EVEN WHEN YOUR sleep hygiene is dialed-in, you're going to have moments where you can't easily fall asleep —or fall back asleep after waking up. You can try to count sheep, but there's a different—and science-backed—technique worth considering: cognitive reshuffling.

It sounds complicated, but it's actually simple. Cognitive reshuffling leans heavily on putting your brain to work to try to crowd out other stuff that may be keeping you from sleeping, like stress , anxiety , or worries. I tried it the other night when my toddler decided to wake me up at 2 a.m., and I managed to conk back out pretty quickly. I do have some notes from the experience, though.

If you're consistently struggling to fall asleep, it's important to rope in a healthcare professional to try to get to the bottom of things.…