You feel tired and your energy levels are close to zero, all the worries and stress accumulated are taking a toll on your sleep performance.
You either find yourself wide awake in the middle of the night if you are lucky enough to fall asleep in the first place. Before jumping to the medicine cabinet you might want to check out some tips and tricks that promise you will be able to fall asleep asap.
Various studies have been made regarding the body and mind’s ability to fall into a peaceful slumber. We have selected 3 of the most rapid techniques for you to try whenever you are experiencing insomnia or you just cant seem to have a restful night sleep.
- The military method. Falling asleep in 10 seconds
This method is explained in detail in the book “Relax and Win: Championship Performance”. According to the author this technique was taught to military and US navy in order to help pilots to get straight into rest mode even after consuming coffee and even with gunfire noise in the background.
It takes practice in order to master this technique and make it work for you. The steps of this first method are explained below:
- Relax your entire face including the muscles in your mouth
- Release the tension in your shoulders and let your arms rest along your body
- With each exhale make sure you relax your chest area
- Then focus on relaxing your calves and tights.
- Focus on a relaxing scene in your mind for 10 seconds
- If you do not feel relation coming over you start repeating in your head the words “Don’t think” for 10 seconds
- In 10 minutes you should fall asleep.
This is a pro method and it requires time and patience along with being persistent. If this does not fit you as an individual, maybe due to excessive anxiety or ADHD, you can try our second curated method:
2. The 4-7-8 method. Falling asleep in 60 seconds
This method focuses on a breathing technique proven to help calm your body and mind down so you can be able to fall asleep.
Before starting the breathing exercising make sure you move your tongue to rest right behind your upper 2 front teeth.
- Start inhaling and as you exhale make sure you slightly open your mouth so a swooshing noise comes out.
- Close your lips and inhale through your nose for 4 seconds
- keep your breath for 7 seconds
- Exhale through your mouth( make sure your tongue is in the correct position) slowly as you count 8 seconds.
- Repeat process 5 times
As you will start feeling the relaxation coming let your body submerge into sleepiness.
For stubborn sleep there is also a long process to master that will promise you falling asleep in 2 minutes. The 120 seconds falling asleep challenges your mind in various ways and you will have to try and see what better suits you.
3. Paradoxical method. Falling asleep in 120 seconds
How many times have you tries counting sheep in a desperate attempt to fall asleep? What if the real paradox of finding inner peace in order to unwind your mind, is actually telling yourself to stay awake.
This technique, also called paradoxical intention is a good way to fall asleep quite rapidly. Basically the mere fact that you will not be able to fall asleep can trigger anxiety which will actually prevent sleep. But when you set your mind to not fall asleep it seems that the results are to in fact fall asleep faster.
Another technique, similar to counting sheep but less engaging, is imagining a perfectly calm place in your mind> maybe the location of your next vacation or the image of your dream house’s back yard.
Both above techniques can help you fall asleep in as fast as 120 seconds, but have in mind that it might not work out of the bat. It may take perseverance and training for several nights until your mind will be tricked in order to let you get the much-needed sleep.