DAY 93 - Mind Racing ... Can’t Get Back to Sleep?

Photo courtesy of xlibber at Flickr Commons

Trick question coming up; don’t be blinded by the obvious.

Lying awake for hours ... unable to quiet your mind; your mind is apt to be blamed. But is sleeplessness entirely caused by worries, unfinished work, or difficult decisions tossed around in your head?

The answer is NO! Turns out the mind-body connection is a veritable thoroughfare with a lot of traffic moving from south to north, especially at night.

That spicy pizza could activate your brain. The distention of your bowel with intestinal gas from that extra glass of milk can cause distress that would manifest in your head. The tightness and tenderness in your muscles and joints certainly don’t produce relaxed brain waves. And surely you didn’t think that that double espresso at 4:45 this afternoon would have no effect. The fact that you haven’t exercised for weeks is no calming influence either.

Your mind may be racing, but your body may be the source of the fuel.