Why does imagining a fake scenario or story help you sleep? Using your imagination to think about yourself in a desirable situation is a great way of distracting you from day-to-day worries or concerns. It is also a good way of stopping you from getting frustrated at how difficult you're finding falling asleep.
We spoke with Brandy Smith, who is a licensed psychologist with Thriveworks in Birmingham, Alabama. She said individuals often conjure fictional scenarios in their minds before peacefully falling asleep. This practice helps us feel more prepared for potential future events, providing a sense of grounding and security.
Promoted Stories. Psychologist Brandy Smith told mattress review company Sleepopolis: "Sometimes when people worry or have anxiety about something, creating scenarios of what may happen as well as planning and working to brainstorm ideas may help them feel more secure in different situations.
Often, creating negative scenarios is a coping mechanism. The person may have experienced unexpected trauma that they are struggling with. Catastrophic thinking is a way for them to exert control over unforeseen circumstances that might harm them later. Other times, that extends to the person's loved ones.
If a person self-talks as part of a hallucination, they should seek help from a healthcare professional. Self-talk and hallucinations may indicate a mental health condition, such as schizophrenia. A person with schizophrenia may experience changes in their behavior and thoughts, such as hallucinations or delusions.
Some people feel that self-talk creates a “presence” around them that makes them feel better. This can help with loneliness. But in some cases, when people talk to themselves in an erratic or muttering way, it could indicate a mental health disorder.
Maladaptive daydreaming is a mental health issue that causes a person to lose themselves in complex daydreams. These daydreams are usually a coping mechanism for other mental health conditions or circumstances. It's common — but not required — for people who have this to have a history of childhood trauma or abuse.
Dawn says these scenarios can be comforting as they are a form of escapism. For some, they are a necessary precursor to sleep, a technique used to try to kickstart your brain into dreaming. However, Dawn says, they can also have a more practical purpose.
Munchausen syndrome (also known as factitious disorder) is a rare type of mental disorder in which a person fakes illness. The person may lie about symptoms, make themselves appear sick, or make themselves purposely unwell.
We often worry about the future at night. When we are asleep, activity in the rational part of our brain is reduced and activity in the more emotional part of our brain is increased. As a result, we tend to use our emotional brain to picture the future when we're awake at night.
Get enough sleep.
Aim to sleep between seven and nine hours a night. Having a consistent sleep schedule where you sleep and wake up at the same time can also help. Try to clear your mind at night so you don't lie awake in bed fantasizing. Meditate before bed, and avoid any bright screens for an hour before bedtime.
The fake scenario thought cycle can cause a lot of anxiety or stress and hurt your body and mind in a lot of ways. If you always think about the worst-case scenario when planning, you may be catastrophizing, which is something you should work on.
If overthinking or intrusive thoughts are stopping you from sleeping, there's a range of techniques you can try to clear your mind. You could try repeating a word (articulatory suppression), doing a mental puzzle or distracting yourself (articulatory suppression).
It might be a result of your previous bad experiences that you can't shake, or it could be linked to mental health issues like anxiety or chronic depression.
Rapid thoughts are often a symptom associated with anxiety. They can make people feel out of control or as if they are going crazy. When it comes to sleep, this effect of anxiety is a cyclical problem. Because your brain struggles to focus when it is tired, it often leads to racing thoughts.
Self-talk can be a symptom of a number of mental illnesses. It can be a sign of an anxiety disorder, depression, PTSD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. More severe mental illnesses associated with self-talk include schizophrenia and psychosis.
Perhaps, the most obvious motivation is that humans are inherently risk-averse. In order to avoid facing the reality of an unpleasant situation, people engage in counterfactual thoughts — think of the million ways they could have evaded a moment in time — as a coping mechanism.
We talk to ourselves to organize our thoughts
Another theory is the Cognitive Disruption Theory, which proposes that self-talk helps individuals to regulate their attention and focus. By verbalizing their thoughts, people can better organize information, solve problems, and enhance their cognitive processes.
How can I stop them? In My Head: When you find yourself in one of these imaginary conversations, try to disrupt it with a task that distracts you — like a crossword puzzle, meditation, or listening to a podcast. You want to take your brain in a different direction and prevent yourself from sinking deeper.