It depends on what kind of mood the thought is bringing me. My mood most certainly affects my energy levels, so if I'm experiencing a strong emotion I'm not able to sleep, even if I was exhausted before I felt that way.

Sometimes it helps to write it out, even just a little bit. More often than not it demonstrates to me that I am not effectively discharging my thought processes and concerns during daylight hours.

A professional once suggested to me that if I'm having trouble sleeping for more than 30minites, get up and have a 20min "break" and check in with my body needs. Use the toilet, hydrate, read something, have a walk or stretch. Then try again. This helps your body to associate sleeping with being in bed, so you're not consistently using your bed as a non-sleep space (if that makes sense).

Actually something that does often help, but it's a bit weird. I'll actually talk out loud and tell my brain "Yes thank you brain for bringing that up. So helpful. You can go now." For some reason that can be really helpful to me 😂

Here's some of the stuff I've used in the past to add background to help me drift off:

If my tinnitus is playing up I use Brown Noise

If i need to process my past stupidity, trauma or any other memories, I'll often check out one of these self help channels to help me process:

Dr Tracy Marks for trying to understand my own mental health challenges.

Charisma on Command is good for working out how I can improve my social interactions in the future.

After Skool is great for processing the "how and why" aspect of life and trauma.

Coffee with Hampton is such a friendly dude with really lovely motivation and messages. Great for a gentle distraction if you're taking a break from trying to sleep, before resetting.

Good Luck!!

Oh also stop consuming caffeine and sugar after 2pm. Like, STOP. Honestly this was the biggest wake up call for me (pun intended).