Brain Dump for Sleeping
o Do you find you can go to bed tired but when you get into bed you cannot
settle the mind to get to sleep?
o Do you wake up in the middle of the night with thoughts spiraling?
o Do you wake up feeling tired?
o Getting a good night's sleep is essential for our body's repair and
regeneration.
o The amount of sleep you need each night is a much discussed and debated
topic, but what is agreed upon is the quality of the sleep.
o With the general consensus stipulation that we benefit greatly from a good,
restful sleep.
o Therefore, it is important to create the conditions for a restful sleep,
including having a clear mind when we go to bed.
o Although our conscious mind switches off while we sleep, our
subconscious mind will continue with the last thoughts that we were
consciously thinking. The subconscious mind becomes most active
when the conscious mind goes to sleep, and it searches out the
information and details of your last conscious thoughts. For that
reason, it is essential that your last conscious thoughts are on
something that is uplifting or relaxing or even something that you
would like to achieve.
o If you’ve ever laid in bed with so many thoughts swirling around your head
that you couldn’t sleep, there’s a super easy method that can help you calm
your thoughts and allow you to get some rest.
o It’s called the BRAIN DUMP METHOD
o The Brain Dump Method is the best way to remember everything
without having to actually carry everything around in your mind.
o It’s unbelievably easy to do and can be done in a matter of minutes.
o A Brain Dump is literally getting all of your thoughts and to-do’s out of your
brain and onto paper.
o It’s a disorganized list of all of the thoughts racing around your head.
Why You Need a Brain Dump
To get out of ‘survival mode’
o We all have a million things we’re trying to keep track of on a daily
basis.
o “Stressed out” seems to not only be a way of life but a shiny badge that
most of us like to wear and boast about.
o But it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to live life trying to
keep your head above the water.
o Sometimes all it takes is the simple act of allowing yourself to let go
of all the things swirling around in your head to climb out of survival
mode and put yourself into a place of peace, confidence, and stability.
To help you sleep better
o You don’t have to go to bed with your to-do list bouncing around your
head, and you don’t have to worry about trying to remember everything in
the morning.
o Think of your brain as a computer. If you have 57 tabs open, your
computer is probably going to run slow, freeze up, and won’t work as
efficiently as it could if you only had one tab open at a time.
o As you Brain Dump, you are taking notes of the open tabs,
acknowledging them, writing them down so they aren’t forgotten,
and then closing them.
o Each time you close a tab (aka write down a thought, worry, idea, or
to-do), you are clearing your mind and allowing it the freedom to
work more efficiently.
To work through emotions
o Stress oftentimes builds up and we aren’t always able to target what’s
causing it.
o A Brain Dump helps your subconscious express what is truly bothering
you.
o Does most of your Brain Dump revolve around getting the house clean
before your company comes this weekend? Maybe you’re worried about
your proposal you need to have ready by next Tuesday for work! Or you’re
stressed simply because you know you need to remember to schedule your
child’s dentist appointment.
o Now that you know what the target of your stress may be, you can
make a plan, delegate, cut nonimportant or nonurgent items from
your to-do list (or reschedule them), and tackle the items that are
causing the stress.
To help you stay on top of your day/week
o As parents/ employees/ students/owners of businesses etc. we tend to
carry a massive invisible load.
o Getting it out of your brain and onto paper allows you to set a portion of
that burden on the table and go through it as we are ready.
o Your list is in front of you so you don’t have to carry it around on your mind
and heart all day.
The BEST part: You don’t have to think about your entire list. You can focus on
one single task at a time without worrying about what comes next. As you
complete a task, you simply refer back to your list and move on to the next task.
To become more intentional with your time
o A Brain Dump is a fantastic way to clear your thoughts and take control of
the tasks you want to tackle in a day, instead of hopping from task to task
as they come up.
o Use your Brain Dump as a tool to help you be more proactive during the
day.
When You Should Use the Brain Dump Method
o Utilize the Brain Dump method right before bed in order to get your
thoughts out of your head, as well as prep a little for the next day.
o “Pre-bed brain dump”—a chance to move all those worries and
thoughts from my head to a physical sheet of paper.
o Make lists of things you need to do the next day, or week.
o Write about weird vibes after a confusing meeting that day, or frustrations
about something your partner/coworker/boss/friend texted you earlier
that day.
o Write for 2 minutes or 20 minutes—whatever it takes, to get you to that
stopping point.
o Then you can pack it up and hit the sheets for a good night sleep.
o Pre-bed journaling “helps with the anxious thoughts that keep us from
falling asleep or staying asleep.
o “Studies show that expressive writing can be a really powerful tool in
reducing anxiety and depression by helping to shift the perspective
and letting go of the worry.
o If you find yourself with writers’ block, try creating a ‘to-do list’ to help
your brain let go of worry and stress.
o The same goes for jotting things down on your phone rather than a
journal—that notes app might be handy, but the light coming from your
screen can trick your brain into staying alert and overriding sleepy signals.
Instead, focus on patterns that cues your body to prepare to power off.
HAPPY SLEEPING!
o It’s important to remember that all the associations we create, help our
brains and bodies recognize routines, in the same way Pavlov’s dogs linked
a bell ringing to food. It can do the same for you when you associate
reaching for your notebook/journal, and it bring on the sleepy vibes.
Why, Write it down?
o Researchers say that writing down tasks to paper relieves the burden on
your brain, and it results in bringing on sleep.
o Rather than journal about the day's completed tasks or process tomorrow's
to-do list in one's mind, individuals that spend five minutes near bedtime
thoroughly writing a to-do list, conclude they sleep longer, better and are
less stressed.
What Type of Thoughts?
o Just jot down every thought on paper.
o Don’t stress about it being messy, and don’t try to organize it.
o You’ll probably naturally think of a lot of task-oriented things, but
don’t limit yourself to tasks only.
o It can be any kind of thought that comes to mind even if you don’t
have a particular action plan for them.
o Some of my brain dumps are a page of bullet points, others turn into
several pages of mind maps and scribbles.
o It really doesn’t matter what your brain dump looks like but getting it
down on paper is important.