Can “cognitive shuffle” really help fall asleep? Two scientists explain why it can be effective.
If you have frequented social networks lately-perhaps scroll in the middle of the night, when you know it shouldn’t but simply can’t sleep-you may have come across videos to promote a technique to fall asleep called “Cognitive pregnancy” (in English cognitive shuffling).
According to the advocates of the technique, the idea is to occupy the mind with random thoughts and images through a specific formula:
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Choose a random word (for example, “cake”)
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Focus on the first letter of the word (in this case, b) and make a list of words starting with this letter: ball, bank, bicycle, and so on
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Visualize each word as it mentally mentions it
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When you feel ready, move to the next letter (O) and repeat the process
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Continue with each letter of the original word (in this case, l and then O) until you want to change your word or even fall asleep.
It is a popular technique on Instagram and Tiktok, but does “cognitive shuffle” have a scientific foundation?
Where did this idea come from?
The technique was popularized over a decade for Luc P. Beaudoina researcher based in Canada, when he published one about what he called “Diverse imagination in series” I could help sleep.
In one of the hypothetical examples of Beudoin, a woman thinks of the word “blanket”, then “bike” (and imagines a bicycle), “buy” (and imagine buying shoes), “banana” (visualizes a banana), and so on.
Shortly thereafter, Beudoin describes, she passes the letter L, thinking of her friend Lourenço, the word “like” (and imagines her son to hug the dog). Then pass the letter A, and thinks of “Amsterdam”: you can vaguely imagine the big hand of a sailor to ask for another dose of chips in a pub in Amsterdam.
And shortly thereafter, fall asleep. The goal, according to Beudoin, is to think briefly on a neutral or pleasant target and frequently change to unbleed targets (usually every 5–15 seconds).
Do not try to establish a connection between the words or give them meaning; Resist the natural tendency of the brain to seek meaning.
Although the investigation into this technique is still at an early stage, the idea has scientific foundation. We know, based on other investigations, that people who sleep well tend to have different thoughts in bed compared to people with insomnia.
People with insomnia focus more on worries, problems or noises in the environment and are often obsessed with not being able to sleep.
The good sleeping ones usually have more chaotic thoughtssimilar to dreams, before falling asleep.
Friends and Sleep Enemies Thoughts
Cognitive shuffling tries to imitate the thinking patterns of good sleeping, simulating the random and initial thoughts they often have before they fall asleep.
Beudoin distinguishes two types of sleep -related thoughts:
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Pensamementos insonentranto (anti-sono): Concerns, planning, rehearsals of situations or rumination about problems.
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Prosonoler thoughts (sleep promoters): Dream -like images or calm and relaxed mental state.
Cognitive shuffling seeks Distract or interrupt unsonolent thoughtsoffering to mind a neutral and calm path, and can reduce stress associated with difficulty sleeping.
It also helps to signal to the brain that is time to fall asleep.
In fact, the process of “shuffling” between different thoughts resembles what the brain naturally does when falling asleep. During this transition, brain activity slows down. The brain begins to generate disconnected images and passing scenes – known as hypnagogical hallucinations – Without effort consciously to understand them.
By imitating these unconnected and random patterns, cognitive shuffling can facilitate the transition from the state of waking to sleep.
And the first results of the investigation are encouraging. Beudoin and his team found that the “diverse imagination in series” helps reduce mental arousal before bed, Improves sleep quality and decreases the effort needed to fall asleep.
