Ever have trouble falling asleep because your mind is busy? 

Sometimes, the mental load (planning for what needs to get done and when) can keep women and mothers awake at night. It can look like the never-ending to-do list popping into your head… 

Did you add carrots to the grocery list?

Don’t forget the doctor’s appointment in two days… 

Wait, you forgot your brother-in-law’s birthday – argh.

These type of thoughts can keep busy women awake at night.

Sometimes other thoughts can keep you awake too – like being concerned about falling asleep and the impact of not enough sleep, thinking about how tense or stressed you are, or dwelling on a specific problem.

These thought processes interfere with getting to sleep or getting back to sleep. They can also be disrupted with ‘Cognitive Shuffling’, which helps you focus on thoughts more likely to send you to sleep. Cognitive shuffling is based on the theory that logical thoughts keep you awake, and that incoherent, nonsensical, or unrelated thoughts (much like our dreams) help send you to sleep.

The idea is to use existing words (such as BEDTIME) to focus on unrelated thoughts and images. You work through the letters of ‘BEDTIME’ to identify a neutral and non-threatening word for each letter. For example, B for Bobbing, E for Echidna, D for Doona, etc.
You can come up with action words (e.g., bobbing), objects (e.g., a doona), or animals (e.g., an echidna).

Then, aim to spend 5-10 seconds visualising each word before moving on to the next one. If you can’t visualise something like bobbing gently in water or an echidna, then you focus on the word for at least five seconds.
Do each letter in the word you’ve picked (in this example, BEDTIME), until the word is done – and then move to a new word.

I’ve used ‘BEDTIME’ here as an example. Ideally, you’d use random words at least five letters long (up to 12 letters), that are neutral or unconcerning. Here’s a list of bedroom or sleep words that can be good starting points:

• • Bedtime
  • Mattress
  • Curtains
  • Pillow
  • Lullaby
  • Relaxation
  • Soothe
  • Sleepy
  • Blanket
  • Doona

 

It can also be worth taking time earlier in the evening or day to manage your mental load by making lists, so you’re less likely to get caught by the ‘Don’t forget this…’ thoughts in bed.

 

Happy falling asleep with nonsense thoughts! 

 

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