An NHS doctor has revealed the sleep trick that puts people to sleep in only a few minutes.
Having difficulty getting to sleep, or having insomnia, is a frustrating experience that can significantly affect an individual's daily life.
In a TikTok video that has so far been viewed more than 238,400 times, Dr Arthur Joustra, an paediatrics trainee has urged people to try a sleep hack, officially known as 'cognitive shuffling'.
Dr Joustra says your anxious mind can be calmed and soothed by taking control of your thoughts by visualising words and random items.
This activates the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing it to take over from a stressful fight-or-flight response.
@dr_arthur_ This is how to do ‘cognitive shuffling’, a sleep technique that will change your life! #medicine #doctor #health #sleeptips #sleep #sleephacks #howtogettosleep
♬ original sound - Dr_Arthur_
In his TikTok video, Dr Joustra said: “This is how I've learned to get to sleep in a matter of minutes as a doctor who does loads of night shifts and is chronically sleep deprived.
“Essentially the way it works is it distracts your brain. It is letting your brain know that it is safe to go to sleep. It is getting it away from that anxious state of fight or flight that makes your thoughts race around your head and keeps you up literally all night worrying about things.
“To do cognitive shuffling, all you have to do is think of a completely random word and then visualise a thing that that word represents. From there, think of a second word and then a third word and a fourth that are all completely unrelated.
According to Dr Joustra, the goal is to provide your brain with random ideas so that it won't become worried and can go to sleep. He adds that visualising a term that begins with the letter of the last word is a simple method.
He said: “So if we start with elephant that ends in 't', so we go to tree and that ends in 'e' so we go to engine and so on.”
The secret is to keep going until you fall asleep. It should just take a few minutes, according to Dr Joustra.
Although this strategy has been promoted on social media for years, Canadian cognitive scientist Professor Luc P. Beaudoin was the one who first proposed it. Research indicates that when we go to sleep, our minds are frequently occupied with images and specific thoughts or concerns, the expert said.
Prof Beaudoin told The New York Times: “These images don't create a clear story line and help your brain disengage from problem solving or worry loops.”
A few restless nights are typically nothing to be concerned about, according to the NHS, “but it can become an issue if a lack of sleep starts to affect your daily life.”
Long-term sleep issues can also “affect our relationships and social life, and leave us feeling tired all the time, eating more, and not able to do daily tasks” the NHS warns.
