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Waking up at 3am and can't get back to sleep? Here is an idea.

Iain

I came across an interesting article on a sleep issue that I have seen posted about here on many occasions - I wonder how well it works.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/best-thing-to-try-wake-up-3am_uk_6925d0f5e4b063285310c7d5

You might have heard of “cognitive shuffling,” which involves associating words which share a letter in order to stop yourself from overthinking.

This is meant to calm a racing mind and prevent the stress about being awake, which can, paradoxically, prevent you from falling asleep.

For Dr Hare, that involves “counting backwards from 1000 in sevens”.

I sometimes imagine myself cooking my last meal in enormous detail: my editor says she pictures as many nooks and crannies of her childhood home as possible.

The point is to distract your mind from worry or obsessing over returning to your slumber. 

If anyone gets a chance to try this, please let us know how it goes.

Parents

  • I’ve suggested that technique here a few times before. If anyone would like support in trying it, there’s a link to information about an app in this quote:

    Bunny said:

    I struggle with this, too. One thing I've found effective some of the time is "cognitive shuffling". This involves distracting and redirecting your mind by scrambling your thoughts, so that they're not following logical sequences - which is what your brain does naturally during the early stages of sleep.

    One way to do this is to think of a word (eg "forest") and then to work through it, letter by letter, coming up with other words that begin with each letter - including creating mental images to go along with each word (or just recalling each word, if you can't visualise things).  

    I learned about it in the book Self Care for Autistic People - 100+ Ways to Recharge, De-Stress and Unmask! .

    If you feel like you'd benefit from having help with the process rather than just doing it all in your head, the author recommends the app mySleepButton (or others like it). 

  • in reply to Bunny

    Hello Bunny, it is good to have you back again.

    Have you had much success in trying this process yourself?

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