If you find racing thoughts are preventing you from falling asleep and want an easy method to calm your mind and slow down, then cognitive shuffling is a great practice to try. As someone who struggles with night-time anxiety, I use cognitive shuffling nearly every night, and I’m always surprised at how it helps me fall asleep within minutes.
While there are a lot of things you can do for better sleep - from ditching caffeine to buying one of this year's best mattresses - sometimes you need a different approach to tackling night-time anxiety.
While social media is crammed with different sleep techniques to help you fall asleep fast, cognitive shuffling is one of the easiest to try. Here’s how it works and how you can use it to fall asleep faster, ease night-time anxiety, and get quality sleep…
What is cognitive shuffling?
Cognitive shuffling is the visualization of seemingly random objects and thoughts. The technique was initially developed by Canadian scientist, Dr. Luc P. Beaudoin as a way to tackle insomnia, and it works by deliberately scrambling your thoughts. As you’re falling asleep, you purposefully think of unrelated objects and items. There should be no relation between the objects or rationality explaining their link.
As you continue scrambling your thoughts, your brain will effectively ‘switch off’ from trying to make any sense of the them, distracting it from anxious thoughts and processes, and allowing you to fall asleep peacefully.
Cognitive shuffling is one of many TikTok sleep hacks that you might have seen cluttering up your FYP. But in my experience, it's also one of the most effective. So what makes cognitive shuffling good for sleep?
How does cognitive shuffling work?
The science behind cognitive shuffling is fascinating. Beaudoin's rationale for this method focuses on the brain’s cortex, which is responsible for information processing, like reasoning and problem solving, as well as emotional processing. He suggests that if this area is actively trying to make sense of things, then the brain is still determining whether you are safe to fall asleep.
However, that feeling you get right before you drop off to sleep, when your brain seems to be incoherently linking random thoughts, means your cortex has stopped trying to determine meaning and you’re safe to sleep. By purposefully scrambling your thoughts to the point where your cortex cannot make sense of them, you can bypass the natural switching-off of the sense-making part of your brain and trick it into thinking you’re safe to sleep.
Alongside this, visualizing random objects can make it difficult to think about anything else, meaning you can easily distract yourself from anxious thoughts at night.
How to practice cognitive shuffling
It sounds complicated, but in practice, it’s one of the easiest and most simple methods for falling asleep fast. I don’t follow any kind of specific technique; I simply fill my brain with random objects, animals, and items. If I find my mind has wandered into more anxious thoughts, I simply acknowledge it and return to thinking of new objects. However, some people might need a bit more of a structured practice, especially if you're particularly stressed or anxious, or if it's your first time trying it.
If so, pick one specific word, like ‘mattress’. For each letter of the word, think of as many random objects as you can and picture each one. Once you’ve run out, move on to the next letter. Like this:
Mall, manatee, mug, map…
Ant, apple, attic…
Top, tail, tick…
Trainers, tickle, table…
Rain, rabbit, ruby…
Eggs, elephant, ears…
Sausage, socks, seat…
Switch, store, scissors…
Try to avoid words with negative connotations or words that have significance in your life. If one accidentally pops up, acknowledge it and move on to the next letter.
Benefits of cognitive shuffling
Harnessing a way that actually works to help you fall asleep fast is a valuable trick. It can ensure you get enough sleep per night, and although it’s usually quality over quantity with sleep, your sleep duration can affect your sleep cycles and how restorative your sleep is.
Cognitive shuffling can also greatly reduce the symptoms of anxiety and stress at night. By distracting your brain, you can lower cortisol levels, relax your brain and body, and learn long-lasting methods for coping with anxiety. These basic distraction methods can also help you cope with other emotions, like anger, too.
So, now that you know the easy method, there's nothing stopping you from giving it a try tonight...
