If you have trouble falling asleep, you’re in good company. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly one-third of adults in the U.S. report not getting enough rest or sleep each day. You’ve probably invested in a number of remedies: weighted blankets, sleep headphones, CBD gummies, and melatonin supplements like Olly Sleep. If racing thoughts are still keeping you awake at night, there’s a new trick that may help: cognitive scrambling.
What is Cognitive Blending?
Cognitive mixing is a sleep trick invented by Canadian cognitive scientist Luc Beaudoin that could be your ticket to a better night's sleep.
It is a way of reframing or rearranging your thoughts to get them away from the train of thought that keeps your mind awake. Essentially, you are scrambling your thoughts in a way that doesn't make sense to your mind, thus restraining anxious thoughts.
Related: Just One Night of Lack of Sleep Can Cause Anxiety the Next Day
How to Implement Cognitive Blending
Picture this: You're lying in bed and can't fall asleep. You follow all of Dr. Andrew Huberman's sleep advice. You've exposed yourself to sunlight within 30 to 60 minutes of waking up, limited caffeine intake for eight to 10 hours before bed, and turned off overhead lights in the evening—but you still can't fall asleep. Maybe you can't stop thinking about an important work presentation, or maybe things in your personal life are keeping you up.
Here’s how to put cognitive scrambling into practice: When anxious thoughts enter your mind, imagine a series of random objects: a dog, a taco, a dumbbell, a tree, etc. For this trick to work, make sure the series is truly random (for example, don’t imagine your own dog).
If you try visualizing but get stuck on the images you choose, you can apply the method another way. Start by choosing a word, such as lamp, and then begin to picture as many objects as possible that start with the letter “L”—lake, legs, linguine. Once you've eliminated any “L”s, examine the other letters in the original word—”A,” “M,” “P.” It's like the New Age way of counting sheep.
Related: The Two-Week Plan for the Best Sleep of Your Life
Does Cognitive Blending Work for Everyone?
Like any trick for sleep, it may not work for everyone. Cognitive mixing was originally designed for individuals who experience racing thoughts while trying to fall asleep. However, it may not work for individuals with more severe sleep disorders or poor sleep habits.
If you try this method and find that it doesn’t work for you, take a closer look at your lifestyle habits. Are you drinking caffeine late in the afternoon? Are you scrolling through your phone in bed at night? Are you using bright overhead lights in the evening? All of these habits can lead to poorer sleep, so be sure to find ways to optimize your nighttime routine before trying cognitive scrambling.