Dr Amir Khan shares 'useful' sleep technique that helps his NHS patients
The ITV doctor and NHS GP spokes about the scientifically proven method on his new podcast
Dr Amir Khan, an NHS GP and ITV's resident doctor, has shared a nighttime activity that is backed by science, which he says will help you fall asleep faster if you're having trouble. In the UK, about one in three adults has trouble sleeping, and surveys show that nearly 30% of adults have poor sleep quality.
These numbers indicate that a large part of the population isn't getting enough sleep. Some statistics even show that almost three-quarters of adults don't get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night.
Falling asleep can be tough because of things like stress, anxiety, and bad sleep habits. There are also issues in our environment, like loud noises or an uncomfortable room. The choices we make in our lives, such as drinking caffeine or alcohol late in the day, along with health problems like chronic pain or sleep disorders, can make it even harder to get a good night's sleep.
But there are some tips and tricks that can help. There are some more obvious and well-known options, like avoiding caffeine and blue light screens before bed, listening to soothing music, sipping a warm cup of chamomile tea, or even 'counting sheep'. However, results can vary and depend a lot on the persons' needs.
Dr Amir Khan has pointed out a trick that he says is backed by science and helps you fall asleep fast. He also mentions that the NHS patients to whom he suggested this trick have told him it worked really well for them.
Dr Amir Khan is a full-time NHS GP and a partner at a surgery in Bradford. When he’s not on TV shows like This Morning, Lorraine, and Morning Live, he shares helpful medical tips and educational content on his social media.
Recently, he started a new podcast called No Appointment Necessary, which he co-hosts with Cherry Healy. In every episode, they talk about different health issues, life tips, and relationship problems.
In a recent episode, they talked about how important sleep is and what people can do to make sure they get enough good sleep. He told the viewers about a medically proven trick, saying: "If you really want a useful way to fall asleep, there's this method we use in medicine. It's called cognitive shuffling."
He continued: "Cognitive shuffling just gives your brain random things to think about that aren't stressful and can be quite calming. The best thing to do is to go through the letters of the alphabet. Start with the letter A, think of all the names beginning with A, then move on to B, then move on to C. I promise you."
People in the comment section praised the doctor for sharing the hack. One said: "Amir my sleeping pattern is terrible... thought I’d give it a go, wow it worked like magic. I can definitely recommend it. Thank you so much, I use it quite a lot now to get to sleep." A second said: "I have started doing this and it helped me." A third put: "I do this with fruit, veg, boys names, girls names, countries etc, it does work."
If you're not getting enough sleep and it's messing with your everyday life, or if you've tried these suggestions and they didn't work, you should think about seeing a doctor to talk about what might be going on. A doctor can figure out if you have a sleep problem or something else that's affecting your sleep and can suggest other ways to help you.
How to try it
- Choose a random word, like "chair".
- Imagine the first letter of that word, "c".
- Think of as many words as you can that start with that letter, like "cat," "car," and "cloud." Try to picture each word briefly.
- Move to the next letter of your original word and repeat the process.
- When your mind starts to wander back to worries, gently bring it back to the task of creating new, random word lists.
What is cognitive shuffling, and does it scientifically work?
Cognitive shuffling can assist you in falling asleep by gently diverting your mind from racing or anxious thoughts. This technique gets your brain involved in a simple, low-pressure, random task, much like how you naturally drift off to sleep, which helps reduce mental noise. It might not work for everyone, but it has shown potential in helping people fall asleep quickly and is seen as an easy method to try.
Even though it isn't the main way to treat chronic insomnia, early research indicates that cognitive shuffling might help some people by calming them down before bedtime and enhancing their sleep quality. This approach distracts the mind from anxious, fast-moving thoughts by engaging in a simple and fun activity that lowers mental noise, making it easier for people to fall asleep.
A 2016 pilot study on cognitive shuffling, a technique developed by cognitive scientist Luc Beaudoin, also showed promising results in helping people with racing thoughts fall asleep faster and with less effort. "We have found that cognitive shuffling is as effective as other techniques that have been tested against", Beaudoin said.