Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsHow to Do ItDoes It Work?BenefitsOther Sleep Methods

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

How to Do It

Does It Work?

Benefits

Other Sleep Methods

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The military sleep method has been going viral on social media because it promises to help youfall asleepin under two minutes.

The development of the method is credited to Bud Winter, an Olympic sprint coach who also studied sports psychology. In his book, “Relax and Win: Championship Performance,” Winter reportedly describes a technique he developed for the United States Navy Pre-Flight School, to help pilots fall asleep instantly when they need to rest, despite loud, stressful, or dangerous circumstances.

Read on if you’re curious about the military sleep method and whether it can help you. We tapped a sleep expert to understand how the method works.

How to Use the Military Sleep Method

The military sleep method involves the following steps:

Practicing this technique for six weeks in a row is supposed to help you master it, so you can fall asleep in under two minutes.

Mindful MomentNeed a breather? Take this free2-minute meditation to help you fall asleep—or choose from ourguided meditation libraryto find another one that will help you feel your best.

Mindful Moment

Need a breather? Take this free2-minute meditation to help you fall asleep—or choose from ourguided meditation libraryto find another one that will help you feel your best.

Does the Military Sleep Method Work?

To understand whether the military sleep method works, we spoke toBrian Koo, MD, a physician at Yale Medicine who draws upon his training in neurology and sleep medicine to treat severalsleep disorders.

Dr. Koo explains that while there isn’t any specific evidence proving the efficacy or benefits of the military sleep method because there haven’t been any research studies investigating it, it essentially promotes sleep using proven relaxation techniques such as:

Brian Koo, MDAsking a person to focus on their body and distract themselves from thinking about other things is an effective way to promote sleep.

Brian Koo, MD

Asking a person to focus on their body and distract themselves from thinking about other things is an effective way to promote sleep.

Below, we unpack these techniques in order to understand how they can help youfall asleep faster.

Deep Breathing

The military sleep method incorporates deep breathing, which has been proven to promote sleep.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

The military sleep method uses a variation of this technique since it only focuses on systematically relaxing your muscles, without contracting them first.

A 2020 study notes that progressive muscle relaxation can help fight insomnia, in addition to reducing anxious and depressive thoughts that may keep you up at night and prevent you from falling asleep.

Biofeedback

Biofeedbacktechniques help you control and change certain bodily functions, such as your breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, muscle tension, and brain waves.

Visualization

Visualizationis another relaxation technique that involves focusing on calming mental images, in order to produce similar feelings of relaxation in your body.

The military sleep method also incorporates this technique, in order to help clear your mind of distracting thoughts.

Research shows that using visualization techniques can help reduce distress due to unwanted thoughts and help you fall asleep faster.

Benefits of the Military Sleep Method

The military sleep method may help you fall asleep faster.

Not being able to fall asleep when you need to can cut into your sleep time and prevent you from getting enough rest. It can also cause you to feel tired, cranky, and worn out the next day.

If you regularly have trouble falling asleep, you’re not alone. It is estimated that 10% of adults haveinsomniaand 20% of adults occasionally experience insomnia symptoms.Furthermore, approximately one out of every three adults in the United States don’t get as much sleep as they need.

Getting enough sleep can help you:

How Does a Lack of Sleep Affect Your Mental Health?

How to Create an ASMR Sleep Routine That Will Put You Right to Bed

If you’ve tried the military sleep method and it doesn’t seem to be working for you, these are some other sleep-promoting practices that may be helpful:

The Best Sleep Apps to Help You Get Some Shut-Eye, Tried and Tested

Keep in Mind

If you struggle to fall asleep, it’s worth giving the military sleep method a try. You may have to do it consistently for a month or two for it to work for you. For better results, it can help to give yourself permission to relax and go to sleep.

The Drunken Monkey Sleep Hack Might Be a TikTok Trend Worth Trying

10 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Jerath R, Beveridge C, Barnes VA.Self-regulation of breathing as an adjunctive treatment of insomnia.Front Psychiatry. 2019;9:780. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00780Toussaint L, Nguyen QA, Roettger C, et al.Effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and guided imagery in promoting psychological and physiological states of relaxation.Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021;2021:5924040. doi:10.1155/2021/5924040Xiao CX, Lin YJ, Lin RQ, Liu AN, Zhong GQ, Lan CF.Effects of progressive muscle relaxation training on negative emotions and sleep quality in COVID-19 patients: A clinical observational study.Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(47):e23185. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000023185National Library of Medicine.Biofeedback.Kwan Y, Yoon S, Suh S, Choi S.A randomized controlled trial comparing neurofeedback and cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia patients: A pilot study.Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2022;47(2):95-106. doi:10.1007/s10484-022-09534-6National Institutes of Health.Relaxation techniques.de Zambotti M, Sizintsev M, Claudatos S, Barresi G, Colrain IM, Baker FC.Reducing bedtime physiological arousal levels using immersive audio-visual respiratory biofeedback: A pilot study in women with insomnia symptoms.J Behav Med. 2019;42(5):973-983. doi:10.1007/s10865-019-00020-9Morin CM, Jarrin DC.Epidemiology of insomnia: Prevalence, course, risk factors, and public health burden.Sleep Med Clin. 2022;17(2):173-191. doi:10.1016/j.jsmc.2022.03.003Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Get enough sleep.

10 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Jerath R, Beveridge C, Barnes VA.Self-regulation of breathing as an adjunctive treatment of insomnia.Front Psychiatry. 2019;9:780. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00780Toussaint L, Nguyen QA, Roettger C, et al.Effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and guided imagery in promoting psychological and physiological states of relaxation.Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021;2021:5924040. doi:10.1155/2021/5924040Xiao CX, Lin YJ, Lin RQ, Liu AN, Zhong GQ, Lan CF.Effects of progressive muscle relaxation training on negative emotions and sleep quality in COVID-19 patients: A clinical observational study.Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(47):e23185. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000023185National Library of Medicine.Biofeedback.Kwan Y, Yoon S, Suh S, Choi S.A randomized controlled trial comparing neurofeedback and cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia patients: A pilot study.Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2022;47(2):95-106. doi:10.1007/s10484-022-09534-6National Institutes of Health.Relaxation techniques.de Zambotti M, Sizintsev M, Claudatos S, Barresi G, Colrain IM, Baker FC.Reducing bedtime physiological arousal levels using immersive audio-visual respiratory biofeedback: A pilot study in women with insomnia symptoms.J Behav Med. 2019;42(5):973-983. doi:10.1007/s10865-019-00020-9Morin CM, Jarrin DC.Epidemiology of insomnia: Prevalence, course, risk factors, and public health burden.Sleep Med Clin. 2022;17(2):173-191. doi:10.1016/j.jsmc.2022.03.003Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Get enough sleep.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Jerath R, Beveridge C, Barnes VA.Self-regulation of breathing as an adjunctive treatment of insomnia.Front Psychiatry. 2019;9:780. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00780Toussaint L, Nguyen QA, Roettger C, et al.Effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and guided imagery in promoting psychological and physiological states of relaxation.Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021;2021:5924040. doi:10.1155/2021/5924040Xiao CX, Lin YJ, Lin RQ, Liu AN, Zhong GQ, Lan CF.Effects of progressive muscle relaxation training on negative emotions and sleep quality in COVID-19 patients: A clinical observational study.Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(47):e23185. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000023185National Library of Medicine.Biofeedback.Kwan Y, Yoon S, Suh S, Choi S.A randomized controlled trial comparing neurofeedback and cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia patients: A pilot study.Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2022;47(2):95-106. doi:10.1007/s10484-022-09534-6National Institutes of Health.Relaxation techniques.de Zambotti M, Sizintsev M, Claudatos S, Barresi G, Colrain IM, Baker FC.Reducing bedtime physiological arousal levels using immersive audio-visual respiratory biofeedback: A pilot study in women with insomnia symptoms.J Behav Med. 2019;42(5):973-983. doi:10.1007/s10865-019-00020-9Morin CM, Jarrin DC.Epidemiology of insomnia: Prevalence, course, risk factors, and public health burden.Sleep Med Clin. 2022;17(2):173-191. doi:10.1016/j.jsmc.2022.03.003Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Get enough sleep.

Jerath R, Beveridge C, Barnes VA.Self-regulation of breathing as an adjunctive treatment of insomnia.Front Psychiatry. 2019;9:780. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00780

Toussaint L, Nguyen QA, Roettger C, et al.Effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and guided imagery in promoting psychological and physiological states of relaxation.Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2021;2021:5924040. doi:10.1155/2021/5924040

Xiao CX, Lin YJ, Lin RQ, Liu AN, Zhong GQ, Lan CF.Effects of progressive muscle relaxation training on negative emotions and sleep quality in COVID-19 patients: A clinical observational study.Medicine (Baltimore). 2020;99(47):e23185. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000023185

National Library of Medicine.Biofeedback.

Kwan Y, Yoon S, Suh S, Choi S.A randomized controlled trial comparing neurofeedback and cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia patients: A pilot study.Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2022;47(2):95-106. doi:10.1007/s10484-022-09534-6

National Institutes of Health.Relaxation techniques.

de Zambotti M, Sizintsev M, Claudatos S, Barresi G, Colrain IM, Baker FC.Reducing bedtime physiological arousal levels using immersive audio-visual respiratory biofeedback: A pilot study in women with insomnia symptoms.J Behav Med. 2019;42(5):973-983. doi:10.1007/s10865-019-00020-9

Morin CM, Jarrin DC.Epidemiology of insomnia: Prevalence, course, risk factors, and public health burden.Sleep Med Clin. 2022;17(2):173-191. doi:10.1016/j.jsmc.2022.03.003

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.1 in 3 adults don’t get enough sleep.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.Get enough sleep.

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