Sleep is so important, not just for getting rest, but for transforming our energy levels, mood, and day-to-day life. So if, like us, you’re always looking for ways to improve your sleep, Mel Robbins' latest wellbeing tip is definitely one to try.
Appearing on the Big Deal podcast, she shared a sleep hack that’s sure to become one of our favourite tricks to help you fall asleep quickly, and all you need is a piece of paper and a pen.
Explaining the trick, Mel said, “Have a piece of paper next to your bed and write down every to-do that you didn’t get to.”
It might sound counterintuitive to focus on the things you didn’t get done in a day before trying to drift off, but Mel says there is some “amazing” science that backs up the idea.
“You’re closing tabs in your brain. You see, your brain runs on open loops,” she explained. “One of the reasons people have a hard time fall asleep is you’re ruminating because your brain is trying to keep the loop open because the tabs aren’t closed.”
So, she says, if you focus on all the things that you didn’t get to do, your brain “can close the loop” because it knows you’re going to revisit the tasks the next day.
And research shows it’s effective – incredibly effective. “Research shows that doing that is as effective as a sleeping pill,” Mel said. “That you fall asleep between eight and 10 minutes faster.”
The study Mel references published its findings in 2018 and found that people who wrote about the things they didn’t get around to in the day fell asleep nine minutes earlier than people who wrote about the things they did manage to do.
More than this, the more specific the to-do lists for the next day were, the sooner the participants fell asleep. And while the researchers say that nine minutes might not seem like a lot of time, it’s similar to the effect of certain sleep medications.
“You don’t have to worry because the list is right there,” Mel said of the bedtime to-do list. And then there’s nothing to worry about if you don’t get round to it all the next day either, as you can just write it down again and repeat the loop!
Fans of Mel’s loved the idea, with one commenting, “Best thing ever to do that.” While another added, “I've been doing this forever, it genuinely helps me go blank.”
