Something I have fought with since a kid. As soon as I’d hit my pillow my mind would switch on and it would be hard to switch it off.

I now take medication to help, I do watch or listen to something on my phone, but I also read. I tried not being on my phone all the time but I love to listen to the radio or BBC Sounds and been watching the World Cup when in bed as I don’t have a TV in my bedroom. However to quieten the mind I will make sure I brush my teeth, have a cup of tea or hot chocolate anything that helps with relaxation and winter time a nice hot bath.

What does Google say about an overacting mind: it’s usually just your brain stuck in “problem-solving mode” or dealing with an activated nervous system.

It can trigger anxiety if you fear your home. I lived on ground floor of a block of flats in an Housing Estate as a child and was scared of someone breaking into my room or if I had watched something scary on TV, a news headline or if I had a bad day.

I dream a lot. It can be varied on what and when I started to have really bad nightmares I would try and stay awake. This can trigger the mind of resisting to sleep and there are clinics you can go to and tried many different medications but the one I take now is the one that really helps, it is Haloperidol and it does have side effects, but I take another medication to lower the side affects and sleep through the night and feel better for it.

Get medical help. Not sleeping is exhausting and I felt sick with tiredness because I could lay awake all night and at one point I didn’t sleep for a whole week because of my mind being active. Yes it can be trauma that causes that. It became a habit that has taken a lot to change. I am not one that can sleep for too long. I find it makes me feel rotten by doing so and insomnia is hard to kick. This can cause overthinking and 5 to 7 hours is enough for me and not going to bed too early. I find this can trigger my overactive mind and wake up at midnight, so then I find I can’t get back to sleep. I do sleep in a bit at the weekends but I am still awake early.

Letting my Overactive mind run whilst walking helps. It is good to just let the thoughts flow out of my body and a good walk does that for me. I also like to work in silent some days and sleep in silence. The temperature of a room. The heat has got to me and can trigger my thoughts. A nice cool shower and a wet flannel on my body can help and listening to a podcast, he said that just feeling good in bed, helps and just listening to something and reading is my main sauce of helping my mind be quiet and sleep.

I do think it is heredity because my mum is the same and my Nan (my mums mum) and my mum did used to sleep in until she had me and my brother, but wonder if this is due to taking ages to get to sleep because of having an overactive mind.

Put a Yes me in the comments if you have gotten to the end of this blog and if you relate. You can use the comment box below. It would like your point of view and helps me in knowing that my blogs are helpful.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X