Switching off

[jakesmith]

I sometimes find myself thinking about some trivial irritations at work, whilst lying in bed trying to sleep. My work is generally not stressful.

What tactics can I use to stop this. Once the thought is there it can be hard to shift. Once I’m full on irritated I can find it almost impossible to sleep even if I’m tired. We have a very comfy bed, full black out blinds, air conditioning etc so bed is a comfortable place to be.

[ShampooEfficient]

Find a marker that to you, signals the end of the working day. Be it the closing of your locker door with your work kit in, taking your uniform/ suit/ sandwich board* off, or getting into the car and starting the engine. Use that as the anchor for your home life starting every day.
If you are close enough to cycle to and from,then do that, and you'll get home tired but your mind will have had time to digest the day.

Just a couple that work for me. I never wear my uniform home because that to me is the break point.

• Delete as applicable

[227bhp]

That's what alcohol, hobbies and interests are for.

It's the fact you're irritated by something which stops you sleeping you need to work on, not the fact that it's work.

[chemistry]

My daughter uses one of these and finds it helpful:

https://www.mydodow.com/bundles?gclid=CjwKCAjwue3n...

[anonymous-user]

Mindfulness and visualisation techniques like headspace will help you loads in this (and many other) area(s)


https://www.headspace.com/

[thebraketester]

El stovey said:

Mindfulness and visualisation techniques like headspace will help you loads in this (and many other) area(s)


https://www.headspace.com/

Exactly what I was going to recommend.

If you treat headspace with an open mind it’s honestly shocking how well the sleep meditation things work. Highly recommend it.

[GT03ROB]

Roll over put the missus to good use. All sorted, sleep like a baby.

[jakesmith]

GT03ROB said:

Roll over put the missus to good use. All sorted, sleep like a baby.

What about the other 6 nights a week!

Great suggestions!
I work from home so that makes the boundaries harder, think I’ll turn the phone off close the laptop put them in my case, close the office door and that’s it
Then look into the mindfulness stuff linked above

[JimmyConwayNW]

jakesmith said:

What about the other 6 nights a week!

Great suggestions!
I work from home so that makes the boundaries harder, think I’ll turn the phone off close the laptop put them in my case, close the office door and that’s it
Then look into the mindfulness stuff linked above

Run, walk, cycle, swim etc. Do something at the end of the day. I have a very demanding and busy business / job. I have to do something at the end of the day to switch off.

[Sheepshanks]

jakesmith said:

What tactics can I use to stop this. Once the thought is there it can be hard to shift. Once I’m full on irritated I can find it almost impossible to sleep even if I’m tired. We have a very comfy bed, full black out blinds, air conditioning etc so bed is a comfortable place to be.

This is a real baby thing but it works so well for me I have to consciously avoid doing it if I do want a bit of quiet time to think about something!

I just count (in my head) breaths - "inbreath, outbreath 1 - inbreath, outbreath 2" -...etc up to 10. Then start again. Don't focus on remembering the count - if you start thinking about other things, just stop and start again at 1.

I know it's like counting sheep, but you tend to try too hard to remember the count, which gets annoying in itself, and forgetting to establish a relaxed breathing pattern.