Success in just a few minutesBrooding robs you of sleep? You should know this snooze trick

Sleep problems? This is what happens in your nervous system!

Sleep problems are not something to be trifled with! Because we know: Sufficient sleep and, above all, good quality sleep is essential for our health and well-being. So it's no wonder that lack of sleep and other sleep restrictions are associated with diseases such as cancer, infertility, cardiovascular problems, depression, diabetes, strokes and the like.

If you can't fall asleep well, wake up several times during the night or simply lie awake for a long time, you can also expect irritability and problems concentrating.

According to Dr. However, Arthur Joustra doesn't have to go that far! In his TikTok videos, the assistant doctor in pediatric and adolescent medicine gives tips on how we can fall asleep quickly – and thus ensure better sleep quality. It is important to have your own thoughts under control and to control your parasympathetic nervous system.

The parasympathetic nervous system is part of the autonomic nervous system and is also known as the “resting nerve”. The parasympathetic nerves ensure, among other things, that the heart and breathing rates decrease and we enter a state of regeneration and relaxation.

However, this only works if we specifically activate this part of the nervous system and leave the stressful state of the fight-or-flight response.

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“Cognitive Shuffling”: Shuffle thought cards and fall asleep

In his TikTok video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, Joustra explains his sleep hack, which is officially known as “Cognitive Shuffling” (German: “Cognitive Mixing”) is known as follows: “Essentially it works by distracting your brain. And the trick lets your brain know that it is safe to fall asleep,” said the doctor.

And this is how it works:

• Think of any term and imagine what this term represents.

• Then you proceed as follows: “From there, think of a second word, a third and then a fourth, all of which have nothing to do with each other.

Through the consciously controlled but random thoughts, our brain – and therefore also our parasympathetic nervous system – is calmed. And we fall asleep.

Tip: “An even easier method is to imagine a word that begins with the letter of the last word”advises Joustra. So if we start with “elephant,” which ends in “t,” we can add the word “animal,” which in turn ends in “r.” A possible next word would be “wheel” for example. So it goes on and on.

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“Chronic lack of sleep”: Sleep trick helps the doctor himself

Dr. Joustra says: “As a doctor who works a lot of night shifts and suffers from chronic sleep deprivation, I learned to fall asleep within a few minutes. (…) You will be surprised at how simple this technique is and how well it works.”

By the way, the method was not invented by the pediatrician, but by the cognitive scientist Luc Beaudoin from Simon Fraser University around 13 years ago. Beaudoin himself suffered from insomnia and found success with “mental shuffling.” He was later able to substantiate this with scientific studies.

Sources used: Simon Fraser University, TikTok, ntv.de