Studies have shown that only 7% of American adults get enough sleep at night, and if you’re one of the 93% who are struggling to fall asleep, it could be for a number of reasons. The cause of your sleep issues could be your diet, your wind-down routine, or it could be that you simply can’t shut off your brain at night. Stress and anxiety can cause racing thoughts at night, which can make it almost impossible to fall asleep. People who overthink struggle to quiet their minds and tend to evaluate everything around them, leading to something called “analysis paralysis.” In this state, making decisions becomes nearly impossible, as is falling asleep. One of the best ways to combat this is by “cognitive shuffling.” That involves imagining neutral scenarios, which could involve anything from reliving a vacation you enjoyed to remembering happy events from childhood. The idea is that you’re stopping your anxious thoughts and replacing them with relaxing ones. This is where detail comes in. In order for cognitive shuffling to work, you must focus on every detail of what you’re remembering. Say, for example, you have a fond memory of graduation. You start by remembering getting up that morning, what you were wearing, what you had for breakfast, continuing to focus on every detail of the day. For some, it may take some practice to get it to work effectively, but those who have tried it report that they fall asleep way before getting to the end of the scenario.
