Psychology says people who overthink at night often have a brain that refuses to shut down because it never felt safe enough to rest - Silicon Canals

"The nighttime thinking spiral usually starts with something small and cascades into a full inventory of every unresolved thing in your life: the email you forgot to send, the friendship that faded, the career path you're not sure about, the question of whether you're fundamentally okay as a person."

"A 2019 study published in Nature and Science of Sleep found that adults with insecure attachment styles (particularly anxious attachment) experienced significantly higher rates of pre-sleep cognitive arousal. Their minds didn't just wander. Their minds patrolled."

"If you grew up in an environment where the emotional ground could shift without warning, where a caregiver's mood was the weather system that determined your day, your brain learned a very specific lesson: rest is risky. Stillness is when bad things happen. Vigilance is the only responsible option."

Nighttime overthinking often cascades from small concerns into a comprehensive inventory of life's unresolved issues. While conventional advice emphasizes meditation and discipline, research reveals a deeper cause: adults with anxious attachment styles experience significantly higher pre-sleep cognitive arousal due to early experiences of emotional unpredictability. When caregivers' moods were unpredictable, developing brains learned that rest is risky and vigilance is necessary. During the day, external stimulation occupies this scanning system, but nighttime silence causes the nervous system to turn inward, searching for threats within thoughts and memories instead of the external environment.

Read at Silicon Canals