Many people describe the same experience. They feel relatively fine during the day, but as soon as they get into bed, their mind becomes active.

They review the day, list everything that went wrong and start planning for tomorrow, the following week and sometimes much further ahead.

There is a reason this often happens at night. During the day, work, conversations and other external demands use much of your attention. When those demands stop, your mind turns toward the thoughts you postponed earlier. Bedtime becomes the moment when the queue begins to clear.

Trying to suppress these thoughts usually does not help. Pushing them away can make them return more often and feel more intrusive.

This lesson takes a different approach. Instead of fighting the thoughts at night, you give them a specific time and place earlier in the day.

Scheduled worry time, sometimes called constructive worry, works like this:

• Choose a period of 15 to 20 minutes earlier in the day. Avoid scheduling it in the evening or during the 90 minutes before bed.
• Use that time to write down what is worrying you. For each concern, record either one next step or a clear note that there is nothing you can do about it right now.
• When a worry appears at night, notice it and remind yourself that you have already set aside time for it. That time is not now.

The aim is to postpone the worry, not suppress it. You are not telling your mind to stop thinking. You are letting it know that you have a plan to give the concern your attention.

This is different from simply saying stop. Your mind may find it easier to leave the worry temporarily when it knows that you intend to return to it.

Writing is an important part of the exercise. It moves the worry out of the internal loop and onto the page. Even a short period of writing can reduce the mental effort involved in holding several concerns in your mind at once.