The military sleep method, without the hype

Where it comes from

The routine is usually traced to Relax and Win: Championship Performance, a 1981 book by track coach Lloyd "Bud" Winter. Winter described teaching relaxation techniques to US Navy pilots during the Second World War so they could perform under pressure and rest whenever they had the chance.

The method went around the internet decades later with a striking success rate attached. That figure comes from the book's account of pilot training, not from a controlled study, and it is not something anyone can promise you. The useful part is the sequence itself, which combines ideas found in progressive muscle relaxation, slow breathing and imagery.

The steps

1. Relax your face. Let your forehead, eyes, cheeks, tongue and jaw go completely loose. The face holds a surprising amount of tension.
2. Drop your shoulders. Let them fall as far as they will go, then let your upper and lower arms go heavy, one side at a time.
3. Breathe out. Take a slow breath and let the chest relax on the exhale.
4. Relax your legs. Let your thighs, then your calves and feet, go heavy.
5. Clear your mind for about ten seconds. Picture one calm scene, such as lying in a canoe on a still lake or in a black velvet hammock in a dark room. If that is hard, repeat a simple phrase like "don't think" for a short while.

Run through the whole sequence slowly. If you are still awake, start again at the face.

Why the steps make sense

Each step works on a different part of the problem. Loosening the face and shoulders lowers the physical tension that keeps you alert. The long exhale borrows from breathing exercises for sleep. The final image gives the mind one neutral thing to hold instead of a list of worries, which is the same mechanism behind imagery distraction techniques studied for pre-sleep thoughts.

The hardest part for most people is the ten seconds of a clear mind. Do not fight for blankness. A single, boring image is easier to hold than nothing. If that still does not work for you, try the cognitive shuffle, which swaps one image for a stream of unrelated ones.

Getting it to work for you

Winter's pilots practiced every day for weeks. Approaching the method as a skill rather than a trick is probably the most important part. Try it during the day once or twice, and use it every night for two weeks before deciding whether it helps.

Pick your image in advance. Deciding between a canoe and a hammock while lying in the dark is one more decision your brain does not need. Keep the same scene every night so it becomes familiar, and make it slow and quiet rather than exciting. A favorite holiday beach can drift into planning the next trip, which wakes you up.

It also helps to run the sequence in the same position each night. The routine, the bed and the image start to belong together, and that association does part of the work for you.

If you lie awake regularly despite good habits, talk to a clinician rather than relying on any single technique.