Cognitive Shuffling

A study published back in 2014 looked at the efficacy of a purportedly somnolence-inducing thought-process called “cognitive shuffling,” or “serial diverse imagining.”

This sleep technique was developed by an academic who believed existing deliberate mentation strategies (ways of thinking that, in this case, are meant to help the thinker dose off, rather than staying awake due to spiraling, uncontrolled thoughts) were either not counter-insomnolent (couldn’t compete with the spiraling thoughts) or not inherently somnolent (don’t actually produce drowsiness and the state of mind that leads to sleep).

Cognitive shuffling involves thinking of a random word that, to you, is emotionally neutral (not something loaded with psychological meaning), then taking the first letter of that word and coming up with as many other objects that start with that letter as possible, visualizing each object before moving on to the next.

So if you think of the word “book,” you might picture a book, then move on to “bobcat,” “balloon,” bassoon,” and so on, creating a mental image of each item, one by one.

Once you run out of words starting with that letter, you choose another object, visualize more objects with the same first letter, and keep repeating the process until you’re out cold.

The theory underpinning this technique is that by aiming our thoughts and occupying our brains with neutral, random images, we distract our brains, which might otherwise surface all sorts of anxieties and concerns right as we’re trying to drift off, and we mimic the patterns brains often fall into (called “hypnagogic mentation”) as they naturally shift into a somnolent mode—which is a lot more scattered and disconnected than our conscious, directed and purposeful waking mode.

This technique won’t work equally well for everyone, especially those who have trouble visualizing things in their “mind’s eye,” but researchers in this space have also shown the efficacy of “cognitive refocusing,” which is based on a similar concept, but involves intentionally refocusing attention toward non-anxiety-inducing things before bed, especially things that are a bit boring and non-valenced; not even happy things, just neutral concepts that won’t nudge the brain in any particular direction.

Also worth noting here is that this is a relatively new field of inquiry, and these sorts of techniques are almost always presented as partial solutions to sleep difficulties, not silver bullets. They can help some people get more, and more consistent rest, but someone who’s over-caffeinated and suffering from persistent environment stresses, and/or health issues, may not find them as useful as someone who’s doing everything else right (sleep-wise), but still has trouble shutting their brains down when they drop into bed each night.