As the days become lighter, it’s getting harder to stay awake at night and get back to sleep if the sun does rouse you. There’s also just the usual issues of stress, being overwhelmed as life gets increasingly back to normal, and general restlessness.
So this is where the ‘military method’ comes in. It’s an old hack that’s been tried and tested by the US army who say it does the job in just *two* minutes.
The technique is even said to work in intense environments – like a literal battlefield.
This makes us feel like we have a good chance of getting it to work in our messy flats and homes with too-bright light and noisy neighbours.
The technique is explained in a 1981 book called Relax and Win: Championship Performance, and it explains the method was developed by army chiefs to address the issue of soldiers getting too tired or exhausted. The stakes in this situation are obviously very high.
And it clearly works for some people, so it’s worth a shot.
How do you do it?
- Relax your face muscles, tongue, jaw and the muscles around the eyes
- Lower your shoulders as far down as they’ll go, then do the same with your upper and lower arm, one side at a time
- Exhale, relaxing your chest then move down to your legs, starting from the thighs
Apparently, after six solid weeks of practice this will work for 96% of people who try the technique.
So if you start now, you could be a pro by mid-August.
The method has done the rounds on social media, with TikToker’s recommending it too. Given it only takes two minutes each night, we’ll be trying this pronto.
