Psyche & Proof
Four Minds · Episode 1

2AM: Why Your Mind Won't Stop

11:48 PM. Same message, same boss, four different people: "Can we talk tomorrow morning? 9 AM." At 2:07 AM, all four are still awake.

Watch on YouTubeWhich one are you?
Four windows at night: Oliver, Penny, Avery and Theo awake with their phones

Four exercises, one for each mind

Grab a pen. Each one takes five minutes or less.

Oliver

Worry time

Pick 15 to 30 minutes every afternoon, same time, same chair. When a worry arrives at 2 AM, write one word on paper and tell yourself: not now, at five o'clock. Then, at five, worry on purpose, with a pen.

Penny

Three explanations

Write the message that scares you, and under it three possible meanings. At least one must have nothing to do with you. Then ask: which one would I believe if this happened to a friend?

Avery

The two-minute look

Set a timer for two minutes. Write down what you're avoiding and the worst thing you're afraid of. When the timer rings, stop. You looked at it, and you survived it.

Theo

The evening list

Five minutes before bed, write a specific list for tomorrow: "email Marco at ten, buy coffee, call mum". Then close the notebook. Literally close it.

One important note

If your nights are like this most of the week, for weeks, talk to a doctor. There's a well-studied therapy for insomnia, called CBT-I, and it often works better than people expect.

Sources

  • Harvey, A. G. (2002). A cognitive model of insomnia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40(8), 869-893.
  • Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Wisco, B. E., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). Rethinking rumination. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(5), 400-424.
  • Watkins, E. R. (2008). Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 163-206.
  • Gilovich, T., Medvec, V. H., & Savitsky, K. (2000). The spotlight effect in social judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(2), 211-222.
  • Wegner, D. M., Schneider, D. J., Carter, S. R., & White, T. L. (1987). Paradoxical effects of thought suppression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(1), 5-13.
  • Kroese, F. M., De Ridder, D. T. D., Evers, C., & Adriaanse, M. A. (2014). Bedtime procrastination. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 611.
  • Kross, E., et al. (2014). Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: how you do it matters. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(2), 304-324.
  • Scullin, M. K., et al. (2018). The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(1), 139-146.
  • Borkovec, T. D., et al. (1983). Stimulus control applications to the treatment of worry. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 21(3), 247-251.
  • LaFreniere, L. S., & Newman, M. G. (2020). Exposing worry's deceit. Behavior Therapy, 51(3), 413-423.
  • Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, Letter 13.
  • C. G. Jung, Aion (1951), Collected Works vol. 9ii, para. 126. The popular quote "Until you make the unconscious conscious…" is a paraphrase, not a direct quotation.