This TikTok Hack Helped Me Fall Asleep in Less Than Two Minutes

Trust me, I was skeptical too.

If there’s one time when my mind is the most awake it’s probably when it’s time to go to sleep. When my bedside light turns off, my brain turns on, and any and all thoughts that had their chance to bother me during working hours come to greet me before I go to sleep. “Did I reply to that email?” “I can’t believe I said that…” “What if pink isn’t actually my favourite colour?”

While these thoughts are seemingly benign, they do affect my ability to fall asleep quickly, and sometimes result in me staying up until the witching hours leaving me exhausted for the following day all because of some superfluous rumination.

So when I started to see my FYP filled up with testimonials of people who have the same bedtime struggles as me, and claiming there’s a method that got them to sleep quickly, you bet I had to try it.

It’s called the ‘military sleep method’, and if implemented correctly, it can have you sleeping in any conditions in just two minutes.

What is the military sleep method?

The method was developed by Olympic sprint coach Bud Winter. Through his experience coaching along with his combined knowledge in sports psychology, he created a technique for the United States Navy Pre-Flight School to help pilots fall asleep despite inadequate circumstances such as loud noises or stressful environments.

How to perform the military sleep method

1. Breathe deeply
This method is all about getting in the ‘zone’ and one of the best ways to set your body up for that is by controlling your breathing and taking slow, deep breaths.

2. Relax your face
While you might think your face is already relaxed when you get into bed, it usually couldn’t be further from it. We tend to hold a lot of tension in our brow and jaw areas, so slowly begin to relax each muscle group in your face until it feels tension-free.

3. Relax your neck, shoulders, and arms
After relaxing your face, work your way slowly down the body. From your neck, to your shoulders, and then to your arms. Continue to breathe deeply and let go of any tension that has built up in those areas. After that, work your way further down your arms and release any tension held in your wrists, hands, and fingers.

4. Relax the rest of your body
After the top half of your body is completely relaxed and free from any tension, continue working your way down, shifting your focus to the lower regions of your body. Starting from your core, work down to your stomach, hips, legs, ankles, feet, and then toes.

5. Clear your mind
After releasing the tension throughout your body, begin to clear your mind. Silence unwanted thoughts by letting them pass through, paying them no attention and then putting your energy into keeping your mind clear and quiet. If you are struggling, picture a relaxing or blank space, while continuing to breathe slowly and deeply as your body continues to relax.

You’re probably wondering where the ‘fall asleep’ step is on the list above, as that was my first thought when I learnt about the method. However this is a method which is meant to be practised over a long period of time to achieve the desired result.

Seeing as I only allocated myself a week to try it out, I knew my results weren’t going to be as life changing as those seen on my FYP, but I still tried it out to see if it would make a difference.

The takeaway

The first thing I noticed was how my racing thoughts that usually occur as I go to bed were pretty much forced to be silenced when I got to the ‘clear your mind’ step of the method. I was focusing all of my attention on relaxing, so my mind didn’t have any room or time to spend it on anything else.

The second thing I noticed was that I was falling asleep much faster than I normally would. I’m definitely nowhere near the two minute mark, but for the past week I don’t think I spent more than 30 minutes lying awake in bed – which is huge for me considering it can take me upwards of an hour.

Overall, I do think this method works, but only if you are willing to put in the time and energy to make it work. Allowing yourself six weeks to try anything does seem like a solid amount of time, but if you consider how it will benefit other aspects of your life, those six weeks don’t seem like much at all!

So if you're like me, and find yourself having mindless one-sided conversations in your head each night, give this sleep method a go and see if it send you off to sleep any sooner, just like it did for me.