By CQUniversity Senior Lecturer Dr Dean J Miller from The Conversation
YOU’VE probably seen it on social media: a camouflaged athlete running along a dirt road, shouting health advice through your phone and promising the secret to falling asleep in two minutes. It sounds tempting, especially for anyone who has struggled to drift off at night. But how much truth is there behind the so-called “military sleep method”?
The technique is often described as a strategy developed to help soldiers fall asleep quickly, even in stressful or noisy environments. Its origins trace back to a 1980s sports performance book titled Relax and Win, which claimed to reveal training methods used by the US military to help personnel rest under pressure.
Versions of the method vary, but the core steps are usually the same:
Progressive muscle relaxation: tensing and then releasing muscles throughout the body, starting with the face and moving down through the shoulders, arms, chest and legs.
Controlled breathing: slowing the breath and emphasising longer exhalations to relax the nervous system.
Visualisation: imagining a peaceful scene such as floating on calm water or lying in a quiet field.
There is no formal scientific evidence that the military sleep method, as described online, has been tested or proven effective in clinical research. Militaries are not in the habit of publishing their fatigue management techniques in open-access journals.
However, experts say the approach mirrors many evidence-based strategies used in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), which is the leading treatment recommended by sleep specialists. CBT-I combines several techniques, including relaxation exercises, stimulus control (such as avoiding non-sleep activities in bed), sleep restriction (limiting time in bed to improve sleep efficiency), and maintaining good sleep hygiene. It also focuses on cognitive therapy, helping people challenge anxious or unrealistic thoughts about sleep.
For soldiers, the appeal of the military sleep method is clear. They often work under extreme stress, with little control over their environment. A simple, repeatable routine that helps them switch off and sleep anywhere can be invaluable. The method’s focus on physical relaxation and mental calm is consistent with what we know about reducing physiological arousal, which is key to falling asleep.
For civilians, the situation is different. Most people have more stable routines and quieter sleeping environments, so expecting to nod off in two minutes is unrealistic. In fact, sleep experts note that regularly falling asleep in less than five minutes can signal excessive tiredness or a sleep disorder. For healthy adults, taking between 10 and 20 minutes to fall asleep is normal.
Still, that doesn’t mean the military sleep method is without value. The core elements—muscle relaxation, steady breathing and calm imagery—are grounded in sleep science. The key is to focus on relaxation, not the stopwatch. Worrying about how quickly you fall asleep often makes sleep harder to achieve. The military sleep method can be useful in your bedtime routine, but is no substitute for addressing persistent sleep problems.