If you are an anxious over-thinker, lying in bed at night can be prime time for ruminating. But a technique called cognitive shuffling, invented by an academic and popularised on social media, may offer relief. The method involves thinking of a random, emotionally neutral word, such as 'cake', then listing as many items as possible beginning with each letter, visualising each one. Users report it helps switch off a busy brain.
According to Alanna Hare, a consultant in sleep medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital in London, cognitive shuffling is 'super somnolent'. It deploys a push-and-pull mechanism on the mind, both pulling you towards sleep while quietening intrusive worries that keep you awake. The technique was developed over 15 years ago by Luc P Beaudoin, an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada.
Beaudoin's theory of 'somnolent information-processing' argues that people with insomnia often dwell on perturbing thought patterns such as worrying, planning and rehearsing, which keep the brain alert. Cognitive shuffling counters these with neutral, random images, helping the brain feel 'safe' enough to sleep. In a 2016 study of 154 university students, the approach was found to be 'just as effective' as journaling about worries, with the added advantage of being doable while lying in bed.
Eleni Kavaliotis, a registered psychologist and sleep researcher at Monash University, Australia, explains that cognitive shuffling diverts attention away from interfering thoughts and mimics the scattered, disconnected thought patterns the brain naturally generates as it falls asleep. This mirrors a natural process called hypnagogic mentation, which occurs in the boundary between wakefulness and sleep, producing what Beaudoin calls 'micro-dreams'.
