You Can’t Outrun Stress — It’ll Be Waiting for You at Bedtime

If you’ve ever laid down at night and suddenly felt like your brain kicked into overdrive, you’re not alone.
You’ve spent all day trying to avoid your stress – only to have it pile on the second your head hits the pillow.

Sound familiar?

That’s not just bad luck. That’s biology.

Back in the day, stress meant you were about to get eaten – or run through with a spear. It was immediate. It was physical. It had a clear resolution: fight, flee, or freeze. But these days? Stress is stealthier. It shows up as bills. Emails. Marital problems. The 47 things you forgot to do. That hard conversation you keep avoiding. The client that ghosted. The shame you carry around like a backpack.

And we all do the same thing: we try to escape it.

We binge Netflix.
We snack.
We scroll.
We drink.
We stay “busy.”
We do anything we can to keep our minds off what’s really bothering us.

But here’s the problem:
You can’t outrun stress. It always catches up – especially when you stop moving.

The moment you stop distracting yourself, your nervous system finally has space to speak. And when does that happen for most people? Bedtime.

That’s when the thoughts come rushing in.
That’s when the tension in your body shows up.
That’s when you feel “tired but wired,” staring at the ceiling while your brain replays everything that went wrong – and everything that could go wrong.

If you want to sleep well, you can’t wait until nighttime to deal with stress.
You have to do something about it during the day.

Here’s what I recommend:

• Face it directly. Even if you can’t fix the problem, write it down. Make a plan. Take one small action.
• Get outside. Sunlight is free medicine – and it shifts your biology into a better state for sleep and resilience.
• Move your body. You don’t have to “work out.” Just move. Physical activity helps clear stress hormones from your system.
• And most importantly, stop pretending you’re fine. That’s what keeps stress festering. You don’t need to be a superhero. You need to be honest.

Bottom line?
Your body will not let you sleep if it thinks you’re still under threat.
And to your brain, unprocessed stress is a threat.

So deal with it.
Get in front of it.
Reclaim your nights.
You’ll sleep better – and live longer.

– Doc Parsley