In a study of employees at an information technology company in Germany, people who had not completed their tasks at the end of the work week thought more about their work problems than those who had more or less completed their tasks. According to the researchers, their results show that the feeling of not completing tasks leads to rumination (persistent thoughts about negative events) and disrupts people’s weekend sleep.
Friday nights can be difficult nights for many of us. If you woke up very late that morning, you may not fall asleep at night like normal nights. Tomorrow you have to go back to work and face some unfinished business as well as some new ones. So what can you do to stop these worries from keeping you awake?
Well, you can count sheep. You can read a book and get away from your worries for a while. You can practice mindfulness and focus on your breathing and the sensations you experience. You can also turn on the light and make a to-do list.
Writing a to-do list the night before can help people fall asleep faster
Yes, it is true; We suggest that you deliberately remember all the things you need to do that are worrying you so much. We even suggest writing them down on paper. You may think that this method cannot be effective, but a study in the United States showed that it is really effective.
Michael Scullin, a professor at Baylor University in the United States, asked one group of people to write down a list of the things they had done that day just before going to sleep, and asked the second group to make a list of the things they are going to do tomorrow and a few days later. do the future The second group fell asleep 9 minutes faster.
The scientists did not limit themselves to the volunteers’ self-assessment of their sleep quality (because it is not always accurate), but confirmed their wakefulness and sleep with the help of the “multiple sleep test”. This method involves attaching sensors to the head and other parts of the person’s body in order to monitor the brain waves, breathing and movements of the person.
Instead of having tasks randomly spinning around in your head, organize them.
While Scullin’s study is not a large body of research, there is a psychological mechanism that could explain his findings. This mechanism, which is known as “cognitive unloading”, occurs when a person reduces his mental load by performing a physical action.
When you rotate a map to match the layout of the streets in front of you, this is an example of cognitive unloading. You reduce some of your mental work for orientation, putting less stress on your brain and simplifying the task of finding your way.
In the case of a written to-do list before bed, you transfer the tasks from your mind to a piece of paper (or your phone if you prefer and make sure you don’t get caught up in social media or emails); So that you don’t need to think about them while you’re trying to sleep. By doing this, you will make the tasks appear in an orderly form instead of randomly spinning in your mind. They are somehow archived and ready to be done at the right time. Moreover, you don’t need to worry about forgetting them.
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Even if it makes your list longer, it’s better to list all your specific tasks instead of using general headings. Professor Scullin’s study found that people who made a to-do list of more than ten fell asleep an average of 15 minutes earlier than people who didn’t make a to-do list. They also fell asleep six minutes earlier than those who made a short list.
Completing a long list of tasks ahead of you can seem daunting when you’re tired and want to sleep. But it might be worth it. Writing your to-do list right before bed won’t take away from your work, but it may help you sleep better and worry less. On the other hand, when tomorrow comes, you’re one step ahead because you’ve prepared a to-do list.
