Brain dump. Your brain rehearses open loops to avoid forgetting them. Writing every open thought onto paper, not into your phone, gives your brain proof that the thought is captured. It can stop rehearsing. Five minutes, uncensored, everything on your mind.

Check tomorrow's schedule. A lot of nighttime anxiety is anticipatory: your brain running through what's coming because it doesn't have the full picture. A 60-second review of tomorrow gives it that picture.

4-7-8 breathing. Inhale for 4 counts, hold for 7, exhale for 8. Three rounds. This activates the parasympathetic nervous system: the body's rest-and-digest mode. It's a physiological shift.

Wash face & brush teeth. Physical transition. You're doing something that signals end of day. It moves you out of your head.

Phone on charger, not in bedroom. The phone next to your bed is a pull your sleeping brain can't ignore. Phone in another room removes the option entirely.

Dim lights 20 minutes before sleep. Light suppresses melatonin: the hormone that makes you feel sleepy. Dimming everything in the last 20 minutes lets your body start producing it. Overhead off, lamp low.