Sleep, a fundamental need for human life, serves the purpose of cleaning and repairing the brain. Sleep is a vital operation where the brain clears out its waste, organizes memory, repairs the body, and establishes the immune system. Sleep is not just for rest; it is a repair process where the brain works its night shift, clearing away the mental and physical burdens accumulated during the day. During sleep, memory organizes itself, learned information is consolidated, the nervous system finds balance, and the immune system gains strength. The relationship between the brain, which enables us to fall asleep, and sleep itself is a reciprocal and highly dynamic one. So why do we think instead of sleeping during the process where the brain should be preparing us for sleep? This article will focus on both the scientific and emotional aspects of thinking more at night.
The Scientific Role Of Thinking At Night
Whatever occupies our brains during the day returns in the silence of the night. Throughout the day, the prefrontal cortex, the brain region responsible for reasoning, planning, attention, and emotional regulation, is actively working. This region is the control center of our mind. Like the manager of our mind, it is the most “human” region that helps us suppress stressful situations we encounter during the day, postpone emotions, and maintain our functionality, in a way helping to bring order to our brain. As night approaches, the regulatory effect of the prefrontal cortex decreases, while the sensitivity of the amygdala, known as the brain’s emotional alarm system, increases. Ochsner, K.N, & Gross, J. J. (2005). This causes emotional thoughts to come to the forefront. Stimuli in the environment decrease; the phone stops ringing, social interaction ends, and darkness and silence prevail. With the decrease in external stimuli and the increase in silence, all the emotions we suppressed to avoid seeing now become visible. Therefore, the mind turns inward, not outward. When the outside world falls silent, our inner selves begin to speak.
Suppressed Emotions and Unclosed Files
The mind dislikes what is incomplete. Zeigarnik, B. (1927). In psychology, this is called the “Zeigarnik Effect”; that is, unfinished tasks and unresolved situations occupy more space in our minds. Suppressed emotions are like unresolved emotions. The mind leaves everything unclear open like an unclosed file. Even if our attention is diverted elsewhere during the day, intentionally or unintentionally, these open files resurface at night. The mind is constantly at war with uncertainties such as unspoken answers, unsaid or unexpressed reactions, unsaid goodbyes, and unanswered questions. This “suppression” is functional in the short term. However, in the long term, emotions do not disappear; although it helps us stay awake during the day, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle again at night, and this is the most vulnerable state because thoughts that come at night are felt more intensely and exhaustingly as they remind themselves when attention relaxes. Gross, J. J. (1998)
The Psychological Vulnerability Of The Night
Biologically, cortisol levels decrease and melatonin increases at night, and the body prepares for sleep. During this process, the mind’s “control mode” weakens. The mind’s ability to evaluate events in a controlled manner during the day is lost. As a result of this loss, thoughts can become more emotional, absolute, and pessimistic, and night is a time when feelings of loneliness increase. This loneliness is not physical, but rather psychological. Along with this loneliness, the perception of time changes; the future feels more uncertain and the past feels heavier at night. This heavy feeling, which increases psychological vulnerability, leads to more intense emotions. Sadness is felt more deeply, longing more intensely, and anxiety more dominantly, and because this happens at night, it creates the perception that “everything is very bad.” However, the point to note here is that the thoughts that come at night are not so much real as unfiltered emotions that have remained in the background. This is because the mental conditions that evaluate them change.
How Can We Avoid Overthinking At Night?
Although these thoughts sometimes disturb us, the mind’s purpose is not to disturb us, but to process emotions that have been postponed during the day. Most of the time, they don’t create a problem; unprocessed thoughts are simply a sign of emotions. Therefore, the solution is not to avoid or fight them, but to find a healthy solution to them. Suppressed thoughts return strongly, and it’s important to recognize them. Writing down these thoughts that are swirling in the mind reduces their burden by forcing us to confront them. Creating a short “emotional release time” during the day reduces mental intensity at night. Therefore, the healthiest step is to try not to process some thoughts at night, because thoughts that rise when the mind is silent are often the voice of emotions that couldn’t be heard during the day, not the mind itself. Baumeister, R. F. et al. (1998). In conclusion, thoughts that rise at night are not because the mind wants to tire us out, but because unheard emotions are seeking space for themselves. Sometimes, insomnia is actually the mind’s way of saying “notice me,” and perhaps the healthiest step is not to silence that voice, but to try to understand it.