How to switch your mind off
6 Ways to Shut Off Your Brain and Get Some Sleep I Psych Central
Racing thoughts keeping you up at night? You can try deep breathing or meditation to quiet your mind and get a good night’s rest.
Does it feel like your brain never turns off? Do you have trouble relaxing because of overthinking and worrying?
Have you ever laid in bed wondering “Why can’t I fall asleep?” or tried unsuccessfully to quiet your mind for a few minutes?
Rest assured, you’re not alone. A busy or racing mind can happen to anyone, and it could have many different causes.
Knowing the reasons why you can’t shut off your mind can help you determine the best ways to try to quiet your mind.
There are some common factors that may make it feel as though your brain never turns off.
Stress
Stress is one of the “usual suspects” when you can’t seem to stop thinking. Stress causes your body to release cortisol, and cortisol helps you stay alert. This means that your brain stays alert, too — even when you don’t want it to.
Cortisol can also cause physical symptoms of anxiety that can keep you from relaxing or sleeping. Things such as a faster pulse and higher body temperature can keep you wakeful.
Some types of stress that can cause an increased cortisol release include:
- a big transition in life such as changing jobs or moving
- a demanding work or school environment
- conflict with another person
- financial worries
- a packed schedule with little downtime
- being a caregiver
- juggling more responsibilities than you have time for
- upsetting current events
- major health concerns
- dealing with grief and bereavement
These or other stressful experiences recently could be causing your brain to stay alert and thinking all the time.
Mental health conditions
The cause can sometimes go beyond stress. Certain mental health conditions are known to make it harder to shut off your brain.
- Anxiety disorder.
Anxiety can cause unpleasant thoughts and physical symptoms and contribute to the overproduction of cortisol. - Bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder involves extreme shifts in mood and activity levels. It’s characterized by extreme highs (mania) and extreme lows (depression). During a manic episode, your thoughts may seem to go 100 miles per hour.
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Some people with ADHD find that their minds are always working and seldom quiet.
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Repetitive, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts are major symptoms of OCD.
- Mixed depression. Depression with mixed features includes some manic symptoms but not enough to meet the criteria for bipolar disorder. Research from 2011 suggests that people with depression with mixed features may be more likely to have trouble with racing thoughts than people with major depressive disorder (MDD).
Certain substances
Some substances make it harder for your brain to calm down.
Caffeine is a common substance that people use to stay wakeful and alert. Many of us enjoy caffeine in coffee, sodas, and chocolate. But it can keep us alert when we’d rather power down our thinking.
Some substances such as cocaine and methamphetamines can cause racing thoughts.
Even some prescription medications can keep your mind from settling. If you experience an increase in racing thoughts after starting a new medication, consider speaking with a healthcare or mental health professional.
It may be a good idea to discuss any possible side effects of any medication before taking it, so you’ll know what to expect.
Not being able to shut your mind off can feel very unpleasant.
It keeps you keyed up even when you want to relax. You may find it hard to feel present in situations that you want to soak up and enjoy. When your mind is racing you might:
- find yourself cycling through the same thoughts over and over but never getting any closer to “solving” the problem or concern
- relive memories of past mistakes, imagine worst-case scenarios, or have thoughts of doing something that you would never actually do in real life
- lie awake at night wishing that you could turn the “off” switch on your brain and go to sleep
A racing mind may come along with the physical symptoms of anxiety such as sweating, trembling, a fast heartbeat, and a flushed face.
Sometimes, it might feel like your brain is being hijacked. Even when you realize you’re overthinking, acknowledge that it isn’t productive, and try to will the thoughts away, they just won’t stop. It’s as if the thoughts have a life of their own.
Even though you may feel little control over your thoughts, there are things you can do to help slow your racing mind and get ahead of this problem.
Consider trying these strategies to help quiet your restless mind.
Seek distraction
Even brief periods of distraction may be very helpful in slowing down racing thoughts. In a 2012 study, rumination was measured in 26 adolescent girls. The girls who were offered brief distractions ruminated less than those who were left alone with their thoughts.
Find soothing activities
Try to choose something that you find soothing and enjoyable. This might be a warm bath, meditation, a relaxing yoga routine, or a calming book. It might be a good idea to also avoid screen time when you need to calm down.
Write down your thoughts
Some people find that writing down a thought allows them to let go of it. If you dwell on something that you’re afraid to forget, making a note to yourself may help relieve the worry.
If you have unresolved emotions about an event, journaling may help you feel free from it.
Schedule “thinking” timeScheduling time to think and problem solve can help. If you know you’ll deal with your thoughts at a certain time, you may feel free to let them go the rest of the day.
Practice mindfulness
Finding ways to tune in to the present moment is a great way to quiet racing thoughts. You could try yoga, meditation, body scan meditation, or deep breathing.
Deep breathing exercises may be particularly helpful. A 2021 study measured negative thinking in groups of participants. Each group tried a different mindfulness exercise. The group that used a breathing practice showed the most improvement in stopping negative thought patterns.
Seek professional help
Sometimes do-it-yourself efforts aren’t enough. If racing thoughts are still interfering with your life, consider seeking help from a healthcare or mental health professional.
Therapy or medication may be required to turn down the volume of constant thinking.
Many of us have experienced times when our brains didn’t seem to shut off.
Whether it’s running over your schedule for the next day or rewinding the day and finally remembering that task you forgot to do at work, racing thoughts can keep you from quieting your mind and falling asleep at night.
Your ruminating thoughts could also be a symptom of a mental health condition such as OCD, bipolar disorder, or an anxiety disorder.
Finding ways to challenge negative self-talk and stop those ruminating thoughts can help you shut off your brain. Some strategies that may help include deep breathing, meditation, or yoga.
If your ruminating thoughts are interfering with your daily life, consider reaching out to a healthcare or mental health professional.
They can help determine if any underlying conditions are the cause and if any treatment is necessary.
6 Ways to Shut Off Your Brain and Get Some Sleep I Psych Central
Racing thoughts keeping you up at night? You can try deep breathing or meditation to quiet your mind and get a good night’s rest.
Does it feel like your brain never turns off? Do you have trouble relaxing because of overthinking and worrying?
Have you ever laid in bed wondering “Why can’t I fall asleep?” or tried unsuccessfully to quiet your mind for a few minutes?
Rest assured, you’re not alone. A busy or racing mind can happen to anyone, and it could have many different causes.
Knowing the reasons why you can’t shut off your mind can help you determine the best ways to try to quiet your mind.
There are some common factors that may make it feel as though your brain never turns off.
Stress
Stress is one of the “usual suspects” when you can’t seem to stop thinking.
Stress causes your body to release cortisol, and cortisol helps you stay alert. This means that your brain stays alert, too — even when you don’t want it to.
Cortisol can also cause physical symptoms of anxiety that can keep you from relaxing or sleeping. Things such as a faster pulse and higher body temperature can keep you wakeful.
Some types of stress that can cause an increased cortisol release include:
- a big transition in life such as changing jobs or moving
- a demanding work or school environment
- conflict with another person
- financial worries
- a packed schedule with little downtime
- being a caregiver
- juggling more responsibilities than you have time for
- upsetting current events
- major health concerns
- dealing with grief and bereavement
These or other stressful experiences recently could be causing your brain to stay alert and thinking all the time.
Mental health conditions
The cause can sometimes go beyond stress.
Certain mental health conditions are known to make it harder to shut off your brain.
- Anxiety disorder. Anxiety can cause unpleasant thoughts and physical symptoms and contribute to the overproduction of cortisol.
- Bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder involves extreme shifts in mood and activity levels. It’s characterized by extreme highs (mania) and extreme lows (depression). During a manic episode, your thoughts may seem to go 100 miles per hour.
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Some people with ADHD find that their minds are always working and seldom quiet.
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Repetitive, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts are major symptoms of OCD.
- Mixed depression. Depression with mixed features includes some manic symptoms but not enough to meet the criteria for bipolar disorder. Research from 2011 suggests that people with depression with mixed features may be more likely to have trouble with racing thoughts than people with major depressive disorder (MDD).
Certain substances
Some substances make it harder for your brain to calm down.
Caffeine is a common substance that people use to stay wakeful and alert. Many of us enjoy caffeine in coffee, sodas, and chocolate. But it can keep us alert when we’d rather power down our thinking.
Some substances such as cocaine and methamphetamines can cause racing thoughts.
Even some prescription medications can keep your mind from settling. If you experience an increase in racing thoughts after starting a new medication, consider speaking with a healthcare or mental health professional.
It may be a good idea to discuss any possible side effects of any medication before taking it, so you’ll know what to expect.
Not being able to shut your mind off can feel very unpleasant.
It keeps you keyed up even when you want to relax. You may find it hard to feel present in situations that you want to soak up and enjoy. When your mind is racing you might:
- find yourself cycling through the same thoughts over and over but never getting any closer to “solving” the problem or concern
- relive memories of past mistakes, imagine worst-case scenarios, or have thoughts of doing something that you would never actually do in real life
- lie awake at night wishing that you could turn the “off” switch on your brain and go to sleep
A racing mind may come along with the physical symptoms of anxiety such as sweating, trembling, a fast heartbeat, and a flushed face.
Sometimes, it might feel like your brain is being hijacked. Even when you realize you’re overthinking, acknowledge that it isn’t productive, and try to will the thoughts away, they just won’t stop. It’s as if the thoughts have a life of their own.
Even though you may feel little control over your thoughts, there are things you can do to help slow your racing mind and get ahead of this problem.
Consider trying these strategies to help quiet your restless mind.
Seek distraction
Even brief periods of distraction may be very helpful in slowing down racing thoughts. In a 2012 study, rumination was measured in 26 adolescent girls. The girls who were offered brief distractions ruminated less than those who were left alone with their thoughts.
Find soothing activities
Try to choose something that you find soothing and enjoyable. This might be a warm bath, meditation, a relaxing yoga routine, or a calming book. It might be a good idea to also avoid screen time when you need to calm down.
Write down your thoughts
Some people find that writing down a thought allows them to let go of it. If you dwell on something that you’re afraid to forget, making a note to yourself may help relieve the worry.
If you have unresolved emotions about an event, journaling may help you feel free from it.
Schedule “thinking” timeScheduling time to think and problem solve can help. If you know you’ll deal with your thoughts at a certain time, you may feel free to let them go the rest of the day.
Practice mindfulness
Finding ways to tune in to the present moment is a great way to quiet racing thoughts. You could try yoga, meditation, body scan meditation, or deep breathing.
Deep breathing exercises may be particularly helpful. A 2021 study measured negative thinking in groups of participants. Each group tried a different mindfulness exercise. The group that used a breathing practice showed the most improvement in stopping negative thought patterns.
Seek professional help
Sometimes do-it-yourself efforts aren’t enough. If racing thoughts are still interfering with your life, consider seeking help from a healthcare or mental health professional.
Therapy or medication may be required to turn down the volume of constant thinking.
Many of us have experienced times when our brains didn’t seem to shut off.
Whether it’s running over your schedule for the next day or rewinding the day and finally remembering that task you forgot to do at work, racing thoughts can keep you from quieting your mind and falling asleep at night.
Your ruminating thoughts could also be a symptom of a mental health condition such as OCD, bipolar disorder, or an anxiety disorder.
Finding ways to challenge negative self-talk and stop those ruminating thoughts can help you shut off your brain. Some strategies that may help include deep breathing, meditation, or yoga.
If your ruminating thoughts are interfering with your daily life, consider reaching out to a healthcare or mental health professional.
They can help determine if any underlying conditions are the cause and if any treatment is necessary.
The secret way to turn off the mind easily and in 5 minutes!
Tired of obsessive thoughts? Now you can effortlessly switch off your mind and enjoy inner peace in just a couple of minutes!
Why is it important to be able to stop the internal dialogue?
We are used to associating ourselves with thoughts. What we think affects our mood, our well-being.
But thoughts are vibrations and energies within us, not ourselves.
When you think about something, you play out a certain situation inside yourself, it gives rise to certain emotions inside you, and emotions cause a desire to act. But since we often cannot act (in our society it is not customary to go and say everything to the offender or beat him), we act within ourselves - we experience the situation again and again and fight back inside ourselves.
Sound familiar?
No wonder they say “Woe from Wit”…
And sometimes it seems very difficult to silence this internal dialogue even for those who are engaged in self-development and perform spiritual practices.
But actually it is not! Read on and you will learn how to turn off the mind.
For whom is this mental disconnection suitable?
This practice can be used not only by those who find it difficult to meditate¹, but also by those who want to learn how to take a break from their thoughts for a while.
The secret way to turn off the mind
The first thing to do before practice is to ask yourself the question: “Who am I really?”
As a result, the answer will come that "I" is something more than the body, thoughts and experiences. "I" is energy. You are the one who can control your thoughts and not let them control you. So how do you stop thoughts?
To turn off the mind:
1. Sit comfortably and relax as much as possible.
2. Take a few slow and deep breaths.
3. Feel your brain, mind in your head.
4. See how thoughts appear again and again.
5. Then imagine a river in front of you.
6. On the other side of the river there is a place of thoughtlessness.
7. In imagination, cross to the other side of the river.
8. Think of yourself as energy, feel your true "I".
* If thoughts come into your head again, you need to imagine the river again and cross over to the opposite bank again.
9. Pay attention to the region of the heart, feel it.
10. Transfer attention to the thymus gland (the very center of the sternum).
11. Say to yourself: “I exist, I am. Feel what's going on inside.
* If thoughts continue to interfere, again go to the other side, where there are no thoughts.
Usually practitioners quickly feel an amazing state of inner silence, peace, harmony. In this state, the psyche is healed, the mood improves.
11. After some rest in this state, inhale and open your eyes as you exhale.
Those who have already done this exercise notice a huge difference in the state of "Before" and "After".
The technique can be performed at any convenient time.
The more often it is carried out, the easier and faster it will reach the final state in which the mind turns off and thoughts stop.
This audio program will help you relax easily and quickly
How to use this program correctly, read here >>>
Notes and feature articles for a deeper understanding of the material
special mental state resulting from these exercises (or for other reasons) (Wikipedia).
You can learn more about a variety of meditations on this site. To do this, simply use the search bar at the top of the page.
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Turning off the conscious mind. Think Like a Millionaire
Switching off the conscious mind
This is a process of expanding consciousness.
Every great thinker, philosopher, theologian, mystic or scientist has his own view of the world and what is happening in it, but they all agree on one thing - in recognizing the presence of the One Mind in the Universe. Your intuition and sense of purpose comes from the Superconscious Mind through the subconscious mind. Remember that the subconscious mind is open on both sides. On the one hand, it is open to the flow of creative ideas from the Superconscious Mind, and on the other hand, to the instructions of the conscious phase of your mind. Logic and the conscious mind deceive you by distorting your perception of reality, forming an erroneous consciousness and thinking, thus leading to erroneous actions. In order to connect with the One Mind and your inner power as expressed through your personality, you need to turn off your conscious mind. Imagine that you own a huge power plant with a powerful electric dynamo ready to serve you at the turn of a switch. Once you allow the One Mind to dominate your consciousness, life will be a fantastic experience.
Meditate for a few minutes on the theme that the natural force is within you. Realize that she is flawless and you are the expression of that power. Let your mind go along with it. Give it a chance to penetrate you and illuminate your consciousness. Understand that you are one with this flawless and limitless power.
If you are looking for solutions to a problem or are thinking about how to improve your financial situation, state the essence of the matter in a concise manner. I did not accidentally say "in a compressed form." You are dealing with the universal Mind, which does not need to be told anything at all. You need a story.
Now release the thought. Let your mind act like a radar. Open to any intuitive feeling. Learn to listen if you want to hear something. I have said before that it can be difficult to meditate when you are thinking about your problems or needs. But in effective meditation, you drop the details, prepare, then release the thought and listen.
When you receive an impelling impulse, you will feel a sudden need for action: to call someone, to meet someone, to go somewhere. This is your key to success. Trust him. Act on the advice you receive. He will never let you down, because your subconscious is connected to the source of the universal Mind.
Even if you don't like this action, because you didn't count on it at all, follow the advice given unquestioningly.
When prompted to go somewhere or do something, do what you are prompted to do. Let your subconscious mind take full responsibility for the consequences. Then you will meet the right people and they will help you. This has happened to me hundreds of times.
Try this experiment, for example. When entering a room at a party, ask yourself who you want. You will be pushed towards a certain person, and you will find that this is exactly the one you should meet. Either he will help you, or you will offer him your help.
Sometimes during meditation you may be tempted to pay off a debt instead of buying something.
Do not worry about it. After paying off the creditor, you still get what you wanted. The subconscious will help you do this. Just listen, accept and do what your intuition tells you. If she tells you to leave something alone, do it. If he says: you need to take it on, immediately take it, no matter how difficult it is. You cannot change your life by doing only what you love and neglecting the rest.
A young woman who attended my trainings really wanted to go to Hawaii. She had no money for the trip, no way to earn it. She meditated on this problem and was advised to visit a travel agency and pick up promotional brochures. Following the advice, she not only studied the brochures, but even began to buy things for her proposed trip. A short time later, she received a call from an acquaintance who wanted to spend a vacation in Hawaii, but did not find anyone who could keep him company. With her consent, he was ready to pay for the trip. As a result of her actions and willingness to follow the advice of her subconscious, this girl nevertheless fulfilled her desire.
This text is an introductory fragment.
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