During a time when my father was ill, I stayed at his place and got up several times a night to help him get to the bathroom safely. This was actually not a huge hardship for me, as I am blessed with the ability to sleep well. When Gillian was a baby, I exclaimed to Jane on the first morning home from the hospital, “She slept through the night!”
“No,” Jane said, “YOU slept through the night!”. Oops.
If I have a super power, I think it may be sleeping. I generally have very little trouble falling asleep. However, there has been the rare occasion when I have found it challenging and know the pain of looking at the alarm clock, calculating how many hours of sleep I will get if I can just fall asleep right NOW!
I know for some people this is a much more regular challenge. This is important because the benefits of sleep include improved brain function, better mental health and mood, a stronger immune system, and better physical health, including heart health and weight management. For some advice from our previous article on sleep hygiene, “Quality Sleep: Tips & Tricks” click here.
A patient recently told me that she had learned a trick that I didn’t know when I wrote that article in 2022. It is called “cognitive shuffling”. She expressed that she had spent 20 or 30 years taking 3-4 hours to fall asleep each night. She found with using this exercise that the time decreased to 15-20 minutes!
I have tried cognitive shuffling since she described it and found it a wonderful way to calm my mind when racing thoughts are preventing sleep. Cognitive shuffling is a sleep technique where you think of a neutral word. You then list (not out loud, but in your mind) unrelated, neutral words that start with each letter of the original word. There is no hurry, take time to visualize each word. The goal is to break the cycle of structured, goal-oriented thinking (like worrying) that is keeping your brain alert, and promote random, non-goal-directed thought that naturally precedes sleep. By occupying your brain with this engaging but non-demanding activity , you prevent stressful thoughts and quiet your mind until you fall asleep. I have found that going through the alphabet and visualizing a word for each letter is a good way to occupy my brain at bed-time.
Next time you have trouble sleeping, give cognitive shuffling a try. And make sure you are receiving regular Network Care. Members of our practice tend to find that when they are getting regular visits that their sleep improves. One of the findings from a retrospective study (by R.H. Blanks et al) of 2800 patients under Network care was “less difficulty falling and staying asleep”.
Sleep well, it’s good for you!