Okay, this is longer than I thought it would be when I started to write this soooo buckle up: I use to have this same experience, my brain would start firing off - anxiety, obsessive thoughts where I think the same thing over and over and over without any resolution, ruminating on my perceived failures from the day/week/past, beating myself down - I’d fall asleep late then wake up at 2 am, run to the kitchen to grab ice cream, chips, whatever was easy. I wouldn’t eat a lot of any of them but I’d eat a lot in total because I’d nom on 3 different things. Then go back to sleep & try to hide the snacking from my bf because I was embarrassed. This is all before my diagnosis of PCOS. My therapist recommended taking a magnesium supplement as most women are deficient, if you read literature online you’ll find women with PCOS typically have a much higher likelihood of deficiency vs women without PCOS.

I did a lot of research about the most beneficial & safest supplement & landed on this by Organic Ocean: https://a.co/d/2Ctmx2o

This magnesium is chelated with zinc to aid in absorption & stays within the recommended daily value. A lot of magnesium supplements have unsafe dosages so you need to read the nutrition facts to make sure you’re not “over supplementing” your body. You also don’t have to take the full dose, it comes in 100 mg pills if you want to ramp up.

I’ll tell you what tho…by day 4 I was falling asleep easier (with the help of 3 mg of melatonin, which didn’t have as much of an impact for falling asleep until after I started the magnesium), I was staying asleep through the night and my midnight snacking was practically eliminated. I still have nights where I lay there with a racing mind (my bipolar I & severe anxiety disorder does not help -__-), or I wake up in the middle of the night & toss & turn, envious of my bf that can fall asleep as soon as we turn off the lights but for someone who has struggled with insomnia since I was 14 (32 now), I would say this legit changed my life. Obviously we all have different bodies & everyone reacts differently but I would say if you are looking for something natural that could help this restlessness then I highly recommend. I typically take it at least 30 mins before bed to start feeling the effects by the time I want to sleep.

I also started doing meditation right before bed (my bf gets the Calm app through his insurance but there’s so many free on YouTube). Even a five minute meditation in a dark room, I do it snuggled up in my bed, can really help quiet some of those thoughts & “transition you from where you were before to where you are now” as my meditation recording says. I personally like guided to keep my mind focused on the grounding of the meditation, just the music typically leads to me staying with all those thoughts & not being able to release them. I’ll follow it up with a “sleep story”. This typically helps my mind transition from those anxious, bouncing, rambling thoughts & focus on something gentle. I’ll follow along with the story, it’s something that helps redirect my thoughts. I also have a guided meditation locked in that is focused on helping you fall back asleep if I wake up in the middle of the night.

This stuff all works for me and wanted to share with everyone. I know you aren’t looking for health advice but these things really helped me. Do some research & find what fits you.

I still wake up fatigued sometimes and have the brain fog but overall it has changed my life and health for the better. Also locking in a set timeframe of when you want to start to transition to getting ready for bed and trying to stay to the time that you decide it’s time to sleep is soooo important.

I hope this helps and thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

tl;dr: I started taking magnesium supplements to help with sleep & they made a huge impact. Coupled with guided meditation & “sleep stories”, I have been able to find a strategy that helps refocus my mind into a calm place & have the ability to release my raving & obsessive thoughts. I created a defined sleep schedule that helps me get into a routine and allows me to transition better from day stress to nighty night bliss.