Cognitive shuffle word list

How to use this list

1. Before you turn off the light, glance down the list and pick five or six words at random, not in order.
2. Close your eyes. Picture the first word for a few seconds: its shape, its colour, where it might be.
3. Let it go and picture the next one. Don't connect them into a scene.
4. When you run out, think of any other calm, ordinary thing. Exact words don't matter.

Prefer not to remember anything? The Sleep Shuffle tool uses this same English list and shows or speaks one word every few seconds. For the do-it-yourself method without any list, see how to do cognitive shuffling.

What makes a good shuffle word?

The best words name a single, ordinary thing you can see in your mind straight away: teapot, fern, lantern. They are concrete rather than abstract, so they give you a picture instead of a thought. They are neutral, so they don't pull in a memory or a worry. And they don't belong together, so they can't turn into a story.

Making your own list

You can add words of your own. Walk through a calm place in your mind, such as a garden, a beach or a kitchen, and note down objects, then mix them up so neighbours on the list come from different places. Leave out anything tied to a person, your work, your health or money, and anything that excites you, such as a holiday you're looking forward to. If a word makes you feel something, it doesn't belong on a sleep list.

Our list was built on these rules and is checked automatically for size, duplicates and a list of banned topics. Want to understand why random words might help at all? Read what is cognitive shuffling?