In the night
Postpone the 3am worry
Awake and thinking at 3am? Tell it: not now, tomorrow's window
5 min
How to do it
When you're wide awake and the list starts running, don't argue with it and don't try to solve it. Say, silently, that it can wait for tomorrow's ten minutes, and bring your attention back to your breath or the dark room. If you're still awake after twenty minutes, get up, sit somewhere dim, and come back to bed when you're sleepy.
What the evidence says
In the research on midlife sleep, women repeatedly credit CBT for worry, not sleep hygiene, with ending their 3am wake ups. That matches CBT-I, the treatment The Menopause Society rate as strong evidence with no risk, which works by breaking the link your brain has built between being awake in bed and thinking hard. Getting up after twenty minutes rather than lying there is the same principle, and women describe reaching for it independently.
