As someone who has dealt with insomnia for years, it was surprising to find a technique that actually worked. Reporter Fiona Callingham tried a method recommended by Dr Amir Khan after struggling to sleep for four consecutive nights.
The Struggle with Sleeplessness
It is a feeling many of us know well: lying in bed, tired but unable to sleep, praying for rest. You check your phone, which reads 3am, only four hours before you must get up for work. You may be physically exhausted and have done everything advised, such as avoiding screen time and caffeine before bed, but for some reason, sleep remains elusive. That was me last week, for four nights in a row, finally falling asleep around 6am.
The reason was clear: my mind would not stop racing as soon as my head hit the pillow. Having dealt with bouts of insomnia my entire life, I am no stranger to those completely unexplained sleepless nights.
Discovering Cognitive Shuffling
Fortunately, on the fifth night, I recalled advice from Doctor Amir Khan. In a recent Instagram video, Dr Amir shared a technique called cognitive shuffling. This method tells your brain it is safe to sleep. He described it as a good alternative to counting sheep, especially when your brain is too active to allow sleep.
Having tried countless sleeping methods in the past, I admit cognitive shuffling is one of the simplest. I can remember all the steps without needing to look them up.
The Steps of Cognitive Shuffling
- Think of a word, preferably with a good mix of letters.
- For each letter of the word, think of another word beginning with that letter and visualize an image of that word in your mind.
- Continue until you run out of words for that letter, then move to the next letter.
- If you have not fallen asleep by the time you finish the word, try another word.
My Experience
In the video, Dr Amir used the word bed as an example. For some reason, the first word I thought of was basketball. I was surprised at how many words for B I came up with. More surprising was that some words were abstract, making them harder to picture.
Bed was my first choice, prompted by Dr Amir's advice, followed by ball, then bologna and bolognese, then bad. I continued with B for quite a while, determined not to admit defeat. Eventually, I moved to A, thinking of ants, Australia, angry, and acne. Somewhere along the line, I actually fell asleep. I have no memory of thinking about the letter S, suggesting I drifted off after only two letters. It feels almost ridiculous to have lost so many nights of sleep only for this to be the solution.
Where Does Cognitive Shuffling Come From?
Cognitive shuffling was popularized by Canada-based researcher Luc P. Beaudoin more than ten years ago, when he published a paper on how serial diverse imagining could aid sleep. Cognitive shuffling seeks to replicate the thought processes of proficient sleepers by imitating the dream-like and scattered thinking patterns they experience before nodding off.
According to The Conversation, Beaudoin's research identifies two categories of sleep-related thinking: insomnolent, or sleep-preventing, and pro-somnolent, or sleep-encouraging, thoughts. Insomnolent thinking includes worrying, planning, rehearsing, and dwelling on perceived difficulties. Pro-somnolent thoughts involve thinking that helps you fall asleep, such as dream-like visualizations or maintaining a peaceful mental state.
Cognitive shuffling works by distracting from or disrupting insomnolent thinking. It provides a peaceful, impartial pathway for a busy mind and can alleviate anxiety linked with sleeplessness. The act of shuffling between various thoughts mirrors how the brain naturally transitions into sleep. During this shift, brain activity slows, and the brain begins producing unrelated images and brief scenes, called hypnagogic hallucinations, without deliberate interpretation. By replicating these fragmented, random thinking patterns, cognitive shuffling may facilitate the transition from alertness to sleep.
When to See a GP
According to the NHS, the average adult needs between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. Children need nine to 13 hours, while toddlers and babies need 12 to 17 hours. The health body advises seeing a GP if changing sleeping habits has not helped your insomnia, if you have had trouble sleeping for months, or if insomnia is affecting your daily life in a way that makes it hard to cope.
