Woman shares therapist's handy advice for what to do when you can't get to sleep

Some people find themselves lying awake for hours, their thoughts loud (Photo: Shutterstock)

At the end of a long day, many people would love nothing more than to climb into bed and fall into a deep, peaceful sleep.

However, often this isn't the reality and some find themselves lying awake for hours, their thoughts loud.

This is something that recently happened to TikTok user Emily Brochu but while she was in bed, wide awake, she remembered a tip a therapist had once given her for when you can't sleep.

So she decided to make a video to share the handy advice with as many people as she could for free.

In the clip, she says: "So a therapist gave me this trick for when you can't sleep, I'm gonna share it with you for free cuz I paid for the information.

"So I was laying in bed and I can't sleep. I put on my sleep stories, I went to bed at a normal time, I just couldn't sleep. I was tossing and turning, tossing and turning, tossing and turning.

"Finally, that's when I remembered what a therapist said to me. She said if you're in that situation, set a time limit.

"If you're not sleeping within 20 minutes, get up and write down everything that you're thinking about and do it until you're tired and then go back to sleep.

"And it works."

Her therapist advised getting out of bed and writing all your thoughts down (Photo: tiktok.com/)

Emily continued to explain: "The reason it's important to get out of bed is that if you stay in bed your brain will eventually connect with I'm supposed to be awake when I am here and you don't want that connection to make you stay up super late, and when you go to bed you're gonna be tired."

Her video went viral, being watched over 538,000 times and garnering more than 76,000 likes.

Hundreds of people also commented on the clip, with many agreeing that it was a good tip.

One person wrote: "I just had a lecture on this in med school. Good sleep hygiene!"

Another replied: "This makes so much sense because I always fall asleep when I'm journaling."

A third admitted: "I do something similar when I can't sleep bc of stress. I get up and write down every single thing I'm stressed about, gets them out of my brain."

Someone else added: "I've recently been writing down all my thoughts in my journal before I go to bed and it helps me clear my mind so that I'm not thinking about every possibility."

A different user proclaimed: "I LOVE THIS. The reason I stay up is because if I don't think of everything right that second I think I might forget. But if it's on paper, no problem."