Unfortunately there is a side effect of an always active mind… and it’s not a very nice one… actually it’s quite a pain… The side effect is frequent… agonising… headaches…
When you are thinking so in-depth about a subject, not just during the normal daylight hours, but also through the night… it’s very easy to build up sleep debt.
A bit of sleep debt isn’t the end of the world… just have an early one the night after… right…? Sure… but like I said… if this non-stop thinking spans multiple days… that’s not going to work.
For me… that sleep debt and overthinking end with one thing… a headache. Not just a little bit of a headache… a headache that feels like my head is in a clamp and the noise of constant thoughts keeps building and building…
Paracetamol… ibuprofen… co-codamol (not with the paracetamol obviously…)… nothing touches it. All the while that frustration… that noise… constantly thinking through whatever it is I had on my mind…
Day after day… wake up… headache… go to sleep… headache… constant…
Until all of a sudden the an idea pops into my head that solves whatever I’ve been stewing over for days… and… silence… My head is clear, the headache is gone… I can finally… rest…