The lights are out, the world is finally quiet, and yet your mind won’t stop racing. You replay the day, you stress about tomorrow, and before you know it, the clock says 3am. You’re so wired and tired, that you have almost given up on getting sleep entirely.
For professionals working in fast paced industries, it can feel like sleepless nights come with the territory. You’re constantly running on overdrive, juggling deadlines, solving problems, and trying to keep it all together. When your body needs rest the most, your brain sees it as a chance to spiral through worries, plans, and future what-ifs.
But many nights of poor sleep doesn’t just leave you with brain fog. It impacts your mood, focus, and productivity—making it even harder to handle the pressures of your day. Over time, it becomes a vicious cycle: the stress keeps you awake, and the lack of sleep amplifies the stress. Even your best efforts to “catch up” on rest feel futile because you’re waking up just as drained as when you went to bed.
This week in therapy, a client said: “I feel like I’m losing it. I’m working all day, lying awake all night, and by the time I finally fall asleep, it’s time to get up again. It’s not restful sleep you know? I can’t keep this up. It’s just not sustainable.”
As we talked, it became clear that their sleeplessness wasn’t just about their bedtime routine—it was about carrying the weight of the day into the night. Their brain didn’t know how to turn off because it had been trained to stay in “work mode” 24/7.
We started by creating a bedtime buffer—an hour of intentional unwinding to signal to their brain that it was safe to rest. This included no screens, walking the dog, and a short, written gratitude practice to replace anxious “what if” thoughts with calm “even if” ones. We also talked through daily microhabits to manage daytime stress throughout their day, so they weren’t carrying as much of the day’s pressures into the night. Slowly, they began sleeping longer and deeper—and waking up feeling more rested again.
If you’re lying awake at night, replaying your day or dreading tomorrow, you’re not alone. In my 1:1 online therapy sessions, I’ll help you manage the stress that is keeping you up and create a personalized plan for better sleep—so you can finally rest, recharge, and show up as your best self.
