If your resolution for the new year is to sleep better, then Vancouver-based venture CogSci Apps can help. Luc Beaudoin, a cognitive scientist at Simon Fraser University and co-founder of CogSci Apps has been fascinated for years with the brain and how thoughts disrupt sleep.

Beaudoin developed an exercise called the cognitive shuffle to help redirect people away from stressful thoughts that prevent sleep. “The big idea of the theory basically is to put the mind in a state that is similar to natural sleep onset,” he said. “But it’s also a distraction technique so while you’re playing this little game you’re not thinking things that might stress you out. Or if you do, they won’t be as active.”

Stemming from years of research on the brain, Beaudoin created MySleepButton, a mobile app that helps users fall asleep using cognitive shuffle.

This story was originally published in CBC News. Read the full article here.