If Your Mind Won’t Switch Off at Night, This Might Help

There’s a very specific kind of tired that hits at the end of the day.

You’ve done everything. You’ve worked, eaten reasonably well, maybe even gone for a walk, and by the time you get into bed, you’re ready for sleep.

But your brain isn’t.

It starts running through everything. Conversations, to-do lists, random thoughts, things you said five years ago, things you wish you’d said differently. It’s like the second the day goes quiet, your mind gets louder.

I’ve had a lot of this over the past few months.

After my dad passed earlier this year, I found nights the hardest. During the day, I could stay busy, distracted, productive. But as soon as things slowed down, everything I hadn’t processed yet seemed to catch up with me.

And even when I was exhausted, my body didn’t feel settled enough to sleep.

Your nervous system isn't downshifting

What I’ve come to realise, both personally and through my work, is that this isn’t just about “switching your brain off.”

It’s about your nervous system not fully downshifting.

When your body is still sitting in that low-level “on” state, your brain will keep searching for something to do. It will fill the quiet with thoughts, because silence doesn’t always feel safe when your system is a bit wired or overwhelmed.

This is where things like cortisol come in.

If your stress response is still slightly elevated at night, whether that’s from a busy day, hormonal shifts, emotional stress, or just life in general, your body doesn’t fully move into that rest and digest state that supports deep sleep.

And when sleep is off, everything else tends to follow.

Cravings feel stronger. Energy dips harder. Brain fog hangs around longer than it should. Fat loss feels like an uphill battle, even when you’re doing all the “right” things.

It’s all connected.

Have you heard of Pink Noise?

I came across pink noise through an article in Centred Magazine and, if I’m honest, I didn’t think much of it at first.

It sounded like one of those “nice in theory” things. But I tried it anyway.

And it surprised me.

The easiest way to describe it is that pink noise gives your brain something steady to land on.

Not silence and not stimulation. Just a consistent, gentle background sound.

Think rainfall, waves, wind moving through trees. Nothing sharp, nothing demanding your attention. Just a soft, predictable rhythm.

What I noticed almost immediately was that it took the edge off my thinking.

My mind didn’t need to keep searching for something to latch onto, because there was already something there. Not enough to keep me awake, but enough to stop the spiral.

It didn’t “fix” everything, but it made nights feel less intense.

And that was enough.

Creating a steady environment for your body and mind

From a nervous system point of view, this makes a lot of sense.

Your body isn’t just listening for noise, it’s constantly scanning for patterns and predictability. When things feel steady and consistent, it reads that as safe.

Pink noise creates that steady environment.

It softens the contrast between silence and sound, which can be surprisingly helpful if your thoughts tend to get louder in quiet spaces.

It’s almost like it gives your brain permission to stop working so hard.

The benefits of sleep in perimenopause

What I’ve also noticed is that when sleep improves, even slightly, everything else feels easier to manage.

I wake up feeling a bit clearer. I'm less reactive. Cravings don’t hit as hard mid-afternoon, and I don’t feel like I need three coffees just to function.

And this is where it links back to what I talk about all the time.

Sleep, stress, digestion, cravings, and belly fat are not separate issues!

If your nervous system isn’t getting a chance to properly settle at night, your body stays in that slightly elevated state the next day. Cortisol stays higher, blood sugar is less stable, and your body is more likely to hold onto fat, particularly around the middle.

So something as simple as improving the quality of your sleep, even just a little, can have a ripple effect across everything else.

If you’re curious to try it, it doesn’t need to be complicated.

I just quietly play a pink noise track I found on YouTube (it's called 'Pink Noise, Black Screen' and is without ads) softly in the background from my phone. It’s low enough that I’m not really focusing on it, but it’s there.

Some nights I notice it more than others. Some nights I fall asleep quickly, others take a bit longer. But overall, it’s made a noticeable difference to how settled I feel going to bed and more importantly how I sleep.

Want to learn more?

If you want a deeper explanation of how pink noise works and why it’s so effective for the nervous system, I’d highly recommend reading Taryn’s article in Centred Magazine (Issue 10)

She explains it beautifully and in far more detail than I ever could.

But if you’re lying in bed at night feeling tired but wired, with a mind that won’t quite switch off, this might be something simple worth trying.

Not as another thing to get right.

Just as something that might make nights feel a little easier.

Click here or the image below to read Issue 10 of Centred Magazine