What do you do when you can’t fall asleep? You might count sheep, engage in some light meditation, or you might even get up and have a cup of tea or warm milk. It’s important that no matter what you do, you try to avoid screens to maintain good sleep hygiene.
However, if you don’t want to get out of bed, or if none of the traditional methods you might use to get some sleep are working, you might want to try one of the latest viral sleep hacks: cognitive shuffle.
According Luc P. Beaudoin, creator of the cognitive shuffle and Doctor of Cognitive Science, the Cognitive Shuffle method includes “serial diverse imaging” which sounds like a mouthful, but means that you picture many different things in your head to help quiet your brain. (1)
Dr. Beaudoin told Sleepopolis he was inspired to create the cognitive shuffle when he was an undergraduate in college, saying “on Sunday evenings, I would have often have difficulty falling asleep. I was taking a cognitive psychology class, learning about the mechanisms of mind. It made me wonder whether there is anything special about the mental patterns while in bed that could facilitate sleep onset. I reflected and developed several cognitive techniques.” Beaudoin eventually landed on the cognitive shuffle and continued to refine the method, eventually co-creating his app, mySleepButton. (2)
The Cognitive Shuffle found some TikTok fame when dermatologist Dr. Scott Walker (@denverskindoc) made a video showcasing the hack, calling it a “light switch moment for [him], once [he] learned it”. (3)
Read on to find out everything you need to know about the cognitive shuffle sleep hack.
How Does Dr. Beaudoin Use The Cognitive Shuffle Hack?
Dr. Beaudoin recommends practicing the cognitive hack by following three steps: “First, get yourself into bed, ready to go to sleep. Second, think of a random, emotionally neutral word consisting of at least 5 letters. “BEDTIME” is a good word. Try not to use one with many repeating letters. “BANANA” isn’t a great DIY-SDI word because “BANANA” has only 3 unique letters, B, N, A. “BEDTIME”, in this case is a “seed” word. Third, gradually spell out the seed word (e.g., “BEDTIME”). For each letter of the word, think of a word that start with that letter. Then imagine the item represented by the word. Repeat this many times for each letter. I.e., think of many words that start with the letter and imagine each one of them.” (2)
If this seems daunting or impossible to you — don’t worry, Dr. Beaudoin has some tips that you can take advantage of. For example, if you feel stressed out by a word that you’ve picked, then you should try to use mindfulness practices to cope with the emotions that the word brings up, and then move on to the next word. Or, if you think of a word, but you have some difficulty picturing it, then you can move on to another word. (2)
Dr. Beaudoin notes that practicing good sleep hygiene is another essential part of the cognitive shuffle hack, and that if you continue to have trouble sleeping you should consult your doctor.
How Do Others Recommend Practicing The Cognitive Shuffle Hack?
According to Dr. Walker, the cognitive shuffle hack is a “simple mental exercise” and is “a way to rearrange or reorganize your thoughts, similar to shuffling a deck of cards.” Walker goes on to elaborate that the goal of the cognitive shuffle hack is to distract your mind from the patterns that might keep you from sleeping. For example, if you just can’t stop thinking about that embarrassing thing you did in college, this hack is supposed to be able to redirect your mind so you stop spiraling.
Additionally, Walker says that the hack “mimics what are called micro dreams, which occur during the transition to sleep.” According to Dr. Walker, the hack lets your brain know that it’s time to head to sleep. (3)
There seems to be a couple of ways to actually do the cognitive shuffle trend. In his video, Dr. Walker suggests two ways that you can try out the hack for yourself. The first method that Dr. Walker recommends is to think of a list of random words, continuing the list until you drift off into sleep. (3)
However, if you aren’t in love with this option, he provides an alternative saying, “First, you pick a letter of the alphabet. Number two, you start counting your heartbeat. Then every eight beats you think of a word that begins with that letter.” (3)
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Sources
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Beaudoin, Luc P. Luc P. Beaudoin’s Home Page at SFU. https://www.sfu.ca/~lpb/
- Beaudoin, Luc P. Personal Interview. September 18, 2024.
- Walker, Scott. May 12, 2o24. https://www.tiktok.com/@denverskindoc/video/7368264490028404014?lang=en
