It may sound like some resurrected 80’s dance, but “cognitive shuffling” isn’t for the dance floor. It’s more of a bedtime tool for helping people get to sleep. The little-known technique was developed by Luc P. Beaudoin, aan adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University and an expert in sleep science.
How does cognitive shuffling work? Can it really help with insomnia? For answers to these questions, it may help to have some context.
The Growing Problem of Not Enough Sleep
Today, there is more research than ever showing that sleep is a medical necessity; yet a good night’s sleep is also increasingly more elusive for a growing number of people. One in three Americans don’t get enough sleep, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. 14.5 percent of adults have trouble falling asleep, and 17.8 percent have trouble staying sleep, the Centers for Disease Control has said.
The Link Between Sleep and Mental Health
There is also a very strong link between sleep and mental health. Sleep problems are frequently a symptom of many psychiatric disorders, from anxiety and depression to PTSD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Often, too, treatment of the co-occurring insomnia can improve treatment outcomes.
Poor sleep can also be a risk factor for certain conditions. For example, sleep deprivation is a predictor of teen substance abuse, according to research. And sleep issues are now widely understood to contribute to the onset of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.
Cognitive Shuffling: A CBT Concept
Cognitive shuffling developed out of a school of therapy known as “cognitive-behavioral therapy” (CBT), which is also a first-line treatment for depression and many other mental health issues. The CBT approach is founded on the assumption that people can change how they think and behave in response to their circumstances, and that in doing so, they can relieve their mental and emotional pain. The idea is that by identifying and correcting unhealthy responses to our life circumstances, we train our brain to become healthier.
The same concept helps to explain cognitive shuffling, only in this case, our brain is training for better sleep. That may sound revolutionary, but sleep experts say it is possible. They say a regular bedtime routine and tools like yoga and meditation have helped many people to, in essence, rewire their brains to sleep better.
How Cognitive Shuffling Works
Cognitive shuffling works much like it sounds. It is the intentional scrambling of random words and objects to disrupt a pattern of anxious rumination. (Anxious rumination is one of the most common reasons that people can’t fall asleep or take longer to fall asleep.)
Here is how cognitive shuffling works:
- Think of a pleasant or neutral word or image (ideally at least five letters). Focus briefly on it. Examples might be “bedtime,” “beach,” or “watermelon.”
- Next, think of a totally unrelated word or image, but only momentarily.
- Then, switch to an unrelated word or image, but don’t stay there long.
- Now, visualize or create a string of random objects.
If you’re feeling distracted from reading the above instructions— good. That is the point. You’re distracting your mind from dwelling on the same anxious thoughts, so you can let yourself fall asleep.
Some variations of cognitive shuffling involve the scrambling of different types of images, such as people, places, actions, and scenes.
Insomnia can have more than one cause. If anxious thoughts are keeping you awake, cognitive shuffling may help, or at least won’t hurt to try.
Rockies Ripple is the founder and lead writer behind the independent blog tvplutos.com