‘Cognitive shuffling’ can help you sleep when you have intrusive thoughts

November 13, 2024

Are bad thoughts barring you from sweet dreams?

California ER doctor Dr. Joe Whittington, who goes by Dr. Joe MD on Instagram, has taken to the platform to share a simple hack for falling asleep when intrusive thoughts are intent on keeping you awake.

Responding to a video of a woman in tears who claimed she spent months struggling to sleep, he assured that his shut-eye hack doesn’t call for counting sheep or chugging warm milk, explaining: “It’s called cognitive shuffling and it’s rooted in psychology. It helps take you from the insomnia state to the somnolent state.”

Similar to shuffling a deck of cards, cognitive shuffling is technique that rearranges thoughts, distracting the mind from the problematic patterns that prevent sleep. To begin, Joe recommends picking a non-emotional word such as rest.

“Now take the first letter of that word and think of several other words that start with the same letter,” he said. “Rain. River. Rose. Then move to the next letter. Equal. Event. Elm. Move to the next letter. Stage. Sound. Sky. When you’ve exhausted all the letters, pick a new word and keep going.”

Joe claims cognitve shuffling works by easing the restless mind into a relaxed, ready-for-sleep state, signaling that it is safe to slumber.

Over a third of adults fail to get the recommended amount of sleep each night and according to government estimates, 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders.

In 2020, 14.5% of US adults reported having trouble falling asleep every day or most days. Prolonged sleep loss can lead to several health problems, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, stroke, obesity, and depression.

In the comments section, reviews of the cognitive shuffling sleep technique were mixed, with some users calling it a cure all and others saying it’s a waste of breath.

“Doesn’t work for those with ADHD because then you will stay up all of the hours thinking of words that begin with letter B,” one commenter remarked.

Others imagined the word association game turning a bit sour.

“Me: ‘Rest… r… regret. Remorse, random, reluctant. Wait… roses… OK, E: erratic, emotional, existential. Wait no… elephant. Elegant. S. OK, selective, stagnant, s–t. Oh. Wrong, no, OK nice words… sleep. Slumber. OK, T. Torment. NO,” one woman wrote.

Still, Dorsey Standish, a mechanical engineer, neuroscientist, and CEO of Mastermind Meditate maintains its worth a go, “A technique like cognitive shuffling can assist the nervous system in relaxing and letting go into sleep,” Standish told Eat This, Not That! last year.

“If you can’t find relaxation in the cognitive shuffling technique, you can try other mindful sleep techniques like deep breathing with extended exhales or a progressive relaxation body scan, which have also been shown to calm the nervous system and promote an easier transition to rest.”

Previously, Dr. Scott Walter, a board-certified dermatologist in the Denver area, when viral on the clock app for teaching followers about the hack. He also suggested doing it by selecting a letter of the alphabet and counting your heartbeat.

“Every eight beats, you think of a word that begins with that letter,” he said.

In terms of preventative measures, the 10-3-2-1-0 formula is a pre-sleep routine with guidelines that encourage the mind and body to wind down and sleep deeply.