I Tried the “Cognitive Shuffle” Method, and It Got Me to Fall Asleep in 30 Minutes

I’m a chronic overthinker, but I’m usually able to turn it off right before bed with some light journaling (or brain dumping, as I like to call it), as well as reduced screen time. At the end of last year, though, I went through a breakup, and no matter what I did I just couldn’t fall asleep. I kept replaying our last conversations in my head. It was like my brain was trying to make sense of the end of the relationship by constantly looping my memories. 

I tried exhausting workouts, sleep meditations, and everything in between to no avail. After a month of this, I had a conversation with a friend at dinner (who probably noticed how disheveled I looked) about my sleep troubles, and she sent me a link to a TikTok video on cognitive shuffling, a viral sleep method that was gaining traction.

Because it targeted my exact problem (overthinking!), my friend suggested I try it. And honestly, it’s not like I had anything to lose. Here’s what happened when I tried the “cognitive shuffle” method for a month to help me fall asleep post-breakup.

Cognitive shuffling is a mental exercise involving cycling through specific, emotionally neutral words to guide your brain away from overthinking about things that will keep you up. 

According to Dr. Joe Whittington, the doctor who shared the sleep hack on TikTok, the cognitive shuffling method is effective primarily due to its roots in psychology. “Cognitive shuffling works by easing your brain into a relaxed, sleep-ready state,” he explains in his video, adding that it retrains your mind to focus on things that will actually be beneficial to think about in order to induce sleep, as opposed to lingering thoughts that tend to increase anxiety levels. 

Dr. Shelby Harris, a clinical psychologist and sleep specialist, explains that cognitive shuffling is based on the theory that the brain “shuffles” between thoughts right before bed, keeping the mind hyperactive and sometimes preventing sleep. “The cognitive shuffling method is used as a mental exercise that helps to turn off the active thought loop (the shuffle) in the brain to allow it to sleep,” she explains. “It keeps the brain just barely active enough to focus on the exercise and away from active thought processes that can keep one up.” 

Cognitive shuffling is relatively simple to practice, too, and there are a couple of ways to do it. “We basically want to get your thoughts out of the random, charged shuffle and into a more neutral way of thinking,” adds Harris. There are three popular cognitive shuffle methods people commonly use, and you could do pretty much any one of them, depending on how your mind likes to group information (or “shuffle”). 

“Pick any random word (one that’s neutral, like toy or dog), and picture that word in your mind, focusing on the shape of the letters and how it would look on a page,” says Caitlyn Oscarson, a cognitive behavioral therapist. “Then, you choose additional random words that start with the letters in the first word, continuing with picturing random words as you drift off to sleep. So for instance, if your word is ‘toy’, you start thinking of words with T, then O, and then Y, moving on when you’ve finished thinking of all the words from the first letter to the next. This technique works by giving your brain a low-impact, non-emotionally taxing task as you fall asleep.” It’s the most common cognitive shuffling method, but it isn’t the only way.

“This option is a little easier,” says Harris. “You start by taking a random letter and then thinking of as many words as possible that go with that letter, and then move to another random letter. Or, you can just go through the alphabet and say one word that begins with each letter of the alphabet.” According to Harris, a lot of people like this option because they don’t have to come up with new words every day — especially neutral ones.

The last method is something Oscarson likes to call the category method, because it involves grouping the words you come up with into categories. For instance, instead of trying to think of random words starting with T if you’ve chosen the word “toy”, you pick a category to think of words under, like foods or cities. “Some people respond better to structure, which is why this method works for them, while others could find it too restraining and anxiety-provoking,” Oscarson says. 

The best way to approach the cognitive shuffling method really depends on your own brain and way of thinking, so try all the options and see which works best for you.

It’s worth noting, though, that those with ADHD may find it difficult to use the cognitive shuffle method to fall asleep. “ADHD involves inconsistency with attention — not just difficulty paying attention,” says Oscarson. “So, while some people diagnosed with ADHD may have difficulty staying focused on the task and become easily distracted, others may get overly fixed on the task, so much so that they just keep trying to come up with more and more words, therefore preventing sleep.” 

However, she notes that sleep strategies like this take practice regardless, so depending on the patient, she might just keep asking them to continue to redirect themselves back to the task, as well as reduce the pressure and urgency around it. If it still doesn’t work, she might consider other strategies for those patients instead.

I’m a words girl, so the first method was the best fit for me. I stuck to easy, calm words like cloud, table, or book, and then tried to think of as many words as I could for each letter in that word, and when I couldn’t think of any more, I just moved on to the next. By the third or fourth letter, my brain had zoned out enough that I’d actually fall asleep before I could even finish. 

Shockingly (or maybe not so shockingly, since that was the point), my mind didn’t wander to my breakup at all, and I was entirely focused on thinking of words in my shuffle. While previously it had been taking me hours to fall asleep, with this method I fell asleep in about 15 to 30 minutes. I never felt like I had to put any pressure on myself to come up with millions of words on the spot, which, according to Oscarson, is the biggest reason why it might not work for some people.

“You really have to be kind to yourself, no matter which sleep method you’re trying out,” Oscarson says. “Any sleep strategy can backfire if we put too much pressure on it to work. I like to think about these strategies as ‘something to do while your body falls asleep’ rather than setting the expectation that these strategies will always make us fall asleep quickly.”

Additionally, if you try to control your sleep in a certain way — for instance, you get through a whole word and are still awake and annoyed at yourself — you can actually increase sleep anxiety, which is the total opposite of what you’re going for! “If this happens, just repeat with another word or try a different variation of the method,” says Harris. “The point is to go slow, and try to make sure all the other factors in your room also promote good sleep, such as comfortable temperature and complete darkness.” And if you try variations of this cognitive shuffling method for nights on end and feel like it still isn’t working, don’t stress: It might just not be the best strategy for you, and that’s perfectly OK.

For me, this method was kind of perfect. I’m someone who’s never been into meditation, as it always felt like I was trying too hard to shut my brain up. The cognitive shuffle method, on the other hand, didn’t ask me to stop thinking — it just steered my thoughts somewhere less … existential. 

It’s been several months since the breakup (and my constant, ruminating thoughts), and even though I no longer use the cognitive shuffle method every night, I still go back to it when I’ve had a really stressful day or I just know my to-do list is going to keep me up at night. It turned out to be one of the easiest ways I’ve found to not focus on anything intense, and that’s made all the difference for my sleep.