How to Doze Off Faster

Writing a to-do list before bedtime may help you fall asleep quicker

AS SOON AS YOU LIE DOWN AT night, does your mind go straight to anything you could possibly stress about? How can you get to sleep when all you can think about is how you still need to tell a friend you can’t make your brunch date? It’s natural to jump to stressors when your mind finally has some quiet time to wander, but a racing mind can leave you tossing and turning. Thankfully, scientists have found a possible cure to help you shut down those anxious thoughts and finally get some shut-eye.

Baylor University researchers investigated whether different types of writing could ease people into sleep. To find out, they had 57 young adults spend five minutes before bed writing either a to-do list for the days ahead or a list of tasks they’d finished over the past few days. The volunteers slept at the lab where researchers could measure their eye movement and brainwave activity, and weren’t allowed to use their phones or do work after lights-out.

The results confirm that not all pre-sleep writing is created equally. Those who made to-do lists before bed were able to fall asleep nine minutes faster than those who wrote about past events. The quality of the lists mattered, too; the more tasks and the more specific the to-do lists were, the faster the writers fell asleep. On the flip side, those who wrote long lists of accomplishments took longer to fall asleep than those who’d thought of fewer past activities.

The study authors figure writing down future tasks ‘offloads’ the thoughts so you can stop turning them over in your mind. You’re telling your brain that the task will get done – just not right now.

So, try taking five minutes to jot down a to-do list. It’s easy and cheaper than other sleeping aids.