Ten games may — Mental games occupy the mind enough to stop racing thoughts but bore it to sleep. Our team’s 10 fall-asleep games that actually work.
Hannah on our team has used variations of these for years. The principle: occupy the verbal-memory parts of your brain so worry can’t ride those circuits, but keep the activity boring enough to dim out. Here’s the rotation.
1. The Alphabet Category (Ten games may)
Pick a category — say, dog breeds. Name one for each letter. A — Akita, B — Bulldog, C — Cavoodle. The boring ones are best — countries, fruits, capitals, AFL teams.
2. Counting Backwards From 300 in Threes
300, 297, 294, 291. Hard enough to require focus, dull enough to drift away from. The classic insomnia tool.
3. Body Scan
Start at the toes, move attention slowly up the body, naming each part and consciously relaxing it. By the time you reach the scalp, most people are asleep. There’s actual evidence here — a real cognitive-behavioural sleep technique.
4. The Memory Walk
Visualise walking through a familiar place — your childhood home, school, a favourite hike. Name everything you pass in detail.
5. The Cognitive Shuffle
Pick a random word (banana). Visualise it for 5 seconds. Pick a new unrelated word (suitcase). Visualise. Pick another (clarinet). The disconnection mimics the random imagery of sleep onset and tricks the brain into following.
6. Reverse the Day
Replay your day in reverse — what did you do an hour ago, two hours, this morning. Slow, in detail.
7. The Boring Story
Tell yourself a familiar story you’ve told a child many times — but only the boring middle. Skip the start (engaging) and the end (exciting).
8. Pick a Letter, Five Words
“M” — march, mountain, magnolia, mister, mouse. Move on to the next letter.
9. The Geography Tour
Name the capital city of every country you can think of, in alphabetical order.
10. Just Notice Sounds
Lying still, pick out every sound you can hear — distant car, fridge hum, breath, ticking clock — and let your attention move between them without trying to name or judge.
What doesn’t work
- Anything emotionally engaging (planning tomorrow, replaying an argument).
- Anything visually exciting (designing your dream house).
- Anything with a definitive end goal (you’ll keep going to finish it).
If nothing’s working after 20 minutes
Get up, go to a different room, do something boring with dim light, return when sleepy. Lying awake in bed teaches the brain that the bed is for being awake. Worse long-term.
For independent guidance on sleep and wellbeing, the Sleep Health Foundation is a good starting point.
