Feeling really sleepy and then feeling wide awake when you get into bed is a classic symptom of conditioned arousal — because you have found it unpleasant to be in bed time after time after time, your mind has learned to associate the bed with unpleasant wakefulness. So, you feel sleepy when you aren’t in bed, but then when you go to bed your mind tries to protect you from what it sees as the threat of being in bed by making you awake and alert — and, of course, this is not helpful when it comes to sleep!
The good news is that since this association has been learned, it can be unlearned by making sure you’re only in bed when either asleep or when being in bed feels good. If you get out of bed any time being in bed doesn’t feel good, you retrain yourself to see the bed as a more pleasant place to be because you’ll only be in bed when being in bed feels good.
This technique is part of stimulus control and when combined with other techniques that help build sleep drive and lower arousal (such as sleep restriction) you will likely start to experience better sleep.
Here are a couple of videos you might find helpful, too:
What to do when you feel sleepy early in the evening but don’t feel sleepy when it’s time for bed
How to stop the sleep roller coaster and make sleep more consistent and more predictable
I hope this helps!
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