How to sleep when you’re overwhelmed by election anxiety

EDaily anxiety can lead to sleepless nights—so ramp it up with existential fear for the future of democracy, and it’s probably safe to assume you won’t be getting much sleep on election night.

According to recent American Psychological Association survey25% of adults have already lost sleep over the US presidential election, even before it enters the frenetic final hours. Experts say the rumor is about the same. “I see nine clients a day, and choices happen in six of those sessions,” says Alex Banta, a therapist in Columbus, Ohio. “It’s been on everyone’s mind and it’s completely normal to struggle with sleep before such an important election.”

Of course, when we don’t get enough sleep, we tend to experience increased feelings of stress, anxiety, and irritability. “Every time we lose sleep, we lose emotional stability,” says Banta. “We all have the ability to maintain and control our emotions, and if you don’t sleep, it will negatively impact this resource.” Sleep is refreshing; it is how we clear our minds and process the events of the day. And this will be important after the election, especially if things don’t go as well as you hoped for your favorite candidate.

With that in mind, we asked experts to share their best tips for squeezing in some Z when you’re feeling anxious.

Schedule “worry time”

In the evening, before you go to bed, set a timer for 5 minutes – and consider this your permission to freak out to the maximum. Let every fear, worst-case scenario and doubt in. The key to success, says Banta, is that you can’t really be V bed. She usually doesn’t get distracted by “worry time” when she’s driving or walking. “At the end there has to be what we call a change of state. This means you physically place your body in a different space to signal to your brain that you are done with that space,” she says. That way, when you get out of the car or get back inside, “it signals to your brain and body that you’ve gotten the job done,” she says. “You’ve given those thoughts and fears their due and now you’ve moved on.” In her experience, when you actually get into bed, you’re much more likely to fall asleep quickly.

Stick to your normal routine

If you usually go to bed at 11:00 pm, you can give yourself a little leeway and stay up until 11:30 pm tonight. But as much as possible, treat it like any other Tuesday night and stay consistent, urges Kali Barenfuss, a clinical sleep health educator who owns Delta Sleep Coaching in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Otherwise, if you keep putting it off, “it’ll be easy to stay up until midnight, which could turn into 3, 4 or 5,” she says. Especially given that we may not know the election results right away, there’s no point in setting yourself up to be tired—and, as a result, even more emotionally fragile—the next day.

Put your phone in Do Not Disturb mode

Before you go to bed, take a break from the device you’ve been glued to all day. In addition to using Do Not Disturb mode, which ensures you won’t be disturbed by incoming messages or calls, consider moving your phone to another room altogether. Otherwise, you’ll likely be bombarded with an endless stream of family group chat messages and social media notifications. As Banta says, “Did you hear that? Did you see this? “And the reality,” she adds, “is that you can’t control the outcome. The winner will be announced when it is announced, so keep calm for now.

Write down your thoughts

While you can’t change the final outcome of an election, you can change your thoughts, says Renee Carr, a psychologist in Washington, D.C., who hosts Politics and psychology podcast. If you’re struggling to fall asleep, she suggests constantly writing down everything that’s running through your brain. By doing this, “you give your mind a release,” she says. He will no longer feel like he has to cling to these insidious fear-based thoughts.

For every anxious thought you write down, Carr suggests writing down another more positive and hopeful one. For example: “The smell of coffee when I get up will remind me that I’m alive for another day.” This is important because when you imagine the worst, “your mind remains vigilant, trying to come up with a solution that will keep you safe and help you survive,” she says. – That’s why you can’t sleep. By balancing these thoughts with happier thoughts, you will soften your body’s stress response system and become more relaxed, entering a state of peace rather than fear.

Think about what you are grateful for

It can be difficult to slow down your brain at night, even at the best of times, Barenfuss admits. One way to ease your anxiety and return to a more relaxed state is to think about things you’re grateful for that have absolutely nothing to do with the election but are more personal in nature. “Start small and be grateful for the air you breathe, the warm bed you lie in, the food you had for dinner, the friends who keep you company, the family who loves you unconditionally.” she says. Maybe you’ve got a new grandchild – think how cute he looked in his Halloween costume and you might find yourself smiling for the first time all day. According to Barenfuss, focusing on gratitude “shifts your thinking from a negative space to a more positive one,” which can help facilitate sound sleep.

Use visualization tools

If you wake up at 3 a.m. paralyzed by anxiety, resist the temptation to reach for your phone. “It will wake up your brain and say, ‘Oh, it’s time to go.’ We are collecting data again,” says Banta. Instead, try to calm yourself by visualizing something calming, such as leaves floating in a stream or bubbles floating in the air on a summer day. Some of her clients like to imagine a train full of bad thoughts pulling into the station and remind themselves that they don’t have to get on that train. They can watch him drive away, taking his car full of worries with him. “You can gently let the thoughts come and go,” she says. “Watch them and let them pass.”

Look for mindless entertainment

It may seem funny to turn away from the news and read a light-hearted book or watch a stupid movie while election results are looming, but you’ll be doing yourself a favor. Barenfuss believes this redirects your thoughts into a more positive space, which can help you feel relaxed and allow sleep to become more natural. In this case, she says, the distraction is worth spending a night in front of a screen, which she usually avoids. “I think it’s okay to break the rules a little bit in situations like this,” she says. “I’d rather someone play their favorite episode Seinfeld and relax rather than continue to sit in your misery and let your brain sink into this hole of worry for hours and hours.”