💜 How to Stop Doomscrolling at Night: A Faith-Based Guide to Calming Anxiety (2025)
- Written With Love by Lolli
- Oct 30
- 3 min read
🌙 Why “Just One More Scroll” Feels Impossible
If you’ve ever crawled into bed intending to rest but found yourself an hour later still scrolling grim headlines, you’re not alone. “Doomscrolling” — compulsively consuming distressing news or content — increases stress and anxiety and can disrupt attention and sleep. Health experts have linked constant exposure to negative updates with heightened stress responses and poorer mental health outcomes. Harvard Health+2Psychology Today+2
As a nurse practitioner who spent years in trauma and critical care, I’ve witnessed what chronic stress does to the body. And as a follower of Jesus, I’ve also seen how peace that surpasses understanding can re-anchor a racing mind. This guide blends both science-informed tools and Scripture-rooted practices to help you stop doomscrolling at night and actually rest.
🧠 What Doomscrolling Does to Your Brain (and Spirit)
Negativity bias keeps you hooked. Our brains prioritize threats, so scary stories feel “important” — and our thumbs keep chasing them. Psychology Today
24/7 feeds amplify uncertainty. Real-time updates increase perceived crisis, driving compulsive checking. PMC
Sleep and mood suffer. Frequent exposure to distressing content at night degrades mental health and undercuts restorative sleep. Harvard Health
Faith lens: Scripture calls us to “guard our hearts” and fix our minds on what is true and life-giving (Phil. 4:8). Late-night feeds rarely qualify.
1) Create a Digital Sunset (60–90 minutes before bed)
Put your phone to bed before you go to bed. Dock it across the room; use a simple alarm clock.
Replace the last scroll with a short Scripture reading (Psalm 4, Psalm 23) and one one-sentence prayer.
If you must check headlines, do it earlier in the evening and set a 10-minute timer. Health sources emphasize setting limits and curating inputs as a key break-the-cycle tactic. Psychology Today+1
Prayer prompt: “Lord, set a guard over my attention tonight; lead me beside still waters.”
2) Swap the Stimulus: Breath + Word (4–2–6)
Inhale through the nose for 4, hold 2, exhale through the mouth for 6 — four rounds.
On the inhale pray: “Jesus, You are here.” On the exhale: “I am held.”This pairs nervous-system calm with faith anchoring, reducing the urge to reach for the phone.
3) Use a “Two-Tab” Rule
Open only two tabs at night: Bible app + music/white noise. If you switch to a third, that’s your cue to stop. (Tiny guardrails protect tired brains.)
4) Replace Headlines with Hope-Lines
Write three lines before bed:
One gratitude from today
One person to bless tomorrow
One promise to carry (e.g., Deut. 31:8; Ps. 23; Matt. 11:28). Shifting attention toward meaning counters the feed’s negativity loop. Harvard Health
5) Practice News Fasting (24–72 hours) When Overloaded
Evidence-based advice recommends curating and limiting exposure; for many, a short, intentional break resets compulsive checking. Pair your fast with daily Scripture (Phil. 4:6–7) and a walk. Harvard Health+1
🕊️ Lolli Pause (2 minutes at lights-out)
Unclench your jaw; lower your shoulders.
Breathe 4–2–6.
Whisper Psalm 23: “You restore my soul.”
Place your phone face down, across the room.
Say: “I release the world; I rest in You.”
🙏 Short Night Prayer
Jesus, my mind is loud and my body is tired. Lead me from the glow of my screen to the light of Your peace. Guard my thoughts; quiet my fears; restore my sleep. Amen.
If you’ve lived in survival mode (trauma, caregiving stress), your brain is trained to scan for threat. Doomscrolling is a coping attempt — not a moral failure. The good news: with small, repeatable practices and God’s presence, your nervous system can learn a new nighttime rhythm.
📚 Sources & Further Reading
Harvard Health Publishing on doomscrolling’s toll and how to safeguard well-being. Harvard Health
Psychology Today on why doomscrolling hooks our brains and practical limit-setting. Psychology Today
Peer-reviewed research linking real-time uncertainty to compulsive checking and mental health strain. PMC
Jennifer Nicole Green, NP-C Founder of Lolli Love — Faith-rooted, trauma-informed well-being for tired hearts.
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