Understanding the 'Cognitive Shuffling' Technique to Overcome Insomnia

KOMPAS.com - Stress or excessive negative thinking is one of the main causes of insomnia. To combat this, there is a simple trick worth trying, namely cognitive shuffling.

Instead of letting the brain continue to think about heavy problems, we are asked to choose a random word in our head.

By focusing thoughts on the spelling of a word, the brain will slowly be diverted and become more relaxed as it moves towards the sleep phase.

“The word must be emotionally neutral, so not something related to stress or strong feelings,” said health psychologist Patricia B. Pedreira, quoting The Times, Sunday (17/5/2026).

“Avoid words like ‘money’ or ‘deadlines’, or anything that triggers a series of anxieties,” she said.

The way it works is very simple. When you start lying down on the mattress, choose a basic word consisting of five to 12 letters with no emotional meaning at all.

Next, think of other unrelated words for each letter of the main word. For example, if you choose the word “kasur” (mattress), you can think of rabbits, trains, or fans for the first letter K.

Each time you say a new word, briefly imagine its shape before you switch to thinking about the next letter in the spelling.

When doing cognitive shuffling, you may fall asleep halfway through, successfully complete all the words, or even forget where you are, and that’s okay. The goal is not to perfectly finish the word.

If you are still awake at the end of the letters, find another basic word. Avoid using words with double letters so that the brain does not get bored of repeating the same thing.

This state of alertness is in direct contrast to the silence needed for the body to fall into a deep sleep.

“Your main task is to focus on something that can make you sleepy. You are focusing on something boring rather than something that stimulates thought,” said psychologist Nina Kaiser.