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A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

independent.co.uk

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Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#71

Post by Id15eba6u »

panorama wrote: post #13

I can actually vouch for this, but I discovered it independently for myself. I realized that the nights I couldn't fall asleep were nights my brain kept racing and thinking about different things. Kind of like a wikipedia rabbit hole where my mind keeps racing onto the next tangential thought. So I found a foolproof solution: Relax all my facial muscles and imagine an empty, black (literally #000) void in my mind's e…

I can vouch for this, I sometimes imagine my mind's eye have hand and use those to push thoughts away

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#72

Post by e19293001 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #40

Reading calculus proofs always did it for me :-) But more seriously this is very nearly a meditation technique (except when meditating you don't try to actually go to sleep). But start at one end of your body and try to tense the muscles there then relax them (you won't be able to feel they are relaxed if you haven't tensed them first, if they are already tense you will feel them relax, but it is the transition from…

What you mention is similar to yoga nidra. I found this helpful when I want to meditate and relax. All you need to do is to lie down (or sit in the office), close your eyes and listen to the voice' instructions. I feel very refreshed after but sometimes I fell asleep when tired.

https://archive.org/details/YogaNidra

https://ia800301.us.archive.org/1/items/YogaNidra/YogaNidra....

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#73

Post by newnewpdro »

killjoywashere wrote: post #2

Military for 24 years, never heard of this, but I learned to take naps in crazy situations: next to a hot landing zone, under an aircraft catapult, in cargo planes, etc. Only common denominators I can think of: exhaustion, a clear conscience, and trust in those around me.

The power of the shortest of naps to completely reset the body's pursuit of sleep in deprivation scenarios never fails to impress me. Even just a few seconds seems to make a tremendous difference, as if it's clearing a "need sleep" bit simply by falling asleep even if momentarily.

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#74

Post by bondolo »

Certainly not new. I learned this technique from a self hypnosis book in the early 1980s. It does work. My mental recitation is "One. One. One. One…" I used to use this for naps but found I wasn't as rested than natural sleep for a quick nap. I now use it only when I need a full night's sleep. The quality of sleep doesn't seem to be affected for full nights the way it was for naps.

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#75

Post by brandonhall »

taneq wrote: post #45
gk1 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> exhaustion This is key. Aboard a ship I was able to nap "on command" no matter the time of day or my surroundings. No mental tricks necessary.

Yeah, I was expecting Step 1 to be: Start your day with a 20 mile run in full gear. Step 2 is to get permission to fall asleep.

Well done!

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#76

Post by fzeroracer »

Usually when I suffer from an inability to sleep it's because my mind ends up focusing too hard on things that ground me to reality. Existential dread, worrying about work, thinking about technical problems etc.

So often my technique to fall asleep has been to focus my mind on the fantastical. Stimulate my imagination a bit, like what if I was a dwarf in a fantasy universe. This tends to focus my thoughts inwards and naturally segues into sound sleeping. Letting my mind wander only becomes an issue when it's anchored to real life.

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#77

Post by Fnoord »

nitins wrote: post #58
panorama wrote: post #13

I can actually vouch for this, but I discovered it independently for myself. I realized that the nights I couldn't fall asleep were nights my brain kept racing and thinking about different things. Kind of like a wikipedia rabbit hole where my mind keeps racing onto the next tangential thought. So I found a foolproof solution: Relax all my facial muscles and imagine an empty, black (literally #000) void in my mind's e…

Isn't this a form of meditation? Stay still and focus your mind on nothingness

> Isn't this a form of meditation?

Yes, it is a form of mindfulness.

> Stay still and focus your mind on nothingness

"Nothingness" is the most difficult way to meditate. Its often seen as the way one meditates by people who are ignorant about meditation and mindfulness.

Generally, there is one focus point. This could be sounds, it could be breathing, it could be visualisations, it could be focusing on walking. It could even be multiple focus points in one session (shifting the focus point throughout the session). Which is pretty much what a body scan does; it focusses on different body parts throughout the session.

Also, it is far easier to do guided meditation, and the goal of meditation is to relax and become focussed; not necessarily to fall asleep. Though, if you are tired, that might very well be a byproduct.

If you start with meditation, it is normal that you're not very good at it. It takes time, practice, and effort. In that sense it is actually hard work; not 'relaxing'.

> Relax all my facial muscles

Normal procedure to relax your muscles at the start and during meditation (if you have to reset).

> and imagine an empty, black (literally #000) void in my mind's eye.

This is one of the many visualisation techniques. Other examples are included in the article's URL.

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#78

Post by propman »

ruminasean wrote: post #6

I've tried pretty much everything in the course of my lifelong insomnia, and still my nighttime mind racing is still consistent enough that it's literally my username across all my online apps ("rumination" plus my name). I've had some success with lavender drops right before bed, but I'll give this a shot too, because why not?

I use high CBD tincture 25:1 and a sleep tincture composed of about 30% indica thc/cbd and the rest non addictive herbs.

I have a lot of pain and am unable to dissociate from it enough to sleep until I’m completely exhausted which several nights a week meant no sleep or just a few hours. These tinctures along with another pain medication (extremely low dose naltrexone, no side effects except better sleep for me) allow me to get a very good nights sleep 80-90% of the time which was a significant improvement in quality of life.

Give it a try if you are having no luck elsewhere!

Re: A military technique for falling asleep in two minutes

#80

Post by bonestamp2 »

fzeroracer wrote: post #76

Usually when I suffer from an inability to sleep it's because my mind ends up focusing too hard on things that ground me to reality. Existential dread, worrying about work, thinking about technical problems etc. So often my technique to fall asleep has been to focus my mind on the fantastical. Stimulate my imagination a bit, like what if I was a dwarf in a fantasy universe. This tends to focus my thoughts inwards and…

I have the exact same symptom and solution. Well, not the dwarf part... but I'll imagine myself doing something, like riding a rollercoaster for example. I think about every hill and movement, how the wheels are engaging with the track, the hydraulics squeezing to stop the car at the end, etc. Thinking carefully about all of these details takes my mind away from reality and into my imagination, which is where my dreams begin.
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