This trusted way to fall asleep, dubbed the ‘military method’, promises you can master the art of falling asleep in just minutes.

There’s a tried-and-true technique known as the ‘military method’ that claims to teach you how to fall asleep in just a few minutes.

All those restless nights spent tossing and turning, reaching for your phone, and struggling to drift off not only sabotage your mornings but also take a toll on your overall health and well-being.

Sleep deprivation, especially the lack of deep sleep, can immediately impact your cognitive abilities and daily performance. Moreover, the long-term health consequences can be even more severe.

Dr. Tiani, a sleep psychologist, noted, “People often try so hard to sleep and experiment with numerous ‘sleep hacks’ that it backfires. The pressure becomes overwhelming, leading to sleep anxiety where you dread the idea of going to bed each night.”

By practicing this straightforward three-step routine, you can potentially achieve a rapid transition to sleep. While most individuals take around half an hour or more to fall asleep, this method could reduce that time to just two minutes with consistent practice.

Begin with your head in mind, and go right down to your toes, slowly shutting down each tense muscle, relaxing your grip and your body. This means softening your jaw, releasing the tension from your shoulders, and letting your feet flop naturally where they want to.

If you feel you’re sucking your belly in, let it go and allow it to both rise and fall, keeping in time with your steady breath. Everything in your body should feel loose and relaxed if you’re wanting to fall asleep anytime soon.

Step two

This takes you onto your breathing as a whole – a key part in any sleep schedule. Now that you feel your body is more relaxed, you want to focus on your breathing patterns with the intention of deepening your breath.

Take a longer inhale and even longer exhale while lying there. By deepening your breath, you are allowing oxygen to flow with more freedom around your body, which helps to calm racing thoughts and keep your body in a calm state.

Step Three

Potentially the most vital part of the military method is the visualisation technique, using your brain to provide guided imagery to your sleep.

When your body is relaxed, with controlled breathing, it’s advised you try to picture a calming situation and immerse yourself in it. Whether it’s floating in the area, watching the waves crash on a beach, or swimming in a river, find a happy and peaceful place in your mind and stay there.

In order to allow for a quick route to sleep, you need to attempt to fully immerse yourself in that setting – visualise the sights, sounds, smells and tastes it has to offer. As your mind tries to wander and think of other tasks, worries or things you did that day, try your best to centre it back to that peaceful place.

When it comes to seeing just how useful this method actually is, those who are huge fans of the method believe if practised for up to six weeks, you can soon enough nod off in two minutes. Although, there is now a study to prove this is the case.

The doctor added an extra tip for an earlier night’s sleep, stating: “Only climb into bed when you are sleepy — not just tired, but truly sleepy. Think of that heavier feeling where it’s hard to keep your eyes open.

“We can’t necessarily pick an arbitrary time to force our body to generate sleep at night. It is better to go about your night, wait until you notice a feeling of sleepiness, and then act on it by heading to bed.”