The Sleep Foundation estimates that as many as 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep disorders, which can increase your risk of heart disease, obesity, dementia and more.
A technique called cognitive shuffling is being suggested as a way to help people with sleep struggles nod off. It was developed by cognitive scientist Luc Beaudoin from Canada’s Simon Fraser University, who also founded the sleep tech company CogSci Apps.
4 questions with Luc Beaudoin
What is cognitive shuffling and how can we do it ourselves?
“You choose a random word like the word ‘piano,’ and then you would actually spell it out in your head. And for each letter you try to imagine something that starts with that letter. So, with the word ‘piano,’ it starts with a ‘P.’
“So, start by imagining a piano. You might imagine a peach, a park. You linger for 5 to 10 seconds on each one, then moving on to another one, maybe, you know, somebody called ‘Paul.’
“And then when you’re bored or can’t think of anything else that starts with the first letter, you move on to the second letter. In this case, ‘I.’ And you might think of ‘India.’ It’s important to try to imagine it. ‘Iglu’ or ‘island.’ So, you imagine one thing after another and then eventually, if this works, you doze off and you might not even make it to the third letter.”
What is the science behind why this works?
“Basically, I suppose that the brain’s sleep onset control system considers two different factors. One is, is the brain busy thinking about something important, so worrying or problem solving, that’s the signal to stay awake? Or is it in a sleep onset like state, a dreamlike state where you’re having mental imagery and that’s a signal that it’s appropriate to progress more deeply towards sleep. So, there’s two processes going on there.”
What is the success rate for this technique? Have you tested it in large groups of people? And what did you find?
“We’ve run a couple of studies. One of the studies compared it with a technique which is called constructive worrying. We measured people at the beginning. They were students, 140- or 50-odd students at the beginning of the semester and then around midterms, when they should be having difficulty falling asleep. And we found that this technique actually matched an established technique called constructive worrying, which is basically involves journaling right after dinner, so that one’s not busy thinking about one’s problems at bedtime. That was one study.
“There was another study with comparing it with another technique that showed good results, but it was a smaller study. So, really, in terms of empirical investigation, we’re at the beginning and one of the things that I hope would happen with this publicity is to encourage other sleep labs in the world to kind of look at this and compare it with other established — and there’s not that many — cognitive bedtime techniques.
“This was developed partly when I compared this idea of mine with what I call monotonous imagery training. It’s called in literature imagery training, but it has you think about an object like a candle, but you’re supposed to think about it in detail for 2 minutes. And I said to myself, ‘That’s not going to be very counter-insomnolent. It’s not going to counter the thinking that keeps you awake because if you’re having troubles with your marriage, your kids, your mortgage, focusing on a candle for 2 minutes is going to be really hard.’
“So, I thought a technique that was more like natural sleep onset that involves juggling random-like images would be more engaging. And frankly, I think one of the reasons this took off is that it’s fun. When else do you get to imagine? You know, like outside of childhood, childhood is imagery rich. And then and then we’re very driven by all the information that’s on social media, TV, etc. so we’re not internally generating images. This is a form of play. I view it as both a new kind of meditation and a form of play.”
What are some other techniques that you’ve seen out there that can help that people could try, or what’s a way to enhance and make the cognitive shuffling more effective for them?
“I already alluded to one technique, which is called constructive worrying, so you journal and you can actually Google to find templates for constructive worrying. But essentially what you do is after dinner, you take your concerns. Typically, insomnia is associated with a worry or concern, and you devise some solutions or thoughts about it. You journal. Journaling is good in many respects in psychology. So, this is a technique that has been proven to be effective for many people who have difficulty falling asleep.
“But there’s a lot of things you can do. One of the first things I recommend for people is to cut out caffeine altogether. Caffeine stays in your system longer than you think, and caffeine is one of those things that actually keeps the body awake.
“Another thing you can do that’s recommended is to get sunlight exposure early in the day because sleep is controlled by your internal clock. So, you got two types of clocks. Summer synchronized with the sun. It’s called circadian. It’s how long you’ve been awake. So, your circadian system is important in controlling sleep and getting that early exposure to sunlight is useful.
“But I would recommend Googling sleep hygiene, and you’ll find from a reputable site you’ll get some good information there. But if you’ve got a persistent problem with sleep, it’s good to see a health professional because that might actually be indicating you’ve got some other problem. So, you don’t want to necessarily mask that problem if it’s a serious problem that endures for many weeks.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
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Thomas Danielian produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Todd Mundt. Michael Scotto also produced it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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