Body scan and cognitive shuffle

Two in-bed techniques for a tense body or a busy mind. Relaxation has decent evidence; the cognitive shuffle has very little.

• Evidence: Some
• Low effort
• Free
• Works: 1–2 weeks

Why it matters

Two things commonly keep people awake: physical tension and mental activity. People with insomnia tend to spend the pre-sleep period planning and problem-solving, and their thoughts are more unpleasant than good sleepers’ [5].

Relaxation therapy targets both. The AASM describes it as structured exercises that reduce body tension (such as progressive muscle relaxation and abdominal breathing) and mental arousal (such as guided imagery and meditation) [1]. A body scan is a meditation-style version: you move your attention through the body instead of tensing muscles.

The cognitive shuffle, which its developer Luc Beaudoin calls serial diverse imagining, works on the mind. The idea is that falling asleep naturally involves loose, disconnected images, and imagining random things mimics that while keeping your mind off worries [3].

How to do it

Progressive muscle relaxation

1. Lie on your back in bed, lights off. Breathe slowly.
2. Start with your feet. Curl your toes and tense your feet firmly, not to the point of pain. Hold for a few slow breaths.
3. Let go all at once. Notice the difference between tense and relaxed for a little longer than you held the tension.
4. Move up: calves, thighs, buttocks, stomach, hands (make fists), arms, shoulders (lift to your ears), face (screw it up). Tense, hold, release, notice.
5. Finish by lying still and noticing how heavy your body feels.

Body scan

1. Lie comfortably and let your breathing settle on its own.
2. Put your attention on your left toes. Notice any sensation there: warmth, pressure, tingling, nothing at all. Don’t try to change it.
3. Move slowly up the left leg, then the right foot and leg, then hips, belly, chest, back, hands, arms, shoulders, neck and face.
4. When your mind wanders, which it will, notice where it went and bring it back to the last body part.
5. If you’re still awake at the top of your head, start again from your feet.

Cognitive shuffle

1. Pick a neutral word with no emotional charge, such as “bedtime” or “garden”.
2. Take its first letter, B. Think of a word that starts with B, like “banana”, and picture it clearly for a few seconds.
3. Think of another unrelated B word, such as “bicycle”, and picture that. Keep going until you run out.
4. Move to the next letter, E, and repeat.
5. Keep the items random and boring, not stories, plans or memories. In Beaudoin’s study, an app read out a new random concrete word every 8 seconds and people imagined each one [3]; you can do the same thing in your head.

Common mistakes

• Practicing only on bad nights. Relaxation is a skill. Practice on ordinary nights too.
• Trying hard to fall asleep. The goal is to relax or occupy your mind, not to force sleep.
• Letting the shuffle turn into a story. If “beach” leads to last summer’s holiday, move on to the next item.
• Using these instead of getting up. If you’ve been awake a long time and feel frustrated, get out of bed for a while. See waking at 3 a.m..

Effect on your sleep score

• Time to fall asleep: the main target of both techniques. In a small trial of people with insomnia, an imagery task shortened the time to fall asleep compared with no instructions [4].
• Sleep quality: a meta-analysis of muscle relaxation trials found better self-rated sleep quality, about 3.8 points on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a standard questionnaire [2].
• Deep sleep, REM, HRV, resting heart rate: we found no study measuring these in healthy adults with wearables.

How confident: moderate for self-rated sleep; low for wearable metrics.

Evidence

Rated Some, for relaxation. The AASM guideline suggests relaxation therapy as a stand-alone treatment for chronic insomnia; it’s a conditional recommendation, the weaker of the two grades [1]. A 2026 meta-analysis of 31 randomized trials with 2,277 people found progressive muscle relaxation improved sleep quality and anxiety, but results varied a lot between studies and populations, and sleep quality was self-rated [2]. We found no trial of a body scan on its own for sleep.

The cognitive shuffle on its own would rate Weak. The main study is a 2016 conference poster: 154 university students with racing minds at bedtime were randomized to the shuffle app or to structured problem-solving. All groups improved, and there was no untreated control group. The lead author is a director and shareholder of the company that makes the app [3]. Related work is mixed: in 41 people with insomnia, an imagery task shortened time to fall asleep [4], but a 2020 review found thought-changing strategies helped, did nothing or backfired across studies [5]. It’s free and low-risk, so it’s reasonable to try.

General information for healthy adults, not medical advice. If you have a sleep problem that lasts, read when to see a doctor. Sources checked 4 October 2026. Spot a mistake? Tell us.