It is 11pm, or 2am, and your body is finally still. The lights are off, the day is done, and that is exactly when your mind picks up the megaphone. The conversation you should have handled differently. The thing due Thursday. The decision you already made, now back for review.
If your overthinking saves its loudest performances for the moment you lie down, you are not doing anything wrong. Night is simply when the conditions are perfect for it.
Why you overthink so much at night
During the day your attention always has somewhere to be. Tasks, screens, people, movement. All of it quietly drowns out the background noise of your own thoughts. At night every one of those distractions disappears at once. The room goes quiet, your body goes still, and the mental noise that was there all along finally has the stage to itself.
Three things stack up at bedtime:
