Why Jane Seymour Writes Her Worries Down Before Bed

Often, yes, but the kind of writing matters. In the best-controlled study so far, people who spent five minutes writing a specific to-do list before bed fell asleep about nine minutes faster than people who wrote about what they had already done. Writing out worries and plans seems to help most when it gets loose ends out of your head and onto paper. It is not a fix for every bad night.

What Jane Seymour and Jane Lu actually do

In a Good Housekeeping piece published on 19 October 2026, actress Jane Seymour, 75, was quoted describing a very low-tech habit: "I'll have a pad by the bed, and I'll just write down what I'm worrying about. Once it's out of my head and on a piece of paper, I can sleep." She also mentioned blackout curtains and a clear mental switch into bedtime.

A week earlier, Showpo founder Jane Lu told Nine.com.au her non-negotiable for sleep is planning the next day in her calendar, with every 15 minutes allocated. "Knowing everything is planned helps me switch off and sleep peacefully," she said.

Two very different lives, one shared idea: park tomorrow somewhere outside your head before you lie down. For founders and operators, whether in Sydney, London or a Singapore HDB flat, that probably sounds familiar. The open loops from the workday are often what's still running at midnight.

What the writing studies found

| Study | Who | What they wrote | What happened | |---|---|---|---| | Scullin et al., 2018, J Exp Psychol: General | 57 healthy adults aged 18 to 30, sleep lab | 5 min: to-do list vs list of completed tasks | To-do group fell asleep in about 16 min vs 25 min, measured by polysomnography | | Harvey and Farrell, 2003, Behavioral Sleep Medicine | 42 poor sleepers, 3 nights | Worries and feelings vs hobbies vs no writing | Worry writing group reported shorter time to fall asleep than no writing | | Carney and Waters, 2006, Behavioral Sleep Medicine | 33 students with insomnia, 5 nights | Possible solutions to worries vs worries alone | Solutions group had lower pre-sleep mental arousal | | Mooney et al., 2009, Behavioral Sleep Medicine | 28 people with insomnia, 3 nights | Thoughts, worries and emotions vs control | Arousal fell on one of two measures; time to fall asleep did not change | | McCarrick et al., 2025, Psychology & Health | 186 adults, 14 days online | Worry postponement, with or without if-then plans | Planning cut daily worry by about 15 min; no sleep outcome improved |

The to-do list result is the strongest

The 2018 Baylor and Emory study is the only one here that measured sleep with polysomnography, the brain and body monitoring used in sleep labs. Participants who wrote a to-do list fell asleep in an average of 15.8 minutes, against 25.1 minutes for those who listed completed tasks. The more specific the to-do list, the faster people fell asleep.

The researchers expected two possible outcomes. Writing about the future might stir up more worry. Or it might offload those thoughts. The data pointed to offloading. Their suggestion was simple: write a very specific to-do list for five minutes at bedtime rather than journaling about the day you just had.

Solutions seem to beat just listing worries

Carney and Waters tested something closer to a planning exercise. Students wrote down their worries and then possible next steps, a method often called constructive worry. Compared with people who only recorded their worries, they went to bed less mentally wound up.

That fits Jane Lu's version neatly. A calendar block is a next step, not just a worry.

The results are not uniform

Writing is not a magic switch. In people with diagnosed insomnia, Mooney and colleagues found three nights of expressive writing calmed the mind on one measure but did not shorten the time it took to fall asleep. Harvey and Farrell's positive result relied on self-reported sleep in a small pilot.

The newest trial is a useful check. In a 2025 Leeds and Nottingham study of 186 adults, setting aside a later time to worry, especially with specific if-then plans, reduced daily worry by roughly 15 minutes. Sleep onset, night waking and sleep quality did not improve compared with controls over 14 days. Less worry did not automatically mean better sleep.

Most samples were small and young, often students. So the honest summary is this: bedtime writing is cheap, low-risk and has decent early support for falling asleep faster, especially the to-do list version. It is not proven for chronic insomnia.

How to try it tonight

1. Write tomorrow, not today. Spend five minutes listing what you need to do in the next few days. Be specific: "email Priya the Q4 deck by 10am" beats "work stuff."
2. Add one next step to each worry. If something's nagging you, write the first small action and when you'll do it. Then close the notebook.
3. Use paper, keep the phone away. A notepad by the bed means you're not unlocking a screen and getting pulled into messages at 11pm.
4. Do it before you get into bed. Five minutes at your desk or bedside, then lights out, so bed stays linked with sleeping. Our piece on trying too hard to sleep covers why effort can backfire.
5. Keep the room calm too. A dark, cool, quiet room still matters. If you like the settled feeling of a weighted blanket but sleep hot, a cooling weighted blanket like the one on our specifications page is one option. Evidence that blankets ease worry is mixed, so treat it as comfort, not treatment.
6. Give it a fortnight. Notice whether you fall asleep more easily. If not, drop it. Plenty of people sleep well without a notebook.

For more on how daytime stress follows us into bed, see is stress the biggest thing stealing your sleep.

If worry or poor sleep keeps going for weeks and affects your days, talk to a doctor. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, known as CBT-I, is the first-line approach in clinical guidelines and includes structured ways of handling bedtime worry.

Sources

1. Garlick H. "I'll just write down what I'm worrying about": At 75, Jane Seymour's old-fashioned ritual for better sleep. Good Housekeeping UK. 19 October 2026. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/health/a74177284/jane-seymours-old-fashioned-ritual-for-better-sleep/
2. Recchi K, Skipper M. Jane Lu daily routine: Showpo CEO shares her habits and secrets to success for The Ritual. Nine.com.au. 11 October 2026. https://www.nine.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellness/jane-lu-daily-routine-showpo-ceo-habits-success-the-ritual-exclusive-20261012-p613sb.html
3. Scullin MK, Krueger ML, Ballard HK, Pruett N, Bliwise DL. The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep: a polysomnographic study comparing to-do lists and completed activity lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 2018;147(1):139-146. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000374
4. Harvey AG, Farrell C. The efficacy of a Pennebaker-like writing intervention for poor sleepers. Behavioral Sleep Medicine. 2003;1(2):115-124. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15402010BSM0102_4
5. Carney CE, Waters WF. Effects of a structured problem-solving procedure on pre-sleep cognitive arousal in college students with insomnia. Behavioral Sleep Medicine. 2006;4(1):13-28. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15402010bsm0401_2
6. Mooney P, Espie CA, Broomfield NM. An experimental assessment of a Pennebaker writing intervention in primary insomnia. Behavioral Sleep Medicine. 2009;7(2):99-105. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402000902762386
7. McCarrick D, Prestwich A, Ferguson E, O'Connor DB. Effects of worry postponement on daily worry and sleep: a randomised controlled trial. Psychology & Health. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2025.2590072
8. Edinger JD, Arnedt JT, Bertisch SM, et al. Behavioral and psychological treatments for chronic insomnia disorder in adults: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2021;17(2):255-262. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.8986