Society. At night, the thoughts that go round in circles

During the day, you hold on. In the evening, as soon as the light goes out, your mind starts up again. You replay the day, anticipate tomorrow, imagine the worst. The harder you try to sleep, the further sleep slips away. And in the morning, tiredness makes worries feel even heavier. A vicious circle that many people know well.

A very common problem

According to Santé publique France, insomnia in the strict sense affects 15 to 20% of the population in France, and 30 to 50% of adults report a sleep disorder in the broader sense. Rumination, those repetitive thoughts that are hard to interrupt, is one of the most frequent drivers, especially in times of stress or anxiety.

Why at night?

During the day, activity, noise and other people keep us busy. At night, in silence and darkness, nothing screens us any more: what was set aside comes back up. Psychoanalysts often see it as the return of what found no place elsewhere: a worry, a conflict, an emotion that could not be expressed. At night everything also seems more serious, as if tiredness magnified every problem.

What goes round at night is often what could not be said during the day.

Calming habits

A few simple rules help calm things down: going to bed and getting up at regular times, avoiding screens in the hour before bed, limiting coffee after lunch and alcohol in the evening. Keeping a notebook by the bed lets you "set down" persistent thoughts to pick up the next day. The website's "My notebook" tool can also be used for this during the day.

If you are still awake after about twenty minutes, it is better to get up, go to another room, read or listen to something calm in soft light, then go back to bed when sleep returns. Staying in bed fighting strengthens the link between bed and worry. A few minutes of slow breathing, as in the "Breathe now" exercise, also help to slow down.

This article is for information only. It replaces neither a consultation nor a diagnosis, which is a doctor's role.