New app to clear mind of thoughts that prevent sleep
Posted on: 14/Jun/2016 10:11:38 AM
A researcher from Canada’s Simon Fraser University has created an app that uses that method that essentially scrambles a person’s thoughts and keeps the mind off issues that may prevent sleep. The mySleepButton app uses what the researcher calls cognitive shuffle or the Serial Diverse Imagining or SDI method.
Speaking about this, the researchers said, A racing mind, worries and uncontrollable thoughts are common bedtime complaints among poor sleepers.
The app was tested on 154 university students. These students had complained of excessive cognitive pre-sleep arousal. The study employed SDI tasks, which occur at bedtime, and also used a standard treatment of structured problem solving (SP), which is done prior to bedtime and takes about 15 minutes. The study will be presented at SLEEP 2016 which is a joint meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society in Denver, Colorado on June 14.
Says the researchers, SDI was found to be effective in reducing pre-sleep arousal, sleep effort and poor sleep quality with the added advantage of being done while in bed. However SDI is not without its challenges. The human brain is a meaning maker or a sense-making machine. It is actually very difficult for people to conjure up random images unaided. However according to my theory, while it may be difficult to engage in SDI, it is not only a consequence of sleep onset; SDI facilitates it. I have also invented a do-it-yourself version of SDI. The technique provides a sequence of letters that cue a series of relatively unrelated words, which could potentially be customised to individuals. My hope is that popular culture will absorb the notion that counting sheep is not effective, whereas SDI is.
