Want to sleep faster? Try this military technique – GOOD FORM

All anyone wants is to lie down in bed and immediately fall asleep. However, things don’t always happen that way. In fact, it’s quite common for us to put our head on the pillow and spend a good part of the night tossing and turning, hoping to fall asleep at some point.

Here comes a technique from TikTok, which you can see in the video below, which shows an active meditation practice to help the body relax and, as a result, fall asleep more quickly. The idea is to consciously relax each part of your body until you are in such a peaceful state that you inevitably fall asleep.

@justin_agustin

Technique to falling asleep in 2 minutes! Insp. AsapSCIENCE on YT #sleep #fallasleep #insomnia #insomniac #learnontiktok #howto

♬ You – Petit Biscuit

DOES THE TECHNIQUE WORK?

In parts.

To begin with, “suggesting people to ’empty’ their minds, asking them not to think about anything stressful, is very difficult”, says Ingrid Teixeira, a doctor specializing in integrative medicine. “What makes people unable to sleep quickly and properly is precisely the difficulty in calming the mind and controlling the volume of thoughts that come to light when we lie down.”

Therefore, Ingrid explains that the video technique works partially. The first part, where it directs you to relax your muscles, is quite effective because it focuses on directing your thoughts, instead of emptying them, making you think about your muscles. It distracts the head like a meditation.

The second part, however, of telling yourself “don’t think” or imagining yourself somewhere else can be quite difficult and backfire. Once you’re forcing yourself not to think about what’s stressing you out, that thought will pop up—and with added guilt, since you’ll feel bad for not doing it.

HOW TO SLEEP FASTER?

In addition to trying meditation techniques (such as the body scan mentioned in the video), it is important to respect the circadian cyclewhich is related to the Sun’s cycle, that is, waking up close to sunrise and starting to disconnect and relax when it goes down.

“In practice, this means exposing yourself less to white light during the night. When the sun goes down, put on a darker light and avoid screens and activities that demand energy production”, says the doctor.

“Other ways to calm the mind and speed up the process of falling asleep are acupuncture and caffeine-free teas (such as lemon balm, chamomile, valerian, and lemongrass).”

Even your diet can be a factor: during the afternoon snack, for example, it is interesting to consume foods rich in tryptophan, such as bananas, cocoa and oats, which help in the production of melatonin.

On the contrary, consuming too much animal protein has the opposite effect, as your digestion process takes longer and this can make it difficult to sleep. “Give preference to lighter foods, such as vegetables and fruits”, he advises.