Wellness
Fall asleep within 2 minutes using this U.S. Army technique
This military trick promises to make anyone fall asleep in two minutes.
Jamie Maraña
11.18.20

There are far more frustrating things in the world than not being able to get a good night’s sleep but this can be a bit too much for some. If you often find trouble falling asleep, well, you’re not alone as apparently, there are 50-70 million adults in the U.S. that has a sleeping disorder.

Sleep plays an important role in your overall health since it allows the body to heal and repair itself. Ongoing lack of sleep can make you more vulnerable to a wide array of diseases such as heart disease, obesity, kidney disease, diabetes, and so much more.

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Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Lack of sleep was also determined to greatly attribute to a lack of productivity at work. A 2015 Harvard study showed that the average worker loses the equivalent of 11 days of work every year due to sleep issues, such as insomnia.

The recommended amount of sleep for adults is between 7 to 9 hours every night. Most of us don’t really have an issue finding the time to get some rest – it’s falling asleep when you finally hit the sack.

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Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

There are tons of ways and tips out there to help you fall asleep, but recently, an old military method often used by the U.S. Army to help soldiers sleep even in less ideal conditions have resurfaced.

The technique was detailed in the book Relax and Win: Championship Performance, written by Lloyd Bud Winter in 1981. In the book, Winter mentioned that this sleeping method was thought to have been created by army chiefs to ensure that soldiers didn’t make life-threatening decisions due to exhaustion, especially on the battlefield.

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This method claims that it can send you off to sleep within two minutes. It mainly involves relaxation, breathing, and visualization tricks that anyone can pull off.

Here’s how it works:

1) Be in a quiet room. Sit on the edge of your bed and make sure that your room is dimly lit, your phone is silenced, and try to steer your mind away from unnecessary distractions.

2) Relax your facial muscles. Start with the muscles around your forehead, then your eyes down to your tongue, mouth, and finally to your jaw. Just let it loose as if you’re deflating your face from unwanted pressure.

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Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

3) Now that your face became more relaxed, let gravity take over as you relax your shoulders and drop them as far as you can. Let it fall down to your arms, to your hands, and to your fingers one side at a time.

4) Don’t forget to sync your breathing as you melt the stress away from your body. Listen to the sound of your breath as your chest relax further. Complete the process by also allowing gravity to fall down to your legs and feet.

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5) As soon as you feel that your body becomes lightweight, it would be best to clear your mind for 10 seconds. If this is your first time, thoughts would naturally rise up – just let it pass and keep your body relaxed and limp. You may extend it for a few more seconds to ensure that your mind becomes clearer.

6) Once your mind has cleared up, try thinking about one of these three scenarios:

  • You’re lying in a canoe on a calm lake with nothing but a clear blue sky above you
  • You’re lying in a black velvet hammock in a pitch-black room
  • You say “don’t think, don’t think, don’t think” to yourself over and over for about 10 seconds.
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Aleksey Kuprikov from Pexels

This technique is said to work for 96% of people who did this continuously for six weeks.

Sleep expert Dr. Neil Stanley mentioned in an interview that the most important in falling asleep is quieting your mind.

“In order to get to sleep, you need three things: a bedroom conducive to sleep’ a relaxed body and most importantly a quiet mind. You can’t go to sleep if your mind is racing and so anything you can do to slow it down will help you sleep,” he also added.

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Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels

There’s no reason why you shouldn’t try this foolproof technique. Go ahead and give it a try by watching the video below.

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