How do you get back to sleep when ‘bad’ thoughts creep in?!

[Redlocks30]

I’ve always been a pretty good sleeper until Menopause but it’s shocking at the moment.

I’m on HRT and seeing the GP next week to look a increasing the dose but I just wondered if there’s anything I can try a 3am when I wake up, my brain IMMEDIATELY pings into stress mode about (real) awful things-bad health issues, parent dying, financial planning.

Things that I can sort of deal with (or push out of my mind) during the day, but make me spiral in the middle of the night-proper palpitations, dread, fear etc I literally go from fast asleep to, ‘ooh, what was it you are currently stressed about-oooh, yes, there it is!)

I try thinking of other things-listing boys names starting with each letter of the alphabet etc but my mind just meanders back to the bad things! It’s nothing I can do anything about-crap situations that have to be dealt with, unfair situations I can’t change, unfortunate decisions that we have to live with but it is ruining me. I feel dreadful in the days-it’s giving me headaches and my eyes hurt.

What can I actually do? The horrible stuff is ongoing and won’t go away-I just wish I could be like a Jilly Cooper character from the 70s where you take a Mogadon tablet and the world goes black till you wake up! (I’m presuming they were probably not a perfect solution, anyway…!)

I find it helpful to focus on slow breathing and gently redirect attention to something neutral, like a calm image or simple counting. Avoiding the pressure to “force” sleep can also make it easier to settle back down.

Listen to podcast/ audio books.

A quick question- Where do you get your ancient Welsh history podcasts?

TIA

Guided meditations on YouTube, Linda Hall has loads and she is excellent, her voice is hypnotic. Also soft spoken ASMR videos by someone who has a calming voice or which has background sounds you find soothing.

This is very interesting. I found the 20 odd minute YouTube video you were referring to and although his voice was bizarre and it was quite a weird hypnosis - which I found unsettling, I did indeed fall asleep!!!😊

I read Mumsnet when I can’t sleep. I had a nightmare concerning intruders last week. I posted on here and had a lot of really kind responses.

Play a word game that’s random rather than themed. I think of a name with no repeating letters and then go through each letter in turn and think of any random word beginning with that letter. When I’ve run out, I move on to the next letter. I think that thinking of boys names for example involves more logic which probably is too engaging for your brain to switch off.