(WBRE) – Tossing and turning at night. Many of us are all too familiar.

“Insomnia is one of those self-fulfilling prophecies,” explained Dr. Michael Marino, Geisinger’s Medical Director for Sleep Medicine. “If you believe that you’re not going to be able to fall asleep, I guarantee you, you will not be able to fall asleep.”Related Content: Struggling to sleep, are supplements the answer?

Things like checking the clock and counting the hours left in the night sounds like a horror story.

“The worst thing in the world is when you feel that there is not enough sleep opportunity for you to feel rested the next morning,” Dr. Marino said.Related Content: Your eating habits could be keeping you from getting a good night sleep

Dr. Marino has some tips to slow down your mind when you can’t sleep.

“If you feel like your mind needs to process through the thoughts, either the day you just completed or ahead of you… Don’t lay down and go to bed. Go into a different room with it, low lighting, certainly give yourself 15-20 minutes to deal with whatever issues and tell yourself, ‘This is where you’re going to deal with it, once you’re done with that you go back to bed,'” he explained.

Even if that means far less time in bed, you can still feel more rested in the morning.