. most mornings without assistance, that’s because of our circadian rhythm. The same goes for sleep time. If your natural ‘sleep’ time doesn’t get you off to sleep until 2 a.m. and wakes you up for good only a few hours after that, this means it may need adjusting to get you better sleep.

You’ve Learned to Be Awake in Bed

It can certainly be stressful when you are trying to work against sleep problems to get the rest you need. Sometimes, this carries over to the bed by making us more stressed. This often happens when we get used to spending a lot of time in bed trying to fall asleep, tossing and turning, and wondering what will finally work for us. We learn to make this connection, which means we can unlearn it and try to replace it with better habits.

Why Trying Harder to Sleep Makes It Worse

Many people view sleep as an idealistic goal that we need to achieve to get the perfect picture of health. While sleep is certainly important, it doesn’t need to stress you out. In fact, this will only make it seem further away the more we try. Try to ease the pressure you place on yourself, but don’t give up. Try new strategies (including the ones we’ve discussed here) and be sure not to repeat ones you’ve already learned don’t work. This will only make things more frustrating.

Setting Up Your Bedroom for a Quieter Mind

The bedroom can be a make-or-break factor for sleeping. There are several adjustments that can be made to turn it into a refuge for you as you drift off to sleep:

• Temperature: We need the room to be slightly cool to prevent the need to increase bodily functions and cool us down. This may mean having a fan going or cracking a window to get the temperature just right.
• Bed itself: We should have comfortable bedding, including sheets, pillowcases, blankets, and comforters. If anything is itchy, too heavy, too thin, or just doesn’t sit right with us, it will negatively affect sleep.
• Smells: Aromas like lavender, chamomile, and other natural scents can be great additions to the bedroom. You can use candles, pillow sprays, or diffusers with these essential oils.
• Darkness: Blackout curtains and eye masks often do the trick to place you in total darkness to help with sleep.
• Noise: Keep the room as quiet as possible, free of outside noise that may keep you up. You can try closing the door to your room or using soundproofing. If this is difficult or can’t be done, you may want to use earplugs to block it out.

It’s also good to have a plan to add some of these components in your routine when you travel or sleep in an unfamiliar place.

How to Build a Sleep Routine That Actually Works

Routines are essential to all humans, as they help provide structure and offer a sense of predictability. Sleep is no different, as routines help our brain slow down before bed. You can choose whatever relaxing activity works for you: a brief yoga practice, gentle stretching, meditation, reading a few pages of a preferred book, taking a hot bath or shower, or getting some items prepared for your morning routine.

As we said before, it’s best to avoid screens, but otherwise the contents of this routine are entirely up to you. The consistency of the activity matters much more than the activity itself. 

Daytime Habits That Make Nights Quieter

Other daytime habits can make you drift off to sleep more easily. These include:

• Exercise: Getting some form of physical activity during the day helps us power down more effectively at night.
• Morning light exposure: Being exposed to natural light, especially in the early morning hours, helps reset and regulate our body clock.
• Eating: Have your last meal around 6:00 p.m. with maybe a light snack (if anything) before bedtime. This helps prevent digestion from interfering with your rest
• Screen time: Avoid blue light from electronic devices at least 1.5 hours before bedtime.
• Get organized: Being productive during the day can help ease your mind before bedtime so there is less to worry about.

Sleepy vs. Tired: When to Actually Go to Bed

It’s also important to know the difference between sleepiness and fatigue. It’s ideal to go to bed when you are truly sleepy rather than simply fatigued. Fatigue may be something we experience after doing a lot during the day or exerting ourselves. This may be remedied by taking a sitting break or engaging in some leisure time to temporarily rest. Sleepiness is an indication we need actual sleep to restore our energy. Some signs of sleepiness include:

• Eyelids that feel heavier than usual
• Slower reaction times
• Feeling like you are somewhat disconnected from your body and aren’t fully present in the moment
• Difficulty concentrating
• Yawning excessively
• Daydreaming when you should be getting things done
• Blinking a lot in an attempt to keep your eyes open

When a Racing Mind Needs More Than Self-Help

There are times when ongoing sleep troubles are worth checking into by contacting a healthcare professional. This may be because certain sleep conditions impact your ability to effectively sleep. We strongly suggest that you consult a professional if this is the case.

Conditions That Can Keep Your Brain Switched On

• Sleep apnea: This condition causes someone to stop breathing as they sleep, which can undermine sleep quality.
• ADHD: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder involves symptoms of hyperactivity, inattention, or both, which can impact sleep. In addition, stimulant medications are often recommended to manage ADHD, and taking these medications too late in the day can affect your sleep.
• Anxiety disorders: When racing thoughts get to be too much, they may be part of an anxiety disorder. Other symptoms of this condition including irritability or mood changes, feelings of panic, and physical symptoms such as restlessness, heart palpitations, and more, can all prevent someone from getting to sleep.
• Depression: This is one mental health concern that can cause ongoing fatigue, which may make it harder to sleep at night. People with depression may also oversleep or undersleep, which can further contribute to nighttime sleep issues, especially if someone naps during the day to compensate for this.
• Perimenopause/other hormonal changes: Symptoms like hot flashes, brain fog, and mood swings can make it difficult to settle down at night. In addition, decreases in estrogen and increases in follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) can prevent good sleep.
• Thyroid conditions: An underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) and an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) can both lead to insomnia and other sleep problems. These conditions each may lead to excessive daytime sleepiness and difficulty getting to sleep at night.
• Chronic pain: Many conditions, such as arthritis, cancer, COPD, and more, include persistent pain. Discomfort stemming from these concerns can make it difficult to get comfortable or settle down at night. Pain medication side effects can even further play into these difficulties.

CBT-I: The First-Line Treatment for Chronic Insomnia

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is one of the first-line treatments for insomnia. CBT in general can be great for a range of conditions, though CBT-I specifically targets negative thoughts that may impact your ability to get to sleep. Through various cognitive strategies, CBT-I can help people learn about negative beliefs that may be impacting their ability to develop healthy habits like sleep.

As with any therapy modality, CBT-I requires consistent participation and high engagement in order to be effective. This means you need to commit to sharing your thoughts openly and honestly and be patient over the course of 2-3 months in order to see benefits.

Other Options a Doctor May Discuss

Your doctor may also recommend other options such as low doses of melatonin, light therapy, and short-term sleep medications. Some people may find benefit from these, while they may not be a good fit for others. Either way, you should be prepared to discuss any option that your doctor brings up and ask questions so you are fully aware of what each entails before making a decision.

Keep in mind that it’s advised to speak with your healthcare professional (ideally, a doctor or therapist) before starting any form of therapy, medication, or supplement. They can offer personalized recommendations and guidance based on your needs and history.

When to See a Doctor About Your Sleep

If you have sleep problems that persist over 3 months or more and have a major impact on your ability to function during the day, it’s recommended to see a doctor. This also applies to anyone who finds they are increasingly reliant on sleep medications or other aids and experience warning signs such as major mood or focus changes, chest pain, or difficulty breathing. Sleep apnea is one of the most common sleep-related conditions, impacting over 83 million people in the U.S. This isn’t to say that anyone with sleep concerns also has sleep apnea, but it’s important to check with your doctor if you have these signs to ensure that is the case.

How Sound for Sleep by Soundsory Helps You Switch Off Your Brain at Night

Sound for Sleep has an 8-night music program built in, meaning it eliminates the need to pair it with your phone or download a playlist. That’s a valuable benefit, not to mention it includes professionally processed classical, lullaby, and Celtic music to usher your brain and entire nervous system into a calmer state that is ready for sleep.

Sound for Sleep by SoundSory was expertly designed for people with a range of health conditions, including those with sensory sensitivities, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), hyperactivity, ongoing stress, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it can benefit individuals of all ages with or without health problems who simply want to switch their brain off more easily at the end of the day. To learn more and make a positive change for your health, explore Sound for Sleep by SoundSory.

Wrapping Up!

Anyone who has difficulty turning their brain off to sleep at night knows how much this problem can weigh on you. But using simple, screen- and medication-free strategies from the comfort of your own home can get you off on the right foot to fixing this concern.

It’s important to be consistent and not retry strategies that have already proven ineffective for you. If you continue to have difficulties sleeping and exhibit worsening daytime sleepiness, focus, productivity, and health concerns, be sure to contact your doctor to get more specific guidance.

Keep in mind that getting good sleep is not an end goal; rather, it’s a journey that you can improve upon by making gradual changes over the course of many months and years. This will help instill good sleep habits in you for life.

FAQs

How do I turn off my brain at night?

There are many strategies you can use if you’re wondering how to turn off your brain at night. From deep breathing to progressive muscle relaxation and soothing music from programs like Sound for Sleep by SoundSory, you can filter through several options to find what works for you.

Why does my brain start racing as soon as I lie down?

It’s common for our minds to race when it’s time for sleep. This is often because our bodies aren’t occupied and we have nothing else to focus on.

What is the fastest way to quiet your mind to sleep?

A short deep breathing sequence (lasting less than 1 minute) is one of the quickest ways to quiet your mind in preparation for sleep. Playing music is another strategy that takes less than 1 minute to set up and get going.

Should I stay in bed or get up when my brain won’t switch off?

It’s best to get up if you’ve been in bed for 20 minutes without getting to sleep. This prevents your brain from connecting being in your bed to feelings of sleeplessness.

Why do I feel exhausted all day but wide awake at night?

When this happens, someone’s brain is in the habit of being on at night when they should be asleep. This stems from a disruption of circadian rhythms.

Can sound or music help clear your mind to sleep?

Yes. Music, white noise, and pink noise are some of the most common sounds that ease the mind and help you get to sleep.

Does cognitive shuffling actually work?

While there isn’t a lot of research on its effectiveness yet, people do say that cognitive shuffling helps them get to sleep. Cognitive shuffling works by giving the brain a structured but boring task that allows their brain to shift to a less active mode, allowing for sleep shortly thereafter.

Why do I wake up at 3 AM with a racing mind?

Bad dreams, feelings of restlessness, and intense anxiety can all lead to racing thoughts that wake us up in the middle of the night. People who frequently wake in the middle of the night may also have medical concerns such as sleep apnea or an overactive bladder.

Can a racing mind at night mean sleep apnea?

Individuals who have sleep apnea can surely experience racing thoughts. Sleep apnea episodes cause someone to stop breathing as they sleep, which can lead to waking feelings of anxiety about what may occur when that happens.

How long does it take to stop the racing thoughts at night?

This is different for each person. But if you use verified strategies, you can ease the effect of racing thoughts at night within a few minutes.

When should I see a doctor about a racing mind at night?

If you are too tired to function properly at work or school or experience ongoing racing thoughts for 3 months or more, it’s best to speak with a doctor. They can offer more targeted advice and complete tests that help you uncover the cause of your racing thoughts.

References:

1. American Academy of Sleep Medicine. (2025). Worried and Wired: What’s Keeping America Awake. Retrieved from https://aasm.org/worried-and-wired-whats-keeping-america-awake/ 
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