This method tells your brain it’s ‘safe to sleep’
Dr Amir Khan shared his “best” technique for getting a good night’s sleep(Image: Dr Amir Khan/Instagram)
A doctor has shared an “easy” brain trick to use when you “just can’t get off to sleep”. He said this is his “best advice” for shutting your mind off at night.
Getting enough sleep is vital for your health and well-being. Not only does a poor night’s sleep leave you tired, irritable, and unable to function properly, but long-term insomnia has been shown to raise your risk of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
According to the NHS, around one in three of us will experience sleep issues at least once in our lives. With this in mind, Doctor Amir Khan shared a simple technique for falling asleep, even when your mind is racing.
In a video posted to Instagram, Dr Amir – who is best known for his appearances on ITV – explained cognitive shuffling. This is a method that tells your brain it’s “safe to sleep”.
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In the video caption he said: “I get so many DMs [direct messages] about sleep and how it can be improved, alongside all the usual sleep hygiene stuff – this is honestly my best advice. Try it.”
In the video, he said: “Let’s talk about a technique called cognitive shuffling. You know that I’ve talked at length about the health benefits of sleep.
“But what if you just can’t get off to sleep because your brain won’t let you? Imagine it – everyone else is asleep, the house is quiet, you’re lying there in bed but your mind won’t stop churning out stressful thoughts, work, money, kids, planning, scheduling, problem solving.
“Your brain is too active to let you sleep. In fact, the stress of all of these thoughts tells the brain that it’s not safe to sleep, and you have to stay on high alert.
“So, how do we fix this?” Dr Amir then suggested cognitive shuffling as an “alternative” to counting sheep.
Long-lasting insomnia can have a huge impact on your health(Image: Getty)
The idea is that this method interrupts your “racing mind” and instead invites the brain to “go into sleep mode”. Dr Amir then explained exactly how to perform this technique.
“First of all, get into bed, lie down,” he said. “Now, think of a word that has no emotional connection to you.
“It’s really important that the word is completely neutral and ideally has no repeating letters. Good examples are ‘bed’ or ‘dream’, but let’s use the word bed as our example.
“Now, take each letter of the word bed and think of as many words as you can beginning with that letter, and as you do picture those objects in your mind’s eye. So bed begins with the letter ‘B’.
“Other words that begin with the letter ‘B’ include ‘binoculars’, ‘baseball’, ‘banana’. As I’m thinking of them, I’m also picturing them in my head.”
Once you’ve exhausted the letter B, I move on to the next letter, which is E. Dr Amir continued: “Now, I’m thinking ‘emus’, ‘elephants’, eyes’ and picturing them at the same time.
“Do the same with the letter ‘D’.” If you’ve not fallen asleep by the end of this word, move on to another word and do the same again.
The average adult needs between seven and nine hours of sleep a night(Image: Getty)
Dr Amir said: “And once I finish with the word ‘bed’, if I’m not already asleep, I’ll think of another word and do the same with that until I do fall asleep. If you’re struggling with sleeping, give this technique a go, it’s worth a try.
“But if you’re really worried about sleep, speak to a healthcare professional.”
How much sleep we need
The NHS states that the average adult needs between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. On average, children need nine to 13 hours, while toddlers and babies need 12 to 17 hours.
The health body says you should see a GP if:
- Changing your sleeping habits has not helped your insomnia
- You’ve had trouble sleeping for months
- Your insomnia is affecting your daily life in a way that makes it hard for you to cope
