It’s 4 a.m you are lying in bed tossing and turning, still hopeful that you can catch at least two hours of sleep, as a long day is looming in.  If you’ve found yourself in this position often, you already know how trying too hard can be counterproductive to actually catch your Zzzs. If all you long for is to fall asleep fast, here are some tried and tested methods that can get you to the land of dreams before you know it. 

Fall Asleep Fast in 10 Seconds

As impossible as it sounds, you can sleep in 10 seconds. This method finds its roots in The United States Navy, where pilots were trained to sleep in under two minutes, the last 10 seconds of which were the real sweet spot. Here are the major steps of this Military Method that will come to your rescue:

• Step 1- Relax your entire face
• Step 2- Release tension from your shoulders and let your hands relax
• Step 3- Relax your chest
• Step 4- Feel your legs, thighs and calves relaxing
• Step 5- Visualize a particularly calming scene
• Step 6- If you still aren’t sleepy say “don’t think” over and over again for 10 seconds till you fall asleep.

This method gained popularity from a book titled- “ Relax and Win: Championship Performance. You will draw confidence from the fact that using this method, pilots could fall asleep fast even with the sound of gunfire in the background!

Taking 60 Seconds to Sleep

If you can’t sleep, the 4-7-8 method is certain to be of help. Wondering how the method got its name? Here’s how - the method involves lying down comfortably on your bed and inhaling through your nose for four seconds, holding your breath for seven seconds and then exhaling through your mouth for eight seconds. All you need to do is to repeat this cycle until you are in slumberland!

Fall Asleep Fast in 120 Seconds

Visualization helps you fall asleep fast. Start by visualizing a calm place. It could be a waterfall, replete with gushing water, its echoing sound and the soothing smell of moss or a beach, a hillside- anything that you find calming! Ensure that in visualizing a serene place, you do it down to the little details. Next, allow the image to fill your mind until its calming influence puts you to sleep.

Alternately, another technique to try is that of paradoxical intention. This is based on the premise that trying too hard to sleep leads to some kind of performance anxiety, as it were, further driving away sleep. Telling yourself to stay awake, therefore, is a good way to fall asleep faster.

Over and above these techniques, it will help to maintain some basic sleep hygiene that can help you fall asleep fast.

Here are a few things to be mindful of that can aid sleep:

• Taking a warm shower before you hit the bed
• Keeping the room cool
• Keeping your phone away. It is not a great idea to put it on a charge on your bedside too as it is tempting to pick it up each time it buzzes. In fact, try and restrict any screen time in the hour preceding sleep time.
• Eating early as opposed to having dinner close to bedtime

Here’s to these techniques getting you that much-needed rest and waking up all charged up to take on the day. Here’s also to “can’t sleep” being a thing of the past!