How to Slow Down Racing Thoughts

December 10, 2023

3 min read

We all experience moments where our thoughts and minds race out of control and we can’t seem to reel our thoughts in and find some peace. Racing thoughts can be disorienting and extremely distracting. If you’re trying to focus on a task or sleep, being slammed with one rapid thought after another can derail you from your task or delay your sleep.

What Are Racing Thoughts?

Racing thoughts are a barrage of thoughts, one experienced right after another. When we have racing thoughts, we can either be focused on one subject that each thought relates to or our thoughts can be disconnected, bouncing around to random topics.

A key defining factor of racing thoughts is repetitive and rapid thoughts that are often overwhelming.

What Causes Racing Thoughts?

The most common cause of racing thoughts is anxiety. People who have racing thoughts are consistently worried about the things they need to do and the things they’ve left undone. They may also obsess over situations in the past, present, and future, further lending to their anxiety and racing thoughts.

Examples include replaying conversations you had with someone, evaluating what you said, how it could’ve been interpreted, and how they responded. Analyzing both sides of the conversation and wondering what you could have done differently to make the conversation go better.

Stopping Racing Thoughts

In the moment can seem impossible to stop racing thoughts. It may not even cross your mind to stop because you’re so consumed by your rapid thoughts. However, there are ways to slow down and stop your racing thoughts.

1) Write Down Your Thoughts

Writing down your thoughts on paper is a great way to work through them and dispel them. Take some time every day either before bed or while you’re experiencing a moment of anxiety or racing thoughts to jot down what you’re worrying about. Dump all of your thoughts down onto paper until you can’t anymore.

The act of writing itself will reduce racing thoughts and writing them down will help you organize them and remember you can always revisit them now that they’re written down.

2) Schedule Worry Time

For many of us, worries aren’t something we can completely wish away. If you frequently worry throughout the day, it can actually help to schedule some time to intentionally worry.

If you’ve already written down some of your thoughts and worries, review them and then spend some time thinking and worrying about them. If they bring up any negative emotions, allow yourself to feel them during this time.

Doing this may seem counter-intuitive, but it can help prevent racing thoughts from popping up later in the day.

3) Grounding Exercises

When you’re grounded, you’re connected to the present moment rather than lost in thoughts and thinking about the past or future. Grounding exercises use your senses to reconnect you to your body and your environment.

A common grounding exercise is the 5-4-3-2-1 method:

1.
Name 5 things you see.
2.
Name four sounds you can hear.
3.
Pick up three objects nearby and feel their weight and texture in your hands.
4.
Try to name two different scents in your environment. Feel free to pick up objects to sniff them.
5.
Taste something. If you have a food or beverage nearby, have a small taste.

This exercise will remove you from your racing thoughts and ground you in your surroundings.

4) Focus on the Positive

One of the worst parts of racing thoughts is that they often focus on the negative and can drag us into miserable states of mind. An effective way to combat this negativity is by starting to think of things that make us happy and that we’re grateful for. Keeping gratitude in mind can help prevent negative racing thoughts from taking over.

5) Practice Mindfulness

Practicing mindfulness is an extremely powerful tool that can help your mental health in several ways. One way it does this is by changing our thought patterns.

Counting your breaths is a great and easy way to practice mindfulness. Keep the mind focused on each inhalation and exhalation, counting one with the in-breath and 2 with the out-breath until you reach 10, and then you repeat.

This practice will keep your mind calm and is great to do before bed if you have trouble sleeping due to racing thoughts.

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