Chattering Mind Keeping You Awake? Try This …
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Mind racing? And you can’t sleep?
You can’t go to sleep. Your mind won’t let you disengage from the day and wind down.
Or, you go to sleep just fine … but then wake up at 2am and cannot stop your mind from thinking. It’s ruminating about something that already happened, or, more likely, something that is about to happen …
If this sounds familiar, try this, perhaps surprising, strategy: 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.
Yes, really.
99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall
Many of you likely know this song from your childhood.
But, if you don’t, here’s how it goes:
You sing “99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer, take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall”
And then you repeat it, but now with 98 bottles, and then 97, and so forth and so on.
How does it help you go to sleep?
There are a number of elements to this song that can facilitate sleep.
It gives your mind something to do.
When you can’t sleep because your mind is racing, you can’t just make your mind stop thinking. You need to give it something else to do.
It’s boring.
When you’re trying to go to sleep, the worst thing you can do is engage with something interesting. You pick up a book or start a show … you start to wake up and get engaged in the story or activity. You need something anchoring but not interesting enough to keep you awake and engaged.
The countdown is anchoring.
Just like the idea of “counting sheep,” the countdown of bottles serves as an anchor for your mind. You need something to track, to follow, to attend to, and bottle countdown serves that purpose.
How to use it as a meditative strategy to help you go to sleep
Get comfortable in bed, with the lights off.
Silently, and slowly (don’t rush through it - that brings the wrong energy), sing the song in your mind.
Anchor your attention to the song. Your mind will wander away to other things. Expect this to happen, repeatedly. When it does, you simply notice that you’ve drifted away and come back to the song. When (not if) you lose count, just start back up again at the last bottle number you remember.
Enter into this practice with the intention that it might work, or it might not … I’m curious to see if it does. If you approach this strategy with the idea that this must work, it has to work, it won’t …
Alternative suggestions
I like this strategy - and let me be clear, it is a meditative, or mindfulness, strategy - because you don’t need a phone or headphones. And, you don’t need to get out of bed.
Breathwork will also work if you don’t love the song. Simply try box breathing, or a longer exhale (i.e., a four count inhale, followed by a six or longer count exhale). Counting the breaths provides that anchor and gives your mind something to do. You may find it more difficult than the song though as it requires more work to remain focused.
Guided sleep meditations, or the podcast ‘Nothing Much Happens’ are also good alternatives if you don’t mind using your phone or headphones in bed.
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