Writing before bed may help some people settle a busy mind, especially when the page holds tomorrow’s tasks. Two small studies suggest benefits for falling asleep or feeling less mentally active before sleep, but they do not establish a dependable solution for everyone.[1][2]
If your head starts running through unfinished jobs as soon as the lights go out, a brief list is a practical experiment. The aim is to leave yourself a useful reminder, then let the planning session end.
Why put tomorrow’s tasks on paper?
Think of the difference between remembering “I must organise that appointment” and leaving yourself a note that says “Call the clinic after breakfast”. The task remains unfinished, but you have recorded what to do next.
One proposed explanation for bedtime writing is that it helps offload reminders you would otherwise keep rehearsing. This is a possible mechanism, rather than proof of exactly how the technique works.[1] A useful way to approach your own list is to make it clear enough that you will understand it tomorrow without having to keep revisiting it tonight.
There is no need to write beautifully, fill a page or organise your entire week. A notebook can simply hold the few things you want to come back to.
What the two studies found
Upcoming tasks and the time taken to fall asleep
Scullin and colleagues randomly assigned 57 healthy adults aged 18 to 30 to spend five minutes writing upcoming tasks or recently completed activities before a laboratory sleep recording. Those writing upcoming tasks fell asleep in about 16 minutes on average, compared with 25 minutes in the other group.[1]
The comparison matters. Both groups wrote something, so the study does not tell us whether writing a list is better than doing no writing. It also examined one laboratory night, rather than a lasting routine at home.[1]
Possible solutions and a quieter mind
Carney and Waters studied 33 university students reporting insomnia. After two baseline nights, participants spent five nights either recording possible solutions to worries or recording worries and completing worry questionnaires. The solutions group reported less mental activity before sleep, both compared with the other group and with their own baseline.[2]
This finding concerns mental arousal before bed. It should not be read as proof of longer sleep, deeper sleep or a lasting benefit for insomnia.[2]
What these findings mean for your routine
The studies tested different writing tasks and measured different outcomes. They offer a reason to explore brief planning, rather than evidence that every kind of journalling improves sleep. Neither study establishes the ideal routine for all ages or circumstances.[1][2]
For a practical trial, choose a modest goal. You might want to stop mentally rehearsing tomorrow’s errands or give one recurring worry a next step. Avoid setting yourself the additional task of falling asleep within a particular number of minutes.
The suggestions below are everyday adaptations of the ideas in these studies, not a separately tested sleep programme. Use them flexibly and leave out anything that makes the exercise feel like more work.
How to make an evening list useful
Start with a short writing window
Set aside around five minutes with a notebook and pen. Choose a place where you can write comfortably, such as the kitchen table or a small desk, and plan to finish there. You do not need to take the notebook into bed or keep adding to it until you fall asleep.
Use plain paper if that is what you have. Buying a special journal, downloading an app or designing a detailed template can wait. The exercise should be easy to begin and easy to finish.
Turn broad reminders into clear actions
Write entries that will make sense when you open the notebook the next day. A broad heading such as “work” leaves plenty to interpret. “Send the updated roster before lunch” gives you a concrete place to start.
- Household job becomes “Call the plumber about the leaking tap”.
- Appointment becomes “Check the calendar and book a time”.
- Shopping becomes “Pick up milk and ingredients for dinner”.
These are examples, not a required format. Keep your wording simple enough to scan without turning each entry into a detailed project plan.
Give one worry a manageable next step
For a concern that keeps returning, try writing one action you could reasonably take. “I am behind on the project” might become “Ask which task needs to be finished first”. You are recording an option, not promising to resolve the whole situation tonight.
If the concern depends on someone else, your note might say “Follow up tomorrow afternoon”. If you cannot identify a useful action, it is fine to leave it there. A blank answer does not mean you have done the exercise incorrectly.
Keep planning separate from doing
Writing “reply to that email” can easily turn into opening your inbox and starting another task. Give yourself a clear boundary for this exercise. Record the reminder, then leave the task for the time you intended to deal with it.
Likewise, you do not need to check every detail before closing the notebook. “Find the booking reference tomorrow” is a complete next step. Searching for it now would turn a brief list into another work session.
Close the notebook and choose when to return
When you finish, put the notebook somewhere you will see it the following day. You might review it after breakfast or when you sit down to work. Choose whatever fits your routine.
Tomorrow, cross off what is finished, move what can wait and reconsider anything that no longer matters. The list is a working reminder, not a scorecard for how productive you have been or how well you slept.
When writing becomes another job
Pay attention to how the exercise feels. If it leads to more planning, frustration or worry, shorten it, try it earlier in the evening or leave it out. There is no reason to keep a habit simply because it helped a group in a study.
Keep any personal review light. You could ask yourself whether the list was useful the next morning, without timing how long it took you to fall asleep. One good or difficult night cannot tell you much about whether the approach suits you.
If sleep difficulties continue or affect your daytime functioning, speak with your GP. A notebook does not replace an assessment of persistent sleep problems.
Leave tomorrow somewhere you can find it
A short evening list gives tomorrow’s jobs a place on the page. Keep the actions clear, allow some questions to remain unanswered and finish the exercise when you planned to. The most useful version is one you can put away.
For more practical reading across sleep, nutrition and exercise, explore the ProActive Health Articles.
Sources
- Scullin MK, Krueger ML, Ballard HK, Pruett N, Bliwise DL. The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep: A polysomnographic study comparing to-do lists and completed activity lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 2018;147(1):139–146. Read the study on PubMed.
- Carney CE, Waters WF. Effects of a structured problem-solving procedure on pre-sleep cognitive arousal in college students with insomnia. Behavioral Sleep Medicine. 2006;4(1):13–28. Read the study on PubMed.
