Anyone who struggles to sleep at night will be familiar with advice that’s meant to put you in the mood to snooze. Warm baths, device-free bedrooms, blackout blinds, calming novels... there are many tips out there, all with one purpose – to increase the quality of your sleep. But what really works?

Well, according to Zoe Ball, it’s scheduling ‘Worry Time’ into your routine. The broadcaster and Dig It! podcast presenter declared herself a fan of the technique after hearing about it from guest Owen O’Kane, psychotherapist and anxiety specialist.



‘I tried one of your fantastic exercises,’ she said on the podcast, ‘and I tell you what, Owen, I slept so well last night. It’s so helpful to realise a lot of these things that I’ve been really worried about are really not that bad, are not necessarily my fault, they’re probably going to work out, so thank you.’

The ‘Worry Time’ exercise means writing down everything you’re worried about, explains Owen. ‘Then you think, “Okay, what can I do about any of these worries at the moment?” For most people, it’s actually nothing and that immediately reduces that sense of burden.’

Owen goes on: ‘A definition of anxiety is an intolerance of uncertainty. So if we’re not tolerating the not knowing, that’s what’s creating the problem.’ Worry time, he says, helps people understand that it’s okay to set problems aside. ‘You’re teaching people that they can’t manage all of this at one time. It’s okay to be aware of what [the problems] are, but it’s equally okay to say I can put that aside for now. That creates great freedom for people.’

According to Zoe and co-host Jo Whiley, the ‘worry time’ technique really can work wonders.