A-Z Mind Game for Better Sleep

Sleep problems (insomnia) and anxiety go hand in hand.  Read more HERE for Science of Sleep and Stress 101.

When you have insomnia, does it feel more like your mind is awake or like your body is awake?

If it’s your mind…Maybe it’s anxiety that is causing a busy mind, or maybe your mind is just overactive and having a hard time ramping down. If it’s your mind that’s causing sleep problems, then here’s a great strategy to try.

This helps the busy mind that keeps you from falling asleep or keeps you from falling back to sleep if you awake in the middle of the night.

Your goal? To give your mind something else to do so that it does not kick into gear thinking about worries or tasks or other random things. We want to give the brain something that is distracting enough but also boring enough at the same time so that it will fall asleep.

Rules of the A-Z Game

• You must think of a street name of for every letter of the alphabet.
  
  
• Start with A and you may not skip any letters.
  
  
• You must think of an actual street name that you actually know. You can’t just assume that there is a street named “Adams” somewhere. You must personally know of Adams Street.
  
  
• Be prepared for your mind to wander. When that happens you simply bring your mind back and remember what letter of the alphabet you were working on.
  
  
• If you play this game regularly, frequently used street names will become too easy to remember. That’s cheating! If the street names come to easily because you have used them before then you must find new ones.

Don’t let your competitive nature try to win the game! Remember, the real goal is NOT to get to the letter Z. The plan is to fall asleep long before you get there.