Doing everything “right” before bed — no late caffeine, phone away, lights off early — and still lying awake replaying old memories isn’t a sign of bad sleep habits. It’s a nervous system that hasn’t gotten the signal to stand down.

In this video, Rey NP explains why the body can feel bone-tired and wired at the same time: during the day, the sympathetic (“gas pedal”) and parasympathetic (“brake”) branches of the nervous system get regular input, but at night, unresolved stress can keep the sympathetic branch partially engaged even while the body lies still. He then walks through three tools to shift out of that state — a physiological sigh to calm the vagus nerve in real time, a two-minute brain dump to close out unfinished mental “tabs” before bed, and a subtle language shift for noticing anxious thoughts instead of getting fused to them.

The video closes by naming what techniques alone can’t always reach — bringing the weight of the day to God in prayer, with a short prayer for peace and rest.