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Eday-to-day anxiety can lead to sleepless nights – so add that to existential dread about the future of democracy and it’s probably safe to assume you won’t have much of an eye on election night.

Conformable a recent American Psychological Association survey25% of adults have already lost sleep over the US presidential election, even before it descends into its final feverish hours. Experts say they’ve heard much the same. “I see nine clients a day and the choices happen in six of those sessions,” says Alex Banta, a therapist in Columbus, Ohio. “It’s been on everyone’s mind and it’s completely normal to struggle with sleep before such a big election.”

Of course, when we don’t get much sleep, we are prone to increased feelings of stress, anxiety, and restlessness. “Every time we lose sleep, we lose our emotional resilience,” says Banta. “We all have the ability to maintain and control our emotions, and if you don’t sleep, that will have a negative impact on that resource.” Sleep is a refreshment; it’s how we clear our minds and process the events of the day. And that will be critical after the election, especially if things don’t go as you’d hoped for your favorite candidate.

With that in mind, we asked the experts to share their best tips for racking up some Zs when you’re anxious.

Schedule “worry time”

Sometime during the evening, before you go to bed, set a timer for 5 minutes and consider it permission to freak yourself out as much as possible. Let go of all fear, worst case scenario and doubt. The key, says Banta, is that you can’t actually be in bed. They usually get their “worry time” out of the way while driving or walking. “The thing that has to happen at the end is what we call a state shift, which is that you put your body somewhere else to signal to your brain that you’re done with that space,” she says. That way, when you get out of the car or get back in, “it signals to your brain and body that you’ve done that work,” she says. “You honored those thoughts and fears and now move on.” In her experience, when you climb into bed, you’ll be much more likely to fall asleep quickly.

Read more: How to survive election season without losing your mind

Follow your normal routine

If you usually go to bed at 11 p.m., you might give yourself a little leeway and stay up until 11:30 tonight. But as much as possible, treat it like any other Tuesday night and stay consistent, urges Cali Bahrenfuss, a clinical sleep health educator who owns Delta Sleep Coaching in Sioux Falls, SD. Otherwise, if you keep going, “it’s easy to stay up until midnight, and that can turn into 3, 4, or 5,” she says. Especially since we may not know the results of the election right away, there’s no point in setting yourself up to be exhausted—and, as a result, even more emotionally fragile—the next day.

Put your phone in do not disturb mode.

Before you go to bed, detach yourself from the device you’ve been glued to all day. In addition to using do not disturb mode — which ensures you won’t be disturbed by incoming texts or calls — consider moving your phone to another room. Otherwise, you’ll likely be inundated with an endless stream of texts from your family group chat and notifications from social media platforms. As Banta says, “Did you hear that? Did you see that?” “And in reality,” she adds, “you have no control over the outcome. The winner will be announced when they are announced, so keep calm in the meantime.”

Write your thoughts

While you can’t change the final outcome of the election, you can change your thoughts, says Renee Carr, a psychologist in Washington, DC, who hosts Politics and Psychology podcasts. If you struggle to fall asleep, she suggests writing down everything that goes through your brain over and over again. By doing this, “you give your mind a release,” she says. You will no longer feel like you have to cling to those insidious fear-based thoughts.

For every anxious thought you write down, Carr challenges, record another that is more positive and hopeful. For example: “The smell of coffee when I wake up will remind me that I’m alive for another day.” This is important because when you imagine the worst, “your mind stays alert trying to think of a solution that will keep you safe and help you survive,” she says. “That’s why you can’t sleep.” By balancing these thoughts with happier notions, you’ll temper your body’s stress response system and become more relaxed, entering a state of rest rather than fear.

Reflect on what you are grateful for

It can be hard to slow down your brain at night, even at the best of times, Bahrenfuss admits. One way to ease anxiety and return to a more relaxed state is to think about things you’re grateful for that have absolutely nothing to do with the election, but are more personal in nature. “Start small and be grateful for the air you breathe, the warm bed you lie in, the food you had for dinner, the friends who keep you company, the family who loves you unconditionally,” she says. Maybe you have a new grandchild – think how cute he looked in his Halloween costume and you might find yourself smiling for the first time all day. Focusing on gratitude “shifts your mindset from a negative space to a more positive space,” which helps facilitate healthy sleep, Bahrenfuss says.

Read more: 11 things to say to the relative whose politics you hate

Use visualization tools

If you wake up at 3 a.m., paralyzed with anxiety, resist the temptation to reach for your phone. “It’s going to wake up your brain and say, ‘Oh, it’s time to go. We’re collecting data again,’” says Banta. Instead, try to calm yourself back to sleep by visualizing something soothing, like leaves floating on a river or bubbles blowing through the air on a summer day. Some of her clients like to imagine a train full of bad thoughts pulling into a station—and remind themselves that they don’t have to get on that train. They can choose to watch him go, taking their worried cars with him. “You can easily let the thoughts come and go,” she says. “Notice them and let them pass.”

Look for mindless entertainment

It might sound ridiculous to turn away from the news and read a light book or watch a silly movie while the election results are in, but you’d be doing yourself a favor. Bahrenfuss believes it redirects your thoughts into a more positive space, which can help you feel relaxed and allow sleep to happen more naturally. In that case, she says, a distraction is worth the late-night screen time she’d normally shy away from. “I think it’s okay in situations like this to break the rules a little bit,” she says. “I’d rather someone turn on their favorite episode of Seinfeld and relax, then continue to sit there in their misery and let their brains go into that worry hole for hours and hours.”

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