In the last episode, I shared three practical ways to help you stop spiraling when you’re awake at night.

Today, let’s look at what not to do.

Because often, we unintentionally fuel the very anxiety that keeps us up.

Here are five common habits that might be sabotaging your nights—and what to do instead:

1. Clock-Watching

Checking the time might feel innocent, but it ramps up anxiety fast:

• “It’s 4:00 a.m. already?!”
• “Only 3 hours left before my alarm.”

Sound familiar?

This type of monitoring sends your nervous system into alert mode.

Instead:

Set your alarm and don’t look at the clock again.

Hide it if you need to.

Let your body experience the night without performance anxiety.

2. Holding Rigid Expectations

If you go to bed thinking,

“I better get at least 7 hours tonight or tomorrow is ruined.”

You’re setting yourself up for stress.

Or maybe you’ve told yourself, “I always sleep badly after two good nights—I know the pattern.”

These stories turn into self-fulfilling prophecies.

Instead:

Keep an open mind.

Let go of predictions.

Assume nothing.

Your body is capable of surprise, especially when it feels safe.

3. Resisting Discomfort

Being awake when you want to be asleep is uncomfortable.

But fighting that discomfort adds a second layer of pain.

Instead:

Expect some discomfort.

Make room for it.

Practice saying, “This is hard, but I can handle it.”

That one shift reduces the inner struggle.

4. Burning Through Your Energy

When you spend all night panicking, you’re draining your emotional reserves.

Even if you get a few hours of sleep, you’ll feel wrecked.

Instead:

The less you fight, the more energy you save.

Being awake isn’t the enemy—it’s how you relate to it that matters.

You can be tired and okay.

5. Overreacting to Hyperarousal Symptoms

Do you ever:

• Jerk awake right as you’re falling asleep?
• Wake up with a pounding heart?
• Feel pressure building in your chest or limbs?

These are all symptoms of a revved-up nervous system.

Instead:

Label them gently: “Ah, hyperarousal.”

Not a threat. Not a failure.

Just a temporary wave.

The more calmly you respond, the faster those waves subside.

It’s easy to fall into these habits.

But once you spot them, you can begin to let them go—and build new ones that truly support your sleep.

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Looking for a deep dive into the End Insomnia System? Start with the End Insomnia book on Amazon.

If you are committed to ending insomnia for good with the End Insomnia Program in 8 weeks while doing it 100% naturally, book a call today to see if we can help.

If you’ve ever been awake at 2 a.m., staring at the ceiling, wishing you could just turn your brain off, you’re not alone.

Most people think their only goal at night should be falling asleep.

But what if that goal is the very thing getting in the way?

Instead of forcing sleep, try something new: finding peace—even when you’re awake.

That might sound backward, but here’s the truth:

Trying to force sleep doesn’t work.

It triggers anxiety and keeps your nervous system in fight-or-flight mode.

But when you learn to soften your attachment to sleep and find a little bit of calm even while you’re awake, everything changes.

Let’s talk about three ways you can respond to nighttime wakefulness in a way that helps your body feel safe and re-learn how to sleep.

Mindfulness in Bed

Practicing mindfulness gives your brain a calmer focus.

That might mean breathing deeply, doing a body scan, or just noticing where your mind wanders.

You’re not doing this to “make sleep happen.”

You’re doing it to experience calm in the moment.

Ironically, that calm is what makes sleep more likely to return.

Body Scan Practice:

Start at your toes.

Spend about 15 seconds feeling each area of your body—feet, ankles, legs, torso, arms, neck, face—until you reach the top of your head.

If your mind wanders (and it will), bring it back and continue.

Some people like to label their thoughts by silently saying, “Thinking,” whenever they get distracted.

This helps you step back from your thoughts and return to the present moment.

Don’t expect this to make you fall asleep right away.

That’s not the point.

But it will help your nervous system stop spiraling—and that alone makes your night more restful.

Relaxing Activity in Bed

If focusing on your body doesn’t feel helpful, try doing something low-key in bed.

Read a physical book, listen to a podcast or calming audio, or watch something slow and gentle (without the intent to sleep).

The idea isn’t to distract yourself until you pass out.

It’s to break the loop of anxious thoughts and make the night feel less threatening.

If you start to feel sleepy—eyes drooping, head nodding—pause what you’re doing and let yourself drift off.

Get Out of Bed

Sometimes, staying in bed only makes the anxiety worse.

In that case, get up, stretch, sit somewhere cozy, sip something warm, and do a light, enjoyable activity—nothing goal-oriented or mentally demanding.

The goal here isn’t to “reset your sleep.” It’s to reset your nervous system.

No matter which of these three you choose, the goal is the same:

To experience less struggle at night. To be awake without spiraling.

You’re teaching your brain that wakefulness doesn’t have to mean threat.

That shift is what helps calm the Sleep-Stopping Force—so sleep can return naturally, in its own time.

You’re not broken.

You’re just stuck in a loop.

And with some practice, you can find your way out.

Looking for a deep dive into the End Insomnia System? Start with the End Insomnia book on Amazon.

If you are committed to ending insomnia for good with the End Insomnia Program in 8 weeks while doing it 100% naturally, book a call today to see if we can help.

Let’s talk about how to deal with anxious thoughts in a new way—one that doesn’t involve fighting them.

Earlier, you learned how to challenge scary or extreme thoughts. That can help.

But sometimes, even when we challenge a thought, the anxiety stays.

And that’s okay.

The goal isn’t to never feel anxiety.

It’s to stop letting anxious thoughts run the show.

That’s where mindful acceptance of thoughts comes in.

A technique called defusion helps you step back from your thoughts so they don’t feel so heavy or powerful.

What Is Defusion?

Defusion means seeing a thought as just a thought—not a fact, not a command, and not something you have to believe.

When we’re “fused” with our thoughts, it feels like we are our thoughts.

Defusion helps us create space between ourselves and our thinking.

This gives you more choice. Instead of reacting, you can observe.

Instead of obeying every anxious thought, you can pause and choose your next step.

1. Thoughts are mental input, not reality. Your thoughts are like messages your brain sends you. Some are helpful. Some are junk mail. You don’t have to believe every single one. You can thank your mind for its input—and still choose a different path.

2. Thoughts don’t last forever. Even big, loud, stressful thoughts fade. Your mind is always moving. Just sit for five minutes and notice how many different things you think about. Even thoughts that repeat will shift, grow quiet, or disappear.

When you start trusting that your thoughts aren’t permanent, they become less scary.

You begin to realize, “I don’t have to fix this thought. I just have to let it be.”

When you notice your mind spinning, try this:

• Say to yourself, “Thinking.”
• Or, “I’m having a thought.”
• Or, “I’m having the thought that I won’t sleep.”

This small step helps you step out of the story and back into the moment.

You stop being stuck inside the thought and instead become the observer.

Once you’ve labeled it, you can choose what to do next.

Maybe you stay with the thought.

Maybe you let it go.

Maybe you return to what you were doing. It’s up to you.

Set a timer for five minutes.

Just sit and notice how many different thoughts come up.

Watch how fast your brain changes direction.

This shows you in real time that thoughts move on—even if it doesn’t always feel that way.

That’s normal. Some thoughts, especially anxious ones, like to visit again and again. Each time, you can:

• Label it.
• Notice it.
• Gently return your focus to the present.
• Remind yourself, “It’s okay for this thought to be here.”

The goal isn’t to get rid of thoughts. It’s to hold them more lightly.

Imagine walking through life carrying a backpack of worries.

Defusion doesn’t empty the bag all at once.

But it lets you stop gripping it so tightly.

You still carry it, but with less tension and more ease.

And that makes space for you to live—to keep doing what matters, even with a few noisy thoughts tagging along.

So next time your mind says something scary about sleep, try this:

1. Notice it.
2. Label it.
3. Thank your mind.
4. Keep moving forward anyway.

You’re not your thoughts. You’re the one who notices them.

And that changes everything.

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Are you looking to dive deep into the End Insomnia System? Start with the End Insomnia book on...