A Worry Session Can Improve Sleep

From the normal stressors of daily life to the nonstop cycle of distressing news, few people are immune to worrying. And, given how busy most adults are, rushing through the day from task to task, it’s not uncommon to overwhelmed with worry when we finally lay down to sleep. Even though that's the time of day when it’s most important to relax.

If worrying is impacting your ability to have restful sleep, you’re not alone. And there are steps you can take to fix it. Simply writing your worries down can be highly effective, says Stephen T. Cole, a psychologist with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock employee assistance program.p. “By committing the worries to paper, you are able to think a bit more objectively and gain perspective,” he says.

Cole recommends creating a “worry session” and offers four simple steps for implementing this technique:

• Pick a time in your day to set aside 15 minutes for a worry session that's about the same time every day. Then set a timer for 15 minutes. Sit down and write down a list of all things you are worrying about and note the top three, and any others, that keep you awake when you should be sleeping.
• If this takes less than 15 minutes, go back and add details to the list such as adding what in particular could happen as a result of these worries? Consider assigning a probability estimate of this fear coming to pass (e.g. is there a 95 percent chance this could happen, a 50 percent chance, a 1 percent chance, etc.)
• If you unable to complete the worries list in 15 minutes, then stop and remind yourself that you’ll get back to it tomorrow. If you find yourself worrying at other times during your day, allow yourself to postpone your worrying until your next worry session.
• Repeat this process the same way each day for a week. Many people find that by day two or three, they can reproduce their list fairly quickly.

“You may find that writing about your worries begins to desensitize you to them—they can lose some of their sting,” Cole says. “You are also beginning to develop the skill of managing worry—setting some boundaries on worry. Finally, focusing on worries that are realistic, and thinking about an action step you can take, can alleviate your distress about them.”