The military runs on a strict schedule that requires a lot of energy throughout the day. To carry this out, plenty of good quality sleep needs to be in that packed schedule. In order to sleep well, a fail-safe sleep routine is required.
Fitness coach Justin Agustin has gone viral on the social media video app TikTok for revealing this military hack. The technique, Agustin claims, can help you fall asleep as quickly as in just two minutes. As people in the armed forces travel so often, this technique claims to work no matter where you lay your head to rest. The technique is mainly used by fighter pilots before flying. This form of sleep provides the “reflexes and focus” needed to fly, Agustin says.
The technique is promising to those with sleep problems, such as insomnia. For those who sleep where a lot of light or noise creeps in, the ability to sleep anywhere is essential.
The Two-Minute Military Sleep Technique
The technique can be broken down into three main steps.
- Full body relaxation – you must train your body to relax from head to toe. This can be done via a mental process of relaxing your muscles from the top of your body to the bottom. Breathe deeply while you do so. This should feel like a warmth spreading “from your heart to the tip of your toes”.
- Calming headspace – When your body is in a relaxed state, it’s time to relax your mind. Justin Agustin offers two scenarios to imagine – lying in a canoe in a calm lake, or relaxing in a black velvet hammock in a pitch black room. If you find your mind is starting to slip and your head is full of thoughts, Agustin recommends you say to yourself “don’t think, don’t think” over and over for ten seconds. Do this as needed.
- Keep on practicing – This technique isn’t an overnight success for most people. This takes most people a while to learn rather than instantly. For example, it takes an around six weeks with everyday practice. The more you do this, the faster you will fall asleep with each try.
Does The Technique Work?
Limited research has been done on this technique. However, what research has been done is very encouraging. 96% of fighter pilots learned to fall asleep in around two minutes within six weeks, according to Business Insider. We do not have the data on how this technique works for those with the average person, or those with sleep problems such as insomnia. The data we have, however, is a sign of good things to come.
