Tame a Racing Mind at Bedtime: Anxiety Wind-Down That Actually Works

The Concern

A pervasive issue among viewers is the inability to fall asleep due to racing thoughts, anxiety, and overthinking, with some experiencing panic attacks at bedtime or struggling to silence intrusive thoughts. This is particularly acute for young individuals or those with underlying anxiety.

The Tip

Implement a dedicated wind-down routine 30–60 minutes before bed. Actively “disengage” your mind by engaging in non-stimulating activities like reading a physical book, practicing meditation, or taking a “mental walk.” Avoid screens, arguments, or tackling hard problems in this period.

Creators Addressed

• Bryan Johnson — suggests creating a “ritual” 30–60 minutes before bedtime, such as reading a book or going for a walk, and uses a mental construct, “sleep Brian,” to disengage from worrying thoughts. He explicitly advises avoiding screens and anything that causes arousal.
• Matthew Walker — recommends a “mental walk,” where you imagine a familiar walk in high-fidelity detail to occupy cognitive bandwidth and prevent worries. He also advocates for meditation and sleep stories to redirect the mind from anxiety, and removing clock faces from the bedroom.
• Andrew Huberman — suggests Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) techniques, including meditation, yoga nidra, and hypnosis, to promote relaxation and improve sleep onset; warns that hyper-optimizing can create sleep anxiety.
• B.C. Marx — advises not to focus on “falling asleep,” but to occupy the brain with peaceful music or a relaxing podcast.
• Doctor Mike — offers the strategy to get out of bed if you can’t fall asleep within ~15 minutes to avoid associating bed with wakefulness, and to use white noise for a peaceful sleep environment.

Related Raw Comments

• “I am an atheist. I have trouble sleeping because I cannot silence the divine questions that come to my mind before I sleep. What should I do?”
• “I am 13 and struggle with this... I start panicking and freaking out and my body starts shaking and I'll start crying because my brain just keeps telling me I’ll be up all night.”
• “Thank you, do you have any tips because I’ve been having panic attacks before bed then I’ll get sleepy and once in bed can’t sleep.”
• “I have issues sleeping like overthinking before sleep, too much sweat, nightmares, thinking about death and things out of control.”
• “Maybe I missed it but I didn't hear stress/anxiety discussed. I think by far these are the biggest causes of garbage sleep.”

Quick Summary (Do This Tonight)

Run a 30–60 minute wind-down: dim lights, keep your phone outside the room, write a 1-minute brain dump + tomorrow’s top 3, then do 10–15 minutes of NSDR/meditation or a “mental walk” (replay a familiar route in detail). If you’re not sleepy after ~20 minutes in bed, get up and read something calm in low light—return only when drowsy.