Tired but Wired: Why Your Brain Won't Switch Off at Bedtime

All day you're running on empty. You nod off on the couch halfway through the show. Then you walk to bed, turn off the light, and your brain decides it's showtime.

Tomorrow's meeting. The email you forgot to send. Something you said in 2014. One person described it as "an arcade in my brain, running at maximum speed." Another put it simply: "the silence feels loud."

This is "tired but wired." Your body is ready for sleep. Your mind didn't get the memo.

Why it happens

For most of the day, your brain is in problem-solving mode. It plans, scans and fixes. At bedtime it's supposed to let go and drift. But when the day never gave it a quiet moment, bedtime becomes the first chance it gets to go through everything. So it does. Loudly.

A few evening habits make it worse:

• The phone in bed. Bright light and a stream of new information keep your brain on alert.
• Staying up for "me time." When the house finally goes quiet, it's tempting to stay up just to have some time that's yours. Lots of people do it most nights.
• No wind-down. Going from full speed straight to lights out gives your brain no runway.
• Dozing on the couch. A nap at 9 p.m. can take the edge off your sleepiness by the time you get to bed.

Volume down, not lights out

You can't force a racing mind to stop. Trying to "empty your head" usually makes it louder. What works better is turning the volume down, bit by bit, over the hour before bed.

A 60-minute wind-down routine

60 minutes before bed: close the day

Write tomorrow's to-do list, plus anything else that's on your mind. Once it's on paper, your brain doesn't have to keep rehearsing it.

45 minutes before: lights low

Switch off the overhead lights and use a lamp. Low light is part of how your body knows it's evening.

30 minutes before: phone across the room

Put it on the charger somewhere you can't reach from bed. Pick something slow instead: a paper book, a warm shower, some light stretching.

In bed: give your mind somewhere easy to go

You don't have to clear your thoughts. Steer them somewhere dull and pleasant instead. Replay a walk you know well, or plan a trip in slow detail. Let your thoughts drift into nonsense. That's sleep starting.

Every night: the same time

A steady bedtime and wake-up time is one of the simplest things you can do. Your brain learns the cue and starts winding down on its own.

Where DreamOn fits in

We designed DreamOn to be part of that routine, not a replacement for it. Two gummies, 30 to 60 minutes before bed, at the same time each night.

• 50 mg L-theanine, the calm compound found in green tea, to help you unwind.
• 25 mg reishi, the mushroom used for centuries to wind down. Fruiting body, 10:1 extract.
• A small melatonin signal: 1.25 mg per gummy, 2.5 mg per serving, to tell your body it's evening.

Every dose is printed on the pouch, and you get 60 nights to decide if it's for you.

Make DreamOn part of your wind-down →

The bottom line

Tired but wired doesn't mean something is wrong with you. Usually it means your brain never got the signal that the day is over. Give it that signal, a little earlier and the same way every night, and let the volume come down on its own.

If racing thoughts keep you up most nights or are affecting your days, talk to your doctor. Quotes are from people describing their own experience on public forums.