Is your brain ever quiet?

[InfiniteLoop]

There’s always something going on in my head. Mostly music - I’ve had the same earworm now for a couple of months - but when the musicians go for their break, the chat show takes over.
It’s quite tiring - like having workmen in your house all the time - and I’m wondering how normal it is, whether other people are enjoying moments of blissful silence while I have the Berlin Philharmonic in residence.

Does everyone have this going on or do I need to seek professional help?

I described it once as living my life to a soundtrack. I always have a song going round and round.
I often have stories going round too.
I was surprised to find others didn't have the same.

Yep, always music, and the songs! Random one hit wonders from 1982 that I’ve not thought about in years, obscure dance tracks, all on a loop - like the most badly curated playlist ever.

Once I actually cried because I had a Ben Folds Five song in my head for so many days that I feared it was stuck there forever.

Also, constant thoughts consisting of jumbled old memories, what colour was that coat my sister had when she was six? Imaginary arguments with people who have wronged me, analysis of a conversation I recently had at work with someone about their Mum that has absolutely nothing to do with my life, an alternative ending for a TV show, on and on and on until I fall asleep at night.

I hope it’s not just me.

I’m pretty certain I have ADHD. I was wondering whether if it’s successfully medicated, the soundtrack eases up a bit.

I have adhd and am successfully medicated 😆 When I first took my medication I had a feeling of 'coming in to land' for the first time.

It wasn't so much thoughts that stopped but a constant stream of emotional information.

For example if I'm responding to a work email without medication I will think about the other person and their perspective and what I'm going to say and how that will come across and possibly a bunch of wider stuff about other related issues.

On medication I will just think right what do I need to say and write it 😆

There's definitely a skill you can learn around zooming out.

It also gets easier if you have regular brain switched off time - stress plays a huge role. I know that from doing meditation.

I can still self sabotage when I'm not stressed with adhd - but often that will also have causes like I didn't eat enough carb so my brain is going bingo bango or I haven't planned the day and I'm bouncing between tasks.

I usually have an ear worm. But my brain doesn’t feel chaotic or noisy. DH says his head feels very loud and noisy, constant thoughts, ideas , chatter, music and as a result he finds it very hard to think clearly or focus on one thing at a time. He was diagnosed with adhd a couple of years ago and it explains a lot.

I wish my mind could be quiet.

I can’t imagine what it would be like. I imagine it to be just like being switched off?!

Never.
I often ask my husband what he's thinking and he usually says nothing. But like how?!? How do you have nothing in your head! Also, my husband falls asleep in 2 seconds whereas I struggle to fall asleep because I can't switch off.

No ADHD but constant activity. Often music, more often a ticker tape of commentary in print or a spoken recount of what I’m doing (in my voice, as if I’m telling someone what I’m doing or thinking). A lot more text than pictures.

The only time my brain is quiet is if I’m asleep. I’m on medication for MH issues, but I can’t seem to get my brain to quieten down!

Yes. It is constant, constantly flicking from one thing to another. I’m diagnosed as ND though with ADHD amongst other things.

No. It’s always going. And I have songs going through my head all bloody night. They’re not ear worms, they’re associations

so for example I might wake up at 2am and need a wee. I’ll get up and perhaps I might bump into the oak door of the en suite and think ‘god must be careful because knocking on that wood made a loud noise’

and then - brilliant! I have the song ‘ knock on wood’ on repeat for ages in my head

and that’s just one example. It can be ANYTHING.

the worst nights are when the venga bus is coming. Ffs

i suspect I have ADHD

Certainly not quiet minded here. Conversations revisited and even imaginary potential scenarios played out with every likely outcome.. 🤣
I have indeed sought professional help during hard times but I seem to have sorted myself out. Sometimes I am even given the pleasure of staring into space (thinking of nothing).

you don’t need professional help imo unless it’s impacting on your daily functioning

Exactly this! I’ve asked my NT friends to explain it as I imagine tumbleweed and whistling… which obviously isn’t quiet. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have a quiet brain. Terrifying, probably!

My brain is never quiet. I analyse everything, past memories, and interrogate my own perspective, working out theoretical arguments to explain everything, trying to make connections between seemingly unrelated things and replaying conversations. It's not exhausting, I'm quite happy.

But if ever I am unhappy I really over think and get stuck.

Struggle to fall asleep and only need 5 hrs. No ADHD and no orchestra.

Have had a song in my head every day for my whole life that I can remember. Sometimes it's annoying but mainly just used to it. Different songs depending on what I've listened to. If I hear a new song and enjoy it, my mind goes crazy with it and won't shut up for a few days until replaced by another. Just how it is!

Yes! The noise is kind of comforting in a way.

@BadgersSuitcase I often have the venga bus in my head, but luckily it's a Happy Song for me 😁

My brain is like a lot of others on this thread, music constantly except for when it's feeling chatty.

Mine is never quiet. There are a thousand voices in there I swear. I can never fully relax as the noise comes in and sends me elsewhere. Only reading prevents this.

All day my brain has been chanting IPMAP, PMAT at me. Do you know what that is? It's the acronym I used to chant to remember the phases of mitosis and meiosis for A level biology, an exam I took in 1996 and have never needed to know since. Can I remember where my glasses are? Course not.

Yes sometimes and it is bliss. When the house is tidy. The laundry out away. The kids in bed. No work or mental load. And my to do list in check. Then it is bliss.

Try meditation. Sounds so lame but it’s actually so good. And no I don’t just sit in a room and meditate. But I do yoga. And then savasana. It is an art in itself.

Never. Even when I try, I'm so busy focusing on nothing that that then becomes the word getting bigger and louder. I don't know what a quiet brain would be like. I dream a lot too, so I don't get any peace then either.

Oh yes mine is constantly on the go with something; worries, plans, random memories, imaginary conversations. I think that’s just what brains do!