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Do you ever lie in bed, your mind racing, unable to drift off?
If so, a strategy called Cognitive Shuffling might be just the simple solution you’ve been looking for.
It’s a mental technique designed to help redirect racing thoughts, thus promoting relaxation and (hopefully) making it easier to fall asleep.
Periodically I have spells of insomnia, and poor sleep is something that I know my clients also often experience, so I am always on the lookout for opportunities to expand my toolbox of sleep strategies.
Recently I came across something talking about cognitive shuffling and I hadn’t heard of it before, so my curiosity was piqued!
It was claimed that cognitive shuffling could be helpful for the times when you're struggling to fall asleep…perhaps due to a busy or racing mind.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on the perspective (!) I had the opportunity to try it out shortly after hearing about it and I did find it useful, so I thought I would share it here in case it’s a strategy that you haven’t heard of before.
The idea is that it can help you fall asleep faster because cognitive shuffling redirects your thoughts away from whatever it is that’s playing on your mind, and does it in a way that promotes relaxation and drowsiness.
Why Does My Busy Mind Keep Me Awake?
It’s always helpful to understand why we might want to try any new technique and how it might be helpful.
It’s not always easy to establish new habits, but if we have a good understanding of why it is that we’re trying something and what we’re trying to achieve, then that can help with our motivation to keep going with it.
Our ability to fall asleep is intricately linked to what our nervous system is doing and having a busy mind influences this.
The Overactive Mind and Intrusive Thoughts
Most of us can relate to times of trying to sleep and finding that thoughts come flooding into our heads - reviewing the day's events, planning for tomorrow, or worrying about various issues ‘of the moment’ that can seem to be all-consuming.
This tsunami of thoughts can create and maintain a cycle of mental activity that activates our ‘threat system’, which in turn keeps us alert and awake.
Make sense, doesn’t it…we’re at our most vulnerable while we’re asleep, so if our ‘inner meerkat’ thinks it needs to be on alert then sleep is definitely not going to be on the agenda.
The trouble is that our ‘inner meerkat’ isn’t able to tell the difference between a real threat, i.e. something that is external to us, and an imagined threat, i.e. some thoughts or worries that have just popped into our head.
So intrusive thoughts, particularly anything relating to stressful events or things that we are anxious about, can activate and keep our threat response going - the opposite of what we need for sleep.
The Nervous System
Our nervous system has two main components relevant to sleep:
The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): This is our "fight or flight" system. When activated, it increases heart rate, breathing rate, and overall alertness. Intrusive thoughts, especially worries or stressors, can trigger this system.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS): Often called the "rest and digest" system, this promotes relaxation, slows heart rate, and prepares the body for sleep.
For a more details look at the nervous system then check out my previous post here.
The Sleep-Thought Cycle
When we’re lying awake and struggling to drop off to sleep, we often start to become increasingly aware of our lack of sleep.
This awareness brings an additional layer of intrusive thoughts on top of the initial preoccupation that we had…
”Why aren’t I asleep already?”...
”I’m going to be so tired in the morning, how can I function at work?”...
”Why does this keep happening?”
It’s not difficult to see that this can lead to feelings of frustration, anxiety or despair.
Just the kinds of feelings that get the sympathetic nervous system excited and means we’re even less likely to fall asleep.
Congratulations, we’ve created a vicious circle!
Breaking the Cycle
For us to be able to fall asleep, we need to calm down the sympathetic nervous system and encourage the parasympathetic.
This is where techniques like cognitive shuffling come in because they offer a way to interrupt the circle of intrusive thoughts, which should allow the calming influence of the parasympathetic nervous system to come online.
What is Cognitive Shuffling?
Okay, so what is this technique and how do we do it? The name makes it sound more complicated that it is!
In simple terms, cognitive shuffling is a mental exercise designed to help induce sleepiness by occupying our minds with a simple, non-stressful task.
A classic non-stressful exercise for promoting sleep is ‘counting sheep’, which aims to help the mind relax by engaging in a repetitive and monotonous activity, which allows the parasympathetic nervous system to become dominant so that we can fall asleep.
Not everyone finds that the counting sheep approach is helpful for them - perhaps their intrusive thoughts seem so strong that they break through the monotony of the exercise and keep pulling them back into the vicious cycle.
Cognitive Shuffling is an alternative that you can try that offers a more varied and engaging approach, which might be enough to make the difference.
How does Cognitive Shuffling Work?
The aim of cognitive shuffling as a strategy is to occupy our brains with a mild cognitive task that's just challenging enough to be engaging, but not so demanding that it causes stress or deep thought.
The idea is to focus on random, unrelated words, to gently guide our minds away from whatever anxiety-inducing or stimulating thoughts we are having that are interrupting and delaying the onset of sleep.
So How Do I Do Cognitive Shuffling?
There are many different ways in which we can cognitive shuffling can be practised, as long as we keep to the core concept that we’re aiming to shuffle through thoughts/images in a non-linear and non-associative way to make it difficult for our minds to get stuck on a particular idea or worry.
It’ll probably be a case of trial and error to see what you like and what suits you best - there isn’t a one size fits all, because we’re all individuals.
Here are some ideas:
Traditional Cognitive Shuffling (Thinking of Random words)
Start by thinking of a random word, for example “banana”.
Visualise the banana in your mind’s eye, and then think of another word that is not related to a banana…for example, polar bear.
Visualise the polar bear in your mind’s eye, and then think of the next unrelated word, for example “motorway”.
Just keep doing this until you have fallen asleep.
Cognitive Shuffling Using Categories
Choose a category, such as “animals”, “holiday destinations”, or “flowers”.
Think of items that fall under the particular category that you have chosen, and create an image for each in your mind’s eye, but try to think of them in a random order.
For example, if you have chosen “animals” then you might think of “elephant”, followed by “sparrow”, followed by “blue whale” etc.
Keep going until you can’t think of any more things in that category and then move on to a new one.
The key aspect is to shuffle between the images without having any kind of logical sequence or connection between them.
This should help you keep your mind engaged but without allowing it to fixate on a specific storyline or problem, which is often a cause of insomnia.
Visual Cognitive Shuffling
Some people find that they think in images far more easily than in words, but that can still work really well for this technique.
For example, you might visualise a beautiful beach, then a cup of coffee, then a bicycle, etc.
The images should be clear but don’t fixate on detail, and you should switch them frequently.
This version helps occupy the visual cortex for people who are more visually oriented, thus reducing the chances of ruminating and worrying.
The Alphabet Method for Cognitive Shuffling
Start with a letter of the alphabet - it could be the letter “A” but doesn’t have to be.
Then think of a random word that starts with the letter and visualise it briefly. You might visualise the letter itself or an object starting with that letter.
Then move on to the next letter and think of a random word that starts with that one, visualising it, and then moving on.
If you are still awake by the time you have worked through the whole alphabet, then just loop through again, picking different words for the letters this time, until you fall asleep.
Sensory Cognitive Shuffling
This one taps into all of your different senses to help you come up with the subject matter - imagine a sequence of unrelated sensory experiences one after another.
For example, imagine the smell of fresh bread, followed by the feeling of sand between your toes, followed by the sound of a thunderstorm, etc.
Just keep cycling through different senses and experiences until you fall asleep.
By invoking your different senses you are occupying different parts of your brain, which makes it even more challenging for your mind to get pulled back into the vicious circle of intrusive thoughts.
Cognitive Shuffling Through Dream Walking
This is another visualisation approach. Imagine yourself walking through different dream-like scenarios, moving quickly from one to another.
For example, you might imagine yourself walking through a forest, then suddenly you’re in a bustling city, and then suddenly you’re floating in outer space.
Each scene should be short-lived and you should try to move on to the next one before you become too involved in the current one.
Tips for Success
Keep the words/images simple and neutral;
Don’t worry about things making sense;
If you find yourself getting stuck, just move on to the next thing;
You might notice that your mind feels a pull to go back to thinking about whatever was bothering you. If that happens, acknowledge that it happened, without judging yourself or the process, and then return to the cognitive shuffling task to pick up where you left off.
Practise cognitive shuffling regularly to see the best results - use it when you feel that you don’t need it so that it feels more natural when you do.
What are the Benefits of Cognitive Shuffling?
Lots of people I work with who struggle with sleep say that they don’t want to try medication as it can be easy to become dependent upon sleep medications. Cognitive Shuffling offers a safe and straightforward technique that many people find effective.
As you become skilled at using this technique you may find that it takes less and less time for you to fall asleep, especially if you are practising it at times when you don’t feel you particularly need it.
You may see an overall improvement in the quality of your sleep, and hopefully less anxiety and racing thoughts at bedtime.
FAQ About Sleep:
Are 'Brain Shuffling' and the 'Shuffling Method' the same thing as Cognitive Shuffling?
Yes, these are just other names for Cognitive Shuffling - i.e. a strategy for transitioning from a state of wide awakeness into readiness for sleep.
Why can't I fall asleep even if I try? How do I force myself to sleep?
Why is my body not letting me sleep? Why don't I just fall asleep because I'm tired?
Why do I just lay in bed and can't sleep?
Summary:
Cognitive shuffling offers a simple, effective way to quiet your mind and ease into sleep.
By redirecting your thoughts to a gentle, non-stimulating task, you can break the cycle of sleeplessness and enjoy more restful nights.
Have you tried cognitive shuffling? Share your experiences in the comments below!
If not then how about giving it a try tonight and seeing if this technique can transform your bedtime routine?
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