Feb 4

Feb 4 How To Fall Asleep In 10 Seconds

Hi, I'm Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach.

How often do you hear a friend or family member say that they need to make a good night's sleep a priority? Not very often, right? I have not yet had a client hire me because they want to improve their sleep habits even though sleep is an integral part of our overall health and wellness.

According to the Mayo Clinic, adults require between 7-9 hours of sleep each night, although the average adult sleeps way less than that clocking in between 5½ and 6½ hours of sleep per night.

And, unfortunately, it is not time in bed that counts. It is the actual sleep time. Are you thinking, oh no, I am so busy, and now I must spend more time in bed? Well, maybe you do, maybe you do not, stay tuned…

Most fitness trackers record actual sleep, and as I was researching the vlog this week, I started to chart my exact sleep time, and I was a bit dismayed. I go to bed at 9:30 pm and wake at 5 am every day like clockwork, so I'm in bed 7.5 hours total every night.

Sadly, though, I realized I only get 6 to 6½ total hours of sleep. So, Liz Moser, healthy habits coach, is just an average sleeper 😉! I feel like I have excellent energy levels, I feel rested and healthy, but could my energy and health improve? According to the experts, yes, it could.

There are two ways to increase your actual sleep time. Either A- spend more time in bed, which is not my first choice seeing as I’ve had a steady sleep routine for several years, and I’m not ready to make a change, or B- explore techniques that will facilitate falling asleep faster.

Consequently, that’s what I’ve been focusing on this past week. The one specific technique I have been practicing is the military method. It promises to be so effective a practitioner can potentially fall asleep in 10 seconds. That’s right, 10 seconds. No joke!

The military method:
The air force created this technique to help their fighter pilots fall asleep even after drinking coffee or with gunfire in the background. Therefore, if you have to contend with snoring, sirens, or noisy neighbors, this should work for you. It takes the average person six weeks to learn this method, and supposedly it's useful for 96% of people who consistently practice it. Like all new habits, be patient, and perhaps you will be falling asleep in 10 seconds after only a few short weeks of training.

1 - Relax your entire face, including the forehead, eyes, jaw, mouth, and particularly relax your tongue. I’m amazed at how much tension I hold in my jaw and tongue!

2 - Relax your shoulders feel like they are sagging down towards your feet like melting wax.

3 – Inhale, exhale and relax your chest muscles and all your internal organs.

4 - Relax your thighs, calves, and feet.

5 - Clear your mind and for ten inhales and exhales, imagine you are drifting in a canoe looking up at the blue sky and clouds, or you are lying in a black velvet hammock in a dark room, slowly swaying back and forth. If visualization doesn’t work for you, silently repeat 'don’t’ on the inhale and ‘think’ on the exhale.

Our thoughts cause muscle tension; therefore, the goal is to let go of thinking, which relaxes the muscles. 96% of the fighter pilots were able to fall asleep within 10 seconds after six weeks of practice. I’ve been practicing this for one week and haven’t quite mastered it entirely, although I’m astounded at how much tension I hold in my tongue, jaw, and shoulders. My discovery this week is that those three areas seem to hold much of my body tension.

Another method to fall asleep quickly is 4-7-8 breathing:
1 - Prepare for the practice by resting the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth, right behind your top front teeth. You’ll need to keep your tongue in place throughout the practice.

2 - Let the lips part slightly and make a whooshing noise as you exhale through your mouth.

3 - Close mouth and inhale for a count of 4.

4 – Then Hold the breath for a count of 7.

5 – Keeping the tip of the tongue against the roof of your mouth, right behind your top front teeth, exhale with a whooshing sound for a count of 8

Try to practice this calmly and mindlessly while letting go of tension. Do this for four cycles and let yourself drift off to sleep at any time.

And the last method to fall asleep quickly is PMR:
PMR stands for progressive muscle relaxation, also known as deep muscle relaxation, and this method should help you relax and drift off to sleep. The idea is to tense but not strain each muscle and then relax it completely. You might want to start with several rounds of 4-7-8 breathing and then…

1 - Raise eyebrows to tighten your forehead and then drop and relax—breath in and out ten times.

2 – Smile widely to tense face muscles hold for 5 seconds, and relax and pause for 10 inhales and exhales.

3 – Squint your eyes shut, hold for 5 seconds and then relax and breath in and out ten times.

4 - Tilt your head back, so you are uncomfortably facing the ceiling hold for 5 seconds and then relax, sinking into the pillow and again breath in and out ten times.

5 - Keep moving down your body from your chest, arms, hands, thighs, calves, and feet.

6 - As you are doing this, focus on how heavy your body feels and let yourself drift off to sleep at any time.

To achieve the ideal 7-9 hours of actual sleep a night, we must either spend more time in bed or try and fall asleep faster, thereby elimination our tossing and turning time. The three techniques I explored were the military method, 4-7-8 breathing, and PMR or progressive muscle relaxation.

I’ve been practicing the military method for over a week, and it hasn't quite kicked in yet other than I discovered how much tension I hold in my jaw, tongue, and shoulders. However, it takes an average of 6 weeks, therefore I'm not giving up just yet, and I'm excited to see if I will be able to fall asleep in 10 seconds.

I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and thank you for watching this video about how much actual sleep we need and techniques to fall asleep quicker. If you have any questions about this video, about health and wellness, or wellness coaching with me, please reach out via my website at lizmosercoaching.com