I Tried The 'Military Method' Which Promises Sleep In Two Minutes

This year, I’ll be trying sleeping tricks to see whether they actually improve my insomnia. Check back in on this series, Rest Assured, to see how I get on.

I have been struggling with sleep maintenance insomnia for years. That means I struggle to stay asleep, though I usually nod off just fine.  

But in the past week, I’ve had trouble nodding off to begin with, thanks to a cold (mild short-term insomnia is a common symptom of the virus).

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about the “military sleep method,” which promises sleep in two minutes flat.

So, I figured I’d give it a try this week. 

What is the military sleep method?

It originally came from Relax and Win: Championship Performance, a 1981 book by coach Bud Winter. He helped to develop a relaxation technique that he said helped the US Navy airmen-to-be fall asleep in 120 seconds during WWII.

It’s a combination of progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and visualisation.

Lie on your back, imagine something pleasant (I went with a treehouse in a rainy forest) and “Move from the top of your body to the bottom when relaxing your muscles, picturing yourself sinking into your bed,” the University of Minnesota Medical School said. 

Does the military sleep method actually work? 

Speaking to Real Simple, psychologist Dr Victoria Bangieva said that “I don’t know of any study that has looked at the effectiveness or benefits of this method”. 

I couldn’t find any that definitely proved its two-minute claim. 

But, as Dr Bangeiva added, “the science behind it is based on proven relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and visualisation”. 

Indeed, some studies have shown that progressive muscle relaxation can lead to lead to faster sleep onset, while slow, deep breathing and “imagery distraction” (picturing nice thoughts) can also help you fall asleep sooner. 

Still, in the original book, Winter said it took six weeks of practice to achieve a reported 96% success rate. I only had one. 

My verdict

The first night, I found my mind wandering too much: I would relax my muscles one by one, but by the time I reached my elbows, I had forgotten what I was doing and restarted the process at least twice. 

By the fourth night, though, even starting the process seemed to make it more relaxing. 

And on the final night, I think I fell asleep in about 10 minutes (much better than the two or so hours at the beginning of the week). 

Again, my form of insomnia doesn’t usually mean I find the first nod-off hard. But even when I woke up at 3am, I found the “military method” made it slightly easier to fall back to sleep. 

So, no, in my experience, it didn’t lead me to fall asleep in an astounding two minutes, but it was still worth a go.