Overthinking

by Robert Leary

  All of the content in this book cultivates habits that not only affect your thought processes during the day. They will also help a great deal when it comes to relaxing and preparing your mind and body for sleep. You may have already experienced this positive change in your life, and if you have, I’m so happy for you! Many people go through the majority of their lives getting suboptimal sleep, and it stems, again, from cultural norms and the way society idolizes the hard-working citizen.

  Many people actually consider working 50 hours a week the work of a hero. Maybe this individual has lots of money to buy a big house, big car, and the most luxurious bed on the market. But if he or she is working that much, there is no way the individual is getting 8 hours of restful sleep each night. And this is detrimental to a person’s health in the long term for many reasons.

  Effects of Inadequate Sleep

  We talked earlier about the risk you take when you live from day to day with information overload and how it affects decision-making. Inadequate sleep is a great example of how the body can turn on you if you don’t nourish it and let is rest and recharge the way it is supposed to. When we don’t get enough sleep, we deprive our bodies of vital recharge and repair time that is essential to how our brains function each day. Research suggests that driving while sleep-deprived is just as dangerous or more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. Your response time and alertness are much lower after an unrestful night, and just as someone who has been drinking may think they are fine to drive, someone who just doesn’t sleep well may consider it an inevitable, normal expectation that they continue to drive to work each morning half asleep. This is a very dangerous combination of thought processes that can have immediate and life-altering consequences.

  But let’s think about the effects from a more long-term and less noticeable perspective. College kids and working adults are notorious for coming in each morning and complaining about how they were up all night studying or working on that big project they have to present at the end of the week. In response, people generally laugh or commiserate, saying they didn’t sleep well either, usually because they are also staying up late to work or study. This is so ubiquitous, it seems to be an accepted part of everyday American life. The perception is that you are rewarded when you finally do graduate or pull off that presentation and that it was worth it to miss some sleep. Well, this may be true if it’s just a night or two, but the reality is, the majority of adults in America do not get enough sleep in general, and it is affecting their capacity to deliver quality, consistent work over time.

  Work hours have gotten longer and longer in the past couple of decades, and people no longer think anything of working 50 or 60 hours a week or working shifts that go through the night. The reality is, when we don’t get enough sleep, over time, our mental sharpness dwindles and we perform worse than before. Since the effect is slow and gradual, we often don’t even notice until it’s too late or we start making mistakes. Remember Tammy and her super-human multitasking abilities? Well, just like she was so confident she was performing at an optimal level, we tend to think nothing of working on little or no sleep. Only when things go wrong do we stop and take notice of the fact that we really do feel sluggish and unhealthy with a lack of energy. Sometimes, this only comes to light once we make a change and commit to setting aside time for adequate sleep. The difference is night and day!

  Circadian Rhythm

  In recent years, there are several apps that have been released which function as tools to observe and maintain a close eye on your circadian rhythm. So, what exactly is circadian rhythm?

  The body follows a natural cycle each day which involves a plethora of systems and chemicals. The one we will look at is the cycle which follows a 24-hour pattern and after which we’ve modeled our 24-hour day. The body delivers chemicals and signals throughout the day to tell our minds and our bodies what it needs. Our biological clocks tell us when it is time to wake up and when it is time to go to sleep. The body helps this process along by releasing a chemical called melatonin to help calm and prepare our bodies and minds for sleep. When we follow the circadian rhythm the way we were intended to, it is easy to adhere to a regular and healthy pattern of sleeping, waking, and eating. But when this pattern gets out of whack, we feel the effects both immediately and over time, depending on how long we ignore the natural rhythms of our bodies.

  So, what is the natural rhythm? Is there a pattern we are supposed to follow? Well, like most of the good habits we should adopt, there are going to be differences in people’s bodies, but when it comes to the circadian rhythm, there are simple changes you can make to see drastic improvements in the way your brain functions and the way you feel each day.

  Melatonin secretion stops around 7:30 in the morning, every morning. According to research, your highest level of alertness occurs somewhere around 10 in the morning. This is something I personally feel very strongly, as I’ve always hit my peak of performance and productivity between 9 and noon each day.

  Ideally, if you’ve gotten up somewhere around 8 in the morning, you should be ready for a healthy meal around noon. Most adults don’t get to dictate when exactly they eat lunch if they have to follow a strict work schedule. Kids, on the other hand, actually follow this rhythm quite closely as schools will typically start somewhere around 8:30 or 9 and then lunchtime occurs somewhere around noon each day. The vital ingredient here is that you are actually eating something that will nourish the body to carry through the rest of the day. Eating food that is high in sugar and low in nutrients will only result in a big sluggish crash, ruining your productivity, sometimes for several hours. We can observe this process happening in kids if they eat a sugary treat right at lunchtime. They tend to experience a sugar high or “rush,” then shortly afterward crash and burn, sometimes taking lengthy naps or simply complaining about having to do anything for the rest of the day.

  According to research, your highest level of coordination and cardiovascular stamina occurs in the late afternoon/early evening, and then your body begins to secrete melatonin around 11 pm, signaling that the body is ready to get some sleep.

  What Happens When We Sleep?

  Many people don’t realize just how efficient their bodies are at regulation and healing. All it takes is listening to your body. With your new mindfulness techniques and healthy habits taking over your life, it should be a little easier for you to listen to what your body is telling you throughout the day.

  If we listen to ad campaigns and marketing trying to sell us products, we start to notice a pattern of suggesting we need to alter or help the body do its jobs with various supplements and other products. Most of the time, it just isn’t true. If we put the effort in to listen and make subtle changes to our routines every day, we will see and feel the difference as our bodies thank us with more energy and alertness.

  So, what actually happens when we sleep?

  Sleep is an important time for the body. When we sleep, the brain is getting rid of waste and recharging our body’s systems so that they are ready to take on a whole new day. The cells in our bodies are repaired and new ones are created, and it is also an important time for learning and memory.

  Have you ever been told to “sleep on it” after being faced with a challenging decision or maybe a challenging lesson in school? That’s because the mind does a lot of learning while it is asleep, working to embed what we’ve learned and inundated the brain throughout the course of the day. This is where memories are solidified in our brains. Skills are honed as we practice and make their applications stronger, but a lot of how this is embedded in our brains happens while we are asleep. You may have experienced this phenomenon as a child when you were taking lessons or classes for a particular skill. Perhaps you learned a complex set of chords during your piano class and struggled to nail down everything you’d learned but found that the next morning when you sat down to play, the chords came to you a little more smoothly. This is what the brain does for us when we sleep and why it i
s so important for us to get an adequate amount, especially when we are young.

  Making Changes

  Changing your daily habits to fit in more sleep may be harder than it sounds at first. But just like any positive change in daily habits, you need to think of facing this challenge one step at a time.

  Write in your journal for a few days to observe your own sleep patterns. When do you usually go to bed? Is it a different time every single night? How do you feel when you wake up? Do you have trouble falling asleep or do you go to sleep as soon as your head hits the pillow? Are you someone who lays awake with a mind on overdrive, unable to relax?

  Depending on your situation, there are different things you can do to improve your nightly habits and train your body to get ready for sleep.

  One thing you can do is stop eating late at night. When the body is hard at work digesting food, it is difficult to send the signal that it is time to relax and sleep. Eating late at night is a bad habit for many Americans, but eliminating those late-night snacks will make a big difference in how sleepy you feel when it is time to go to bed. Try cutting back on the overall amount of food you take in during the evening, then concentrate on moving the time you eat to earlier in the day. Try to aim for not eating anything after 6 or 7. This will signal to your body that you are ready to start relaxing and feel the effects of melatonin.

  Do you like to read in bed? How about scanning through Facebook for a half hour? Well, when we habitually do things that are not associated with sleeping in the place where we are supposed to be resting, our brains associate bed with waking activities and this makes it more difficult to fall asleep. Consider moving those activities to another location and reserve the bed for sleeping. It may be difficult to break this habit at first, especially if you’ve had the habit for years and years, but making a change like this will go a long way toward relaxing your body and feeling sleepy, which is imperative to falling asleep. Changing this habit will also help to alleviate the tendency to wake up in the middle of the night or too early in the morning, unable to fall back asleep. There is nothing more irritating than waking up an hour before your alarm is due to go off. Cultivate these changes in your day-to-day life, and you will see an improvement in overall sleep patterns.

  Lastly, my hope is that you’ve already addressed your overthinking through the tips and strategies outlined in this book, but if not, a great time to start practicing meditation or that “time out for you” tip is right before bed. If you’ve spent the last hour or two before bed stressing about work or trying to get those last things finished on your to-do list, it’s going to be a lot more difficult for your brain to wind down and prepare for sleep. Make time for those tasks earlier in the day and reserve the hour before bed for relaxation.

  As you continue to practice good habit forming in relation to getting a good night’s sleep, you will start to see drastic improvements in how much energy you have in the morning, your attitude, productivity, and overall sense of wellbeing. If you live with others who also have suboptimal sleeping habits, consider sitting down and sharing with them your plans for cultivating new, healthy sleep habits. Your loved ones will thank you as they too experience the benefits of giving the body what it needs each day.

  All of the previous tips for progressing on the path to clarity will work together with getting a good night’s sleep to realizing your vision for a new and improved you, ready to take on life’s challenges!

  Conclusion

  Thank you for making it through to the end of this book. Let’s hope it was informative and able to provide you with all of the tools you need to achieve your goals whatever they may be.

  The next step is to reaffirm every day that you are on your way to becoming a better, fuller you. Review how far you’ve come so far and be proud! As with anything, the key to success is consistency and determination. Believe in yourself and your ability to make the changes necessary to realize your goals. Once you’ve removed the clutter from your mind, you will turn overthinking into focused achieving, each and every day. You may have heard many times over, “easier said than done.” Well, you should be excited to learn how to do what you set your mind to do. You’ve wanted to make a change for a long time. Taking the steps to make your goals come to fruition is something many people never achieve.

  It is times like this, after having taken a big step forward in my life, when I begin to reflect on how far I’ve come. It is hard to appreciate your progress sometimes when you are in the heat of battle and struggling every day during the beginning, middle, or even near the end of your efforts. There is nothing better than stepping up onto that final rung and looking down to see all of those completed steps in your wake.

  Remember when you were sitting at square one, unable to free yourself from the chains of overthinking? I know it well—I’ve been there myself. It takes a great deal of courage to stand up and say, I’m ready to make a change. It saddens me to think that many people continue to overthink and overanalyze throughout their entire lives, missing out on the experiences and appreciation that a free mind can realize. It is easy to slip into the comfortable habits of mindless eating, checking a phone or tablet every few minutes, and going to bed later and later until your system is all out of sorts. Sometimes, it seems too easy to give in and let what’s easy overshadow what’s worth working for. You don’t have to be a slave to overthinking, and maybe it’s possible for you to take what you’ve learned and help change lives around you.

  Perhaps you know someone who seems to be struggling with overthinking, stressing out about everyday challenges and stress just like you were at the beginning of your journey. Consider reaching out and sharing what you’ve learned. Nothing feels better than sharing new knowledge with someone who can use it to make the positive changes you’ve seen happen in yourself. Maybe it’s a coworker, a spouse, or a close friend. Many people from different walks of life will benefit from the changes laid out in this book, so why not share your story!

  Finally, if you found this book useful in any way, a review on Amazon is always appreciated!