Tired but wired when you go to bed? Neuroscientists reveal tricks proven to ‘turn your brain off’

It’s a familiar scenario for most of us. You’re lying on the sofa on a weekday evening, determined to enjoy an eagerly anticipated Netflix series, but exhaustion kicks in. Your eyes sting and struggle to stay open. You head to bed, but something curious happens: The minute your head hits the pillow, you’re wide awake.

It’s a well-established phenomenon that experts have named ‘tired but wired’. In simple terms, it means conflicting brain hormones are being released simultaneously – some that signal rest, and others that tell the body to wake up.

It can present as racing thoughts, heart palpitations, restless legs and a sudden feeling of urgency, experts say. 

Unfortunately, the usual advice for improving sleep – strict bedtime routine, warm bath, calming music, isn’t likely to resolve the disrupted brain chemistry. 

But neuroscientists have revealed a number of hacks that, they say, are proven to work – and you can do from the comfort of your bedroom.

Actioning them is crucial, given the litany of harm chronic bad sleep can have on the body, according to Dr Laura Bojarskaite PhD, a neuroscientist and sleep researcher at the University of Oslo.

‘Persistent poor sleep affects nearly every system in the body,’ she said, adding that insomnia increases the risk of obesity, heart conditions and even dementia.

Here, experts reveal the science-backed methods that tell your brain to switch off.

Being ‘tired but wired’ could be leaving you struggling to hit your NHS-recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night (stock image)

Why do we get ‘tired but wired’?

The phenomenon can mostly be blamed on hormones.

Under normal circumstances, levels of our stress hormone, cortisol, begin to ease as the day draws to a close. 

But stress, anxiety, caffeine, artificial light and worries about another bad night can suddenly come to the fore, triggering excess cortisol which tells the brain it is not yet safe to relax. 

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‘Your body feels exhausted because sleep pressure has built up throughout the day, but the brain still receives signals that it should remain alert,’ says Dr Bojarskaite.

‘As a result of the hypervigilance our mind starts replaying conversations or worrying about tomorrow.’

Other experts say stress hormones are more likely to fire at night because of a lack of distractions.

‘During the day, your mind is occupied with other life things, be that work, getting your kids off to sleep, commuting, sorting out dinner,’ says Dr Tom Chambers, a sleep medicine physician and chief medical officer at Theta Sleep.

‘You’re not thinking about life stresses. 

‘When we then get into bed, it’s quiet, you’re in a dark room and there’s no other external distractions.’

How can I turn my brain off? 

The experts recommend three exercises that can trick your brain into a state of relaxation.

The first is a so-called ‘brain dump’ – writing everything from your brain on paper to help quiet the mind.

‘Most people who feel tired but wired are carrying too much mental and emotional alertness into bed,’ says James Wilson, a sleep expert who goes by the name The Sleep Geek.

‘Some people find a brain dump works if they do it after their evening meal.

‘Others find it useful to keep a pad and a pen next to their bed to write it down before they go to bed to get out of their head, or to write down any thoughts that crop up in the middle of the night.’

If you’ve got a busy day or week, try writing a to-do list instead.

In a study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57 adults were asked to spend five minutes before bedtime writing either to-do lists, or completed tasks. 

All the participants’ sleep was monitored and the group who’d written the to-do list was seen to fall asleep significantly faster.

The solid line in this graph depicts the average risk of dying [the Y axis] based on sleep duration [the X axis]. The dash line represents the confidence intervals, which provide a range in which scientists can be sure the true risk of death lies

The researchers claim that it’s similar to writing a ‘worry list’; your brain recognises that tomorrow’s tasks have been recorded and therefore doesn’t need to keep going over them in your mind when you’re trying to sleep.

‘This involves silently mouthing a simple, non-stimulating sound, such as the word “the”,’ says Dr Chambers.

‘You’re lying in bed, mouthing the word “the” over and over again, which blocks those other intrusive thoughts and allows you to drift off to sleep.’

Dr Chambers explains that this tool works by blocking the brain’s language processing systems, which are responsible for fuelling your racing thoughts.

By filling these systems with something simple and repetitive, the mind has less opportunity to spiral into worries, he adds.

Another tip is, rather counterintuitively, to try and stay awake.

First developed in the 1970s as a tool to help tackle insomnia, paradoxical intention involves doing the opposite of what you want to achieve.

Dr Chambers says you can’t ‘chase’ sleep, it’s a natural process that happens on its own and attempting to force it is counter productive.

‘Lie in bed with the lights off and try to stay awake as best as possible,’ he advises.

‘When you concentrate on staying awake, you often end up falling asleep.

‘You’re challenging that “I must get to sleep” attitude as you’re focusing your mind on something else.’

A review of 10 clinical trials in the Journal of Sleep Research found that when compared with doing nothing, paradoxical intention showed huge improvements in insomnia symptoms, such as taking a long time to fall asleep. 

It even trumped other relaxation and cognitive behavioural techniques like deep breathing.

Insomnia affects as many as one in three people in the UK, meaning around 22 million suffer with poor sleep, according to NHS data.