Five-minute sleep hack called 'cognitive shuffle’ can help you drift off
A handy hack called the 'cognitive shuffle’ could help you to get to sleep if you’re someone who struggles with an overactive mind at night.
Sleep is essential for our mind and body to rest and repair and continued lack of good sleep can have detrimental effects on our physical and mental wellbeing. Most adults need an average of between seven to nine hours a night but recent YouGov data found over a quarter of Brits are only getting six hours. That means 40% of us are suffering from sleep deprivation.
There can be many reasons for not getting enough kip ranging from illness, having a baby or simply having too much spinning around your head thanks to worry over work, a relationship, money or any general life issue that’s occupying your mind.
If you’re someone who gets into bed ready for a lovely slumber and then finds your mind just won’t shut down and allow you to relax, you may want to try the 'cognitive shuffle’. The simple and quick hack involves tricking your brain and stopping it from racing through all the issues or concerns you may have.
Sleep experts at Mattress Next Day advise incorporating the method into your sleep routine. To carry out the five-minute head exercise, simply list random items in your mind that are easy to visualise and are non-threatening. They should also be non-related, so for example, you could try imagining potatoes, Tarzan and a violin. This process should tire your brain out and help keep your thoughts off issues preventing you from sleeping, which hopefully sends you off into the land of nod.
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Many other factors contribute to good quality sleep too and plenty of ways you can incorporate them into your life. Another tip they recommend is to get into good habits throughout the day and one of these comes as soon as you wake up when you should get some light immediately. Open your curtains or switch on the light if it’s still dark which will tell your brain to stop producing the sleep hormone melatonin and therefore help stop you feeling drowsy.
Getting out into natural light is also important and just a 10-minute walk will aid in serotonin - the happy hormone - production, which will help your mood and stop you feeling sad. The longer you can walk for, the better as tiring yourself out physically will promote better sleep too.
Therefore getting a 30-minute workout in the morning is also recommended because sleep and exercise are intrinsically connected. Exercise can improve your quality and duration of sleep, which in turn provides more strength and endurance for physical activity.
There are lots of other useful ideas to help you get into better habits and therefore improve your sleep in Mattress Next Day’s guide on how to reset your body clock in three days. If you think you have a sleep problem and are struggling, the NHS recommends talking to your GP.
Will you try the cognitive shuffle? Let us know in the comments below.
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