04/24/2025
😴 Cognitive Shuffling is a mental technique developed by cognitive scientist Luc Beaudoin to help quiet the mind and promote sleep. 🥱
The concept is rooted in the idea that one of the main barriers to falling asleep is a racing mind—when we’re trying to sleep, we often engage in goal-directed or emotionally charged thinking, which keeps the brain alert.
Beaudoin’s technique works by deliberately engaging the brain in non-sensical, non-linear thinking, which mimics the kind of mental activity typical of the early stages of sleep. Here’s how it generally works:
How to Do It:
Pick a Neutral Word: Choose a random, emotionally neutral word with at least five letters (e.g., "garden").
Break It Down: Mentally rearrange the letters in a random order (e.g., D-E-N-G-A-R).
Free Associate:
For each letter, think of a word that starts with that letter (e.g., D = dog, E = elephant, N = notebook, etc.).
Try to picture each word vividly in your mind for a second or two.
Shuffle Again: Once you’ve gone through the letters, reshuffle or start over with a new word.
Why It Works:
It interrupts ruminative or anxious thinking by giving your brain something cognitively engaging but emotionally bland to focus on.
It promotes the kind of fragmented, imagistic thought patterns that occur naturally in stage 1 sleep.
It helps reduce the pressure to "try" to fall asleep, which in itself can be counterproductive.
Many people, including myself, have found it especially useful not just at bedtime but also during middle-of-the-night awakenings, when the brain tends to become especially prone to overthinking. It’s a simple, portable tool that requires no equipment—just a little mental practice.
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