If you're a woman who tries to do it all – chances are you've googled "how to fall asleep" or "why can't I get to sleep?" a few times in your life.
Whether you're juggling your high-profile career at the same time as raising a family, studying while working part-time or launching your own yoga studio without forgetting to be a loving and attentive partner – our want and need to be better and do better often keeps us up at night.
Unfortunately, there's no button you can press for instant sleep, but there is a trick you can try...
Psychologists at Baylor University in Texas, recently completed a study where they monitored the sleep patterns of 57 people between the ages of 18 and 30 overnight in a sleep lab. Before going to bed, every person included in the study completed a five-minute writing assignment.
However, the participants were divided into two groups. One of which was asked to write a list describing everything they accomplished in the past few days. While the other was asked to write a to-do list laying out what they needed to remember to get done in the next few days. Aka one group was more of a reflection, while the other was forward-thinking.
Fast forward to the end of the experiment and researchers found that people who wrote to-do lists before bed (the forward-thinkers) fell asleep nine minutes faster than the ones who wrote about what they had accomplished (the reflectors).
"Therefore, to facilitate falling asleep, individuals may derive benefit from writing a very specific to-do list for five minutes at bedtime rather than journaling about completed activities," researchers concluded.
In fact, the more specific the to-do list, the better. Those who wrote longer and more detailed tasks to be completed when they woke fell asleep the fastest.
A few Glamour staffers can attest to this method and even keep a notepad and pen by their beds at night. That way if they're woken in the night because of a task they forgot about, they can write it down and go straight back to sleep safely knowing they won't forget in the morning.
It's worth a shot right?
