It’s late out, I’m feeling so tired, I’m having trouble sleeping….

Corrine Bailey Rae puts soothing words to what so many of us can encounter in various seasons of our lives– difficulty sleeping– and, at times, difficulty staying asleep. And while it may or not be because we are falling in love, as Corrine Bailey Rae suggests for herself in her hit single from the early 2000s, Trouble Sleeping, our sleep, or lack thereof, can most certainly be connected to what is going on in our minds and hearts.

Sleep is so essential to our emotional and physical well-being. Without it, we will struggle to process the events of our days and our lives with our fully-functioning brains. Without the tools to process the events of our lives at full-capacity, we can begin to believe false narratives about our lives and circumstances, which can ultimately contribute to anxiety and depression. Physically, we are much more likely to experience weakened immune systems and struggle with managing stress, which can have both short-term and long-term consequences on our physical well-being.

For someone experiencing trouble sleeping, there can be a variety of root causes. Stress and difficult life circumstances can be contributing factors. Anxiety and depression are both culprits of stealing sleep, although anxiety is much more likely to make it hard for you to be calm enough to drift off into sweet dreams. Sometimes, there can be an underlying medical condition causing the difficulty. It’s important to see a doctor to learn if there is anything else contributing to your tired eyes.

One way to calm our minds- and therefore, calm our bodies- is to create a night routine to help our minds remember that it is time to settle down and settle in. For someone who has many racing thoughts and perhaps is struggling with an anxiety disorder, knowing what to expect each and every evening can improve our brain’s ability to slow, calm, and still.

To create a meaningful sleep routine, I encourage you to consider starting with the fifteen minutes before you climb into bed. With time and consistency, there is room to increase this amount of time before bed to create a sleep ritual.

Here’s an example sleep ritual, which is simple enough to replicate or change to fit your specific needs and hopes:

Take five minutes to brush your teeth, wash your face, and change your clothes.

Four minutes to do some light stretching, or perhaps sip some soothing decaffeinated tea.

Three minutes to jot down a few things you are grateful for, or write down anything you’d like to let go of in your mind (try to do this on a piece of paper or in a journal, to eliminate blue light exposure).

Two minutes to settle into bed and make sure you’re as comfortable as possible.

One minute to breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth.

If you find yourself consistently struggling to fall asleep due to anxious thoughts, in particular, consider meeting with a therapist to walk through and work through some of the things on your mind. It can be helpful to process with someone else the things you’re holding and carrying, especially during the daytime and not when you’re trying to catch some precious shut-eye.