Anxiety Before Bedtime: Why It Happens and How to Calm It

You finally crawl into bed after a long day, ready to drift off. But instead of sleeping, your brain decides it’s time to run a full highlight reel of everything you didn’t do, everything you might mess up tomorrow, and that weird thing you said at work three weeks ago.

If you’re dealing with anxiety before bedtime, you’re far from alone. Nighttime anxiety is incredibly common, and while it might feel like your mind is working against you, there are ways to calm the chaos and reclaim your nights.

Let’s look at how to deal with bedtime anxiety. 

The key to reducing bedtime anxiety is helping your brain and body transition gradually into rest mode. That means creating an intentional, calming wind-down period and finding ways to soothe your nervous system — before your head hits the pillow.

Try a few of these research-backed techniques to see what works best for you:

Your brain loves consistency. Set aside 30–60 minutes before bed, where you slowly shift into low gear. Turn off bright lights, put away screens, and do calming activities like reading, stretching, or listening to music. This helps signal to your nervous system that sleep is coming.

Intentional breathing can interrupt anxious thought patterns and activate your parasympathetic nervous system (a.k.a. your “rest and digest” state).

Here are two easy options:

• Box Breathing: Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4

• 4-7-8 Breathing: Inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale slowly for 8

Pair it with a guided sleep meditation or mindfulness app like Calm, Insight Timer, or Headspace for extra support.

Some people find silence unsettling when they’re anxious. Try:

• ASMR videos for gentle, repetitive sensory relief

• Yoga Nidra, a guided form of deep relaxation sometimes called “yogic sleep”

• White noise or ambient soundscapes like ocean waves or rainfall

Anything that keeps your mind gently occupied without overstimulation can help.

You can find ASMR, yoga nidra, and white noise on YouTube and Spotify. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different soundscapes, audio creators, and sounds.

If your thoughts are spiraling, get them out of your head and onto paper.

Write a to-do list for tomorrow, journal your worries, or scribble down anything that feels unresolved. This can help you mentally “file away” some of your worries or upcoming tasks so that your brain feels calm enough to sleep.

You don’t need a pretty notebook — just a way to offload the mental clutter.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is a great relaxation technique that can be used at any time of the day.

Start at your toes and work your way up, tensing and then slowly releasing each muscle group. PMR helps you reconnect with your body and signals your system that it’s safe to relax.

You can find guided PMR videos and audio on Spotify and YouTube. 

Close your eyes and imagine your body sinking into your mattress like warm sand. Picture yourself floating on a quiet lake or walking through a peaceful forest. Visualization pulls your brain away from anxious thoughts and into calming mental imagery.

Warming your body and then stepping into a cool room helps your core temperature drop—a natural cue for sleepiness. It also helps relax tense muscles and transition you out of stress mode.

Using your hands, a jade roller, or a gua sha tool, try a gentle facial massage before bed. Focus on the jaw, temples, and sinus area. This can relieve tension, stimulate circulation, and send a “we’re winding down” message to your brain.

If you need an extra nudge, natural ingredients like magnesium, valerian, hops, L-theanine, and 5-HTP are known to support relaxation.

Our Slumber Patch delivers these through your skin, helping you wind down without grogginess or dependency. To learn more, read about one user’s experience of using the Slumber Patch for three weeks.

We get it — an evening glass of wine or a late scroll session feels relaxing in the moment, but both can mess with your body’s natural ability to wind down and fall asleep.

Cut off caffeine by mid-afternoon, limit alcohol close to bed, and shut down screens at least 30 minutes before sleep.

Set boundaries here and see what shifts. The news — and your ex’s Instagram — can wait until morning.

We often expect our minds to instantly power down the moment we lie down. But the human brain doesn’t work like a light switch. In fact, if your days are packed with tasks, decisions, and screen time, bedtime might be the firstquiet moment your mind gets.

And that quiet? It can invite the noise in.

Here are some of the most common reasons anxiety shows up right before bed:

All day long, we’re absorbing information — work emails, news headlines, notifications, conversations. If you haven’t had a chance to process those thoughts during the day, your brain may decide to tackle them the moment you lie down.

If your evening looks like “scroll TikTok → brush teeth → scroll TikTok some more → jump into bed,” your brain hasn’t had any signal that it’s time to relax. A sudden shift from stimulation to silence can actually feel jarring, which triggers anxiety rather than rest.

Caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and heavy meals — especially too close to bedtime — can mess with your nervous system and sleep hormones. You might feel sleepy at first, then weirdly alert, jittery, or restless once you’re in bed.

If you’ve had trouble sleeping in the past, you might start to fear bedtime. Ironically, the stress of needing to fall asleep can make it harder to relax, especially if you start clock-watching or spiraling about how tired you’ll be tomorrow.

Generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, depression, or panic disorders can heighten nighttime worry. When you finally stop moving, suppressed stress often finds a way to surface.

If you snore and you feel self-conscious about it, you might feel too anxious to sleep. Likewise, if your partner snores, you might find yourself dreading bedtime.

The good news is that snoring is treatable — learn more about the causes of snoring and check out some of our tried-and-tested snore solutions.

You don’t need to wait until it’s really bad to ask for help.

Anxiety can affect sleep, but on the other hand, poor sleep can worsen your mental health. Sleep issues like snoring can also affect mental health, as it means your body isn’t getting quality rest. You’ll want to intervene before this cycle gets too intense.

Occasional nighttime anxiety is normal, and it can often be managed with patience and a few of the above-mentioned tips.

But if your bedtime anxiety is happening most nights, or if it’s causing serious sleep loss and daytime exhaustion, it’s time to get extra support. Mental health professionals can help you manage anxiety through cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness techniques, or addressing any underlying issues.

Anxiety before bedtime doesn’t mean something’s wrong with you. It probably just means you’ve been carrying too much for too long — and your brain doesn’t know when to put it down.

Start small. Try one or two calming practices from this list. Be gentle with yourself when your thoughts get loud. And if you need some extra help, don’t be afraid to reach out for support!

The content in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the guidance of a licensed healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment options. Please consult a qualified healthcare professional for personalized medical advice or concerns about snoring, sleep disorders, or related health issues.