#it is just on the mind

Also whenever I do have anxiety-induced bouts of insomnia (thankfully uncommon, but hhh) the things that help me sleep the most are things that would be discouraged by sleep hygiene proponents- turning on color changing led lights (I just find rainbows soothing!!), putting on podcasts or audiobooks or shows I’m already familiar with (wtnv got me through the bad grief times when I was full on terrified of dreaming and I still sometimes go back to early episodes of it when my brain is in a bad place… the magnus archives also works these days, lmao),

sometimes even changing my sleeping location if that’s an option… I have NO idea why that last one helps but I suspect all of these things just give my overactive brain something else to fixate on rather than Looming Dread.

Rather than cutting out all potential sources of mental stimulation, giving myself something for my brain to latch onto OTHER than its own dysfunction lets me calm down enough to sleep… lying in the dark in total silence doesn’t work for me at all,my brain is too much of an eager, practiced expert at filling in empty spaces