There is a tendency in Martial Arts for practitioners to never wind down. This is a big weakness if it isn’t sorted out with appropriate strategies. The biggest strength of martial artists is the energy they bring. To compliment this, learn to develop the opposite complimentary aspect of yourself during rest.
Historically, during times of war soldiers could easily get to sleep because they would be so exhausted. At the same time, they could be kept up at night with anxiety because of bombs going off around them. When people experience prolonged states of anxiety and restlessness, it is as if they are possessed by an external event. This can be a thought, a noise, or even stormy weather for instance. If it is raining outside, you can become possessed by the rain in your experience of it in a certain way. The same goes with ideas and thoughts if they become too empowered with energy at the wrong time. So the goal is not to eliminate these things. Instead, you lessen the impact that they have on your system by become more effective at winding down for the evening, or after a training session. Then you don’t hype them up to the extent that they bother you much.
It is important to get enough rest so that you are prepared for the next days tasks. It is a question of quality of sleep and rest rather than just quantity. The more you get into the habit of planning and preparing for sleep and rest properly, the more it becomes a habit like muscle memory. So the more you consciously aware of it, the more natural it is for you to become restful subconsciously. At first it may seem difficult, but after some time you find that on top of your efforts you also have subconscious habits and forces moving with you rather than against you. Then, a habit becomes a subconscious choice.
It is not a case of making restfulness and sleep a habit and then switching off your attention from such things. It is a case of increasing the likelihood that you succeed by making it your choice willingly. If you are swimming with the tide, rather than floundering against it, then this is a choice. You become willing to engage in this choice. It is not a choice to have no tide at all and just float around meaninglessly without any prevailing conditions. No one in their right mind would be willing to choose inertia, it is a fools paradise. The only real choice is to become a willing vehicle for the ebb and flow of energy to function at its best. In this way, what you are willing to do and what choose become one and the same.
You prepare for sleep as you would prepare for an exam, or even a competitive match. If you try to do everything at the last minute when all this should have been done earlier, this just causes regret and anxiety. If a blacksmith tries to heat up the metal when it’s time to cool it down, there won’t be enough time for it to set. And if the metal does not set, then the blade become weak and dull. This highlight the importance and timeliness of effective activity and recuperation. This requires organisation. Similarly, if the blacksmith tries to heat up the blade again when it is setting, they risk ruining the finish by interrupting the cooling process. Sleep is very much like that, you heat yourself up with activity in the day, and set into the mould at night as you take on a new form which is ready the following morning. Once again, this can become a willing process, or an unwilling process. It is a question of whether or not your a clear in your mind about the choice available to you.