When you’re tucked up in bed, fretting about the next day’s work, it’s all too easy for your thoughts to start spiralling out of control. This overthinking and racing mind could be a sign of insomnia, a sleep disorder characterised by difficulty falling or staying asleep.
Insomnia is a common issue, with around one in three people in the UK experiencing it. While occasional bouts may not cause significant problems, persistent insomnia can impact your quality of life.
One doctor has suggested trying a technique known as cognitive shuffling when you’re struggling to drift off. NHS doctor and GP Amir Khan, who regularly features on Good Morning Britain and Lorraine, took to TikTok to recommend this method for those times when your “mind just won’t stop churning out stressful thoughts”, and your “brain is too active to let you sleep”.
According to the Bradford-based doctor, these thoughts are essentially signalling to your brain that it’s not safe to sleep, trapping you in a vicious cycle. Dr Khan explained the technique, saying: “Rather than counting sheep, there is now an alternative technique you can use called cognitive shuffling. The idea is that it interrupts your racing mind and instead scrambles your thoughts, inviting the brain to go into sleep mode, assuring it that it is safe to sleep.”
Dr Khan has shared a “fairly easy” technique for those struggling to nod off, which simply involves getting into bed and lying down. He emphasises the importance of selecting a word that holds no emotional weight for you, one that is neutral and devoid of repeating letters.
“It’s really important that the word is completely neutral to you and has no repeating letters,” he said. Dr Khan offered ‘bed’ or ‘dream’ as potential examples.
Taking ‘dream’ as an example, he elaborated: “Now think of the word bed, and think of as many words as you can beginning with that letter [b], and as you do, picture those objects in your mind’s eye.”
This means brainstorming words starting with ‘b’, like bat, binoculars, baseball, and banana. After depleting options for ‘b’, move on to ‘e’, conjuring images of emus, elephants, eyes, and so forth.
Continue this pattern through the word, and if sleep hasn’t taken over by the end, start with a new word and repeat the process.
If this method doesn’t work for you, and you’re worried about your sleep, speak to your GP.