If you are an anxious over-thinker, lying in bed at night can be prime time for ruminating. Cognitive shuffling, a sleep technique invented by an academic and popularised on social media, may offer a solution. The method involves thinking of a random, emotionally neutral word, such as 'cake', then visualising as many items as possible beginning with each letter of that word.
The technique was developed over 15 years ago by Luc P Beaudoin, an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada. It is based on his theory of 'somnolent information-processing', which argues that people with insomnia often dwell on perturbing thought patterns that keep the brain alert. Cognitive shuffling counters these with neutral, random images to help the brain feel safe enough to sleep.
In 2016, Beaudoin and colleagues tested the technique in a study of 154 university students struggling to sleep. One group used an app that voices random words into your ear so you can hold their image in your mind's eye. Another group journalled about their worries and possible solutions. The results showed the image shuffling approach was 'just as effective' at improving sleepiness, with the added advantage of being usable while lying in bed.
According to Alanna Hare, a consultant in sleep medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital in London, cognitive shuffling deploys a push-and-pull mechanism on the mind, both pulling you towards sleep while quietening intrusive worries. Eleni Kavaliotis, a registered psychologist and sleep researcher at Monash University, Australia, explains that the technique diverts attention away from thoughts that interfere with falling asleep, mimicking the scattered, disconnected thought patterns the brain naturally generates as you fall asleep.
Beaudoin calls these hallucinatory thoughts and fleeting images 'micro-dreams'. He says the theory is that during cognitive shuffling, the brain is in some relevant respects like normal sleep onset. The technique has gained popularity on social media, with hundreds of videos recommending it receiving hundreds of thousands of views.
