It's a sensation millions of us know all too well - lying awake in bed, exhausted yet unable to nod off, desperately attempting to will yourself to sleep. You glance at your phone, which reads '3am' - just four hours before the alarm goes off for work.
You may be absolutely shattered and have followed all the expert advice - steering clear of screens and caffeine before bedtime, yet somehow, sleep continues to evade you. That was my experience last week, across four consecutive nights where I would eventually fall asleep at around 6am, shortly before needing to get up.
The cause was fairly clear - the moment my head hit the pillow, my mind would begin racing uncontrollably. Though, having grappled with bouts of insomnia throughout my life, those completely unexplained sleepless nights are nothing new to me.
Fortunately, during the fifth night, I recalled some guidance from Doctor Amir Khan. In a clip posted recently on his Instagram page, Dr Amir outlined a method called cognitive shuffling. This is a technique that signals to your brain that it is 'safe to sleep'. He suggested that this could serve as an effective 'alternative' to counting sheep, proving particularly useful when your mind is 'too active' to allow you to sleep.
How Cognitive Shuffling Works
Having experimented with countless sleep strategies over the years, cognitive shuffling is certainly one of the most straightforward I've encountered - one where I can recall each step without needing to revisit it. In essence, the steps are:
- Think of a word, ideally one featuring a varied combination of letters
- For each letter in that word, you need to think of another word beginning with that letter and visualise it clearly in your mind
- Continue until you've exhausted all words starting with that letter before moving on to the next
- If you remain awake once you've completed the word, simply select another one
In the clip, Dr Amir chose the word 'bed' as his example. For whatever reason, the first word that came to my mind that night was 'basketball'.
I was taken aback by just how many words beginning with 'B' I managed to come up with. 'Bed' appeared first, no doubt influenced by Dr Amir's suggestion, then 'ball', but then 'bologna' and 'bolognese', followed by 'bad'.
I persisted with 'B' for considerably longer - determined not to give in. Eventually, I moved on to 'A', where I thought of 'ants', 'Australia', 'angry', and 'acne'.
But somewhere along the way, I drifted off to sleep. I have no memory of getting to the letter 'S', which suggests to me I must have dropped off after just two letters. It almost feels ridiculous - to have lost so many nights of rest only for this to turn out to be the solution.
Where Did It Originate?
Cognitive shuffling was introduced to the mainstream by Canada-based researcher Luc P. Beaudoin more than a decade ago, after he published his paper examining how what he termed 'serial diverse imagining' could aid with sleep.
The technique aims to replicate the thought patterns of those who sleep soundly, by imitating the dream-like and scattered thinking that typically occurs just before drifting off.
According to The Conversation, Beaudoin's research draws a distinction between two types of sleep-related thinking: insomnolent (or sleep-preventing) and pro-somnolent (sleep-encouraging) thoughts. Insomnolent thinking includes activities such as worrying, planning, rehearsing, and dwelling on perceived problems or personal shortcomings.
Pro-somnolent thoughts, by contrast, involve thinking that can help you drift off, such as dream-like imagery or maintaining a calm and relaxed state of mind. Cognitive shuffling works by distracting from or disrupting insomnolent thinking.
It offers a tranquil, neutral pathway for an overactive mind, and can help reduce the anxiety associated with sleeplessness.
Cognitive shuffling also sends a signal to your brain that you are ready for sleep. The act of 'shuffling' between different thoughts mirrors the natural way in which your brain transitions into sleep.
During this shift towards slumber, brain activity begins to slow. Your brain starts to generate unconnected images and fleeting scenes, known as hypnagogic hallucinations, without any conscious effort to make sense of them. By replicating these fragmented, disjointed and random thought patterns, cognitive shuffling may help ease your transition from wakefulness to sleep.
When to Consult a GP
The NHS states that the average adult needs between seven and nine hours of sleep each night. Children typically require nine to 13 hours, while toddlers and babies need anywhere between 12 and 17 hours.
The health body recommends you should consult a GP if:
- Changing your sleep routine has not helped to alleviate your insomnia
- You have been struggling to sleep for several months
- Your insomnia is affecting your day-to-day life in a way that is proving difficult to cope with
