Between You and Me: Now I lay me down to (hopefully) sleep

By Leah S. Dunaief

Getting enough sleep is one of the tenets of staying healthy and aging well. But what to do when you get into bed and can’t fall asleep? The Science Times section of The New York Times this past Tuesday offered an interesting solution from Emergency Physician, Joe Whittington.

“Now I Lay Me Down to Play,” written by Christina Caron, explains the doctor’s technique. It’s called cognitive shuffling, and it is designed to calm a busy brain sufficiently to allow sleep. While he had tried deep breathing, meditation and melatonin, to no avail, the following strategy works for him. Incidentally, he has 750,000 followers on Instagram.

“Cognitive shuffling,” according to the Times, “is a mental exercise that involves focusing your mind on words that have no association with one another, as a way of signaling to your brain that it’s time to fall asleep. The task is meant to be engaging enough to distract you from the thoughts that may be impeding sleep, but not so interesting that your brain perks up.” 

So how do you do cognitive shuffling?

Take a random word, any word, like “adobe.” Then think of all the words that you can, beginning with that same first letter, like apple, arrow, across, attire. Visualize each word, then move on to the next. When you no longer can think of any more words beginning with “a” go on to the next letter, “d” and do the same thing: dog, depart, done, dope, detritus, and so forth. Again, visualize each word before moving on.

Luc P. Beaudoin, a cognitive scientist at Simon Fraser University in Canada, developed the cognitive shuffling strategy, and he suggests that as people drift off to sleep their minds have distant thoughts or vivid images. This technique is intended to mimic that process.

“These images don’t create a clear story line and may help your brain to disengage from problem solving or worry loops,” said Dr. Beaudoin, who conducted a study in 2016 using various sleep inducing techniques. He himself suffered from insomnia. The study was then discussed at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies conference in Denver, written up in Forbes magazine, then circulated widely online.

It can’t hurt to try cognitive shuffling.

I can tell you what I do to fall asleep. First, with full disclosure, I confess not to often having a problem falling asleep. In fact, I’m like a teapot. Just tip me over and pour me out. Usually, all I need is to get horizontal on a mattress and doze off. However, lately I have been waking up around 4 a.m., feeling rested and not able to resume sleeping. But I know if I get up and start my day at that hour, I will pay for the remaining lack of sleep in the late afternoon. I’m an 8 1/2 hour a night sleeper. So here’s what I do after 20 minutes of tossing and turning. 

I get out of bed, put on a lamp that offers dim light and read until my eyes get tired. I am selective in my reading choice: not a page turner. Then I shut off the light, get back into bed and usually fall right back to sleep.

It’s not a researched and tested technique but for me, it works. I enjoy sleeping and require the restorative effects in order to enjoy my waking hours. Hope these strategies work for you.