The Science of Sleeping

A very simple try-now guide to go to sleep in 2 minutes!

Apr 30, 2021

Sleeping is science? We all know that sleeping does help: being the most important physiological function of human body growing Muscles, solidifying knowledge, giving a rest, regulating hormonal activity… But is it that complex to be a science? Well being accurate and true: ‘Going to sleep’ is an art. Any non-overworked day means an elusive sleep, at least for me. And for some, new places, too much light, too little light, Temperature (even the water dropping frequency if you are autistic) makes sleep a really fickle prospect. But overcoming them is easy…

But why? We got 8 hours of leisure time and take our own time to go to sleep. I like to even lie blankly while my mind revolves around abstract philosophy or Objective Needs (all the bits of fluff) i.e: Sleepless nights are my thought laboratory, but that just shows that I think more that I act. But at times, I’ve found even 10 minutes of time hard to come around, and a 5 minute nap is bliss. So It doesn’t hurt to know a life-saving technique, and refraining because we do not need it in lazy times is not a good investment.

Before we begin folks (We haven’t yet begin, huh), I am growing more wary about this whole blog thing. Especially hosting it in this platform called Substack. It is designed for newsletter publication (mailing articles periodically to subscribers), but this is a blog, It is meant to be read and discovered online. So if you are really satisfied with what goes over here, please make sure to share it! Also there is a complaint guys: the Comment bar feels really lonely that no one is chatting with it, even some guys don’t even know it exists (If yes, try saying a hi, and It loves some good gossips about this article). I am planning on writing psychological, anthropological, historical and scientific pieces (I will make it merciful and not in Geek-tongue), So comment if it is a good Idea? I’m counting on you guys. Now after our short commercial break… Sleeping.

Sleeping when we want, whenever we want, is a super power that I would crave to have. Being a regular all-nighter and hypocritical “Morning person”, It is an essential factor in lifestyle. And knowing these tricks made it rain chocolates for me. But who needs sleeping techniques more than unhygienic computer geeks? Armed forces, obviously. In 1942, immediately after US joined the World War II, It faced a really huge problem. The Dictatorial Soldiers of Germany, Italy and most unfortunately Japan had not-before-seen degrees of Discipline. But US, just out of it’s neutral policy had yet to train the necessary forces, especially against the pressurising Japan, and the American barely-out-of-teen pilots (war time, throws age limits to the winds) nearly broke under the pressure. What matters to us however is that soldiers were forced to be ultra-disciplined and very less sleeping time that was scattered throughout the day was available. So they approached Athletics coach Lloyd Winter. Who gave birth to the famous Military Method.

Lloyd ‘Bud’ Winter was a Sprinting sports coach, no doubt one of the best ones to train american sprinters in history. He already developed quick sleeping techniques for sportsmen that he re-tailored for the armed fellas. That is what we are gonna see now: How to go to sleep in 2 minutes.

First let’s look at what to do:

Lie / Sit / Perch on a comfortable position. It doesn’t need to be really cozy, just enough to not force you to think about your position continuously
Slowly relax your eyes, completely. Not just the eyelids: give your eyeballs a break let them slide down, I mean dowwwn. Make your eyes Happy
Facial Muscles. Make an expression (usually something blank) that relaxes you. A relaxed knowing Oogway-like smile works for me
Most important: Lower your shoulders as low as they go but don’t force it. And then your neck, slowly and relaxingly
Now begins the fun. Try talking in your mind to your specific muscles, asking them to relax. (Now that your head is completely relaxed), Talk to your right biceps (Yo Fitness freak over there! No biceps, triceps and brachialis separately!), Right forearms, Left Bis, Left forearms, Right Upper leg, Lower leg, Left ones. Now move to Wrists, palms, foot and lungs (lung is an exception, not a muscle and no need to relax, just to breathe slowly).
Now that your body is completely relaxed, Its time to tame a monkey. The mind Monkey. First and most importantly *Do not imagine any movement*, Many researches show that imagining a movement like walking actually activates the respective muscles (It was done by attaching electric plates against the limbs, while asking to imagine, this is called ECG). When you do that you will see signs of weariness. Sometimes when you are particularly tired, sore or adrenalined you can notice the respective muscles twitching involuntarily, but rarely.
Last, the cherry on top of the cake: You are completely relaxed, now Imagine three things. 1. You are in a Canoe/boat/Catamaran on a serene transparent lake staring at the blue summer sky, lazy clouds floating, a gentle breeze carrying flower scents. Do not picture that, be there. 2. Imagine a pitch black starry night, and you are lying atop an African tree in a smooth black velvet hammock. Be there for some time. By now you will have fallen asleep, more often than not. 3. Lastly, Keep saying ‘Don’t think’, ‘Don’t think’ continuously till you fall asleep (usually 4 - 20 times , don’t count)

From Bud Winter’s “Relax and Win”, This is his own words on how to relax (I guess he did a better job of explaining):

“Sit back in your chairs and put your feet flat on the deck. Knees apart, your hands limp on the inside of your lap. Now, close your eyes and drop your chin until it rests on your chest.

Let’s breathe slowly, deeply, and regularly. Take all the wrinkles out of your forehead. Relax your scalp. Just let go. Now let your jaw sag-g-g. Let it drop open. Now relax the rest of your face muscles. Get the brook trout look on your face. Even relax your tongue and lips. Just let them go loose. Breathe slowly.

Now, let’s go after the eight muscles that control your eyes. Let them go limp in their sockets. No focus, just let them go limp. Breathe slowly.

Now drop your shoulders as low as they will go. You think that they are low, but let them go more.  Did you feel the muscles in the back of your neck go limp? When you think you are really relaxed, let them go even more.

Now, let’s relax your chest. Take a deep breath. Hold it. Exhale and blow out all your tensions. Just let your chest collapse. Let it sag-g-g. Imagine you are a big, heavy blob on the chair, a jellyfish. Breathe slowly. When you exhale, release more and more of your tensions.

Let’s go after your arms. Talk directly to your arm muscles. First, talk to your right bicep. Tell it to relax, go limp. Do the same to your right forearm. Now to the right hand and fingers. Your arm should feel like a dead weight on your leg. Repeat the relaxation process with your left arm. Breathe slowly.

Your entire upper body has been exposed to relaxation and a warm, pleasant feeling comes over you. You feel good. A sense of well-being invades your body.

Now for your lower body. Talk to your right thigh muscles. Let them go to a dead weight on the chair. Let the meat hang on the bones. Go through the same routine for the right calf muscles. Then all the muscles of your right ankle and foot. Tell yourself that your right leg has no bones in it. It is just a flabby, heavy weight on the deck. Repeat the process with your left thigh, calf, ankle, and foot.

At present you are all relaxed physically, or think you are. For a little insurance, let’s take three deep breaths and when you let them out, blow out all the remaining tensions, one . . . whoosh, two . . . whoosh, three . . . whoosh.”

Why these may not be working.

I like putting the warnings after the book. And so, the most important part is physically relaxing. It is 80% of the work (Bud Winter says, if you are physically relaxed: it takes ten seconds of a blank mind to fall asleep). If you are physically tired, sleep already waits like a good book on a holiday for you. If you are not physically relaxed after talking to your muscles, maybe do it again. Or think about something else. Then it will work.

Secondly, the two minute thing is achieved only after practice. It took me more than 6 weeks to consistently sleep in 3 minutes (It will be sooner for you, My sleep wake cycle is completely messed up).

Lastly, Avoid Caffeine, Sweating, food and most importantly digital light, right before bed. You can knock the first one off the list (personally, for me) taking caffeine improves sleep! It is also scientifically christened, called a power nap. Usually Caffeine requires some time to activate its cascading process, but if you are already sleeping when it does, not only all insomniac (sleep-stopping) processes are inhibited, they come up in full blast once you wake up, making you active. Now sweating and food must be avoided, (you might be different so I’d recommend experimenting). But the last thing Mobile light… another oddity. I love reading at night, after lights out (For physical books, as you might have noticed It improves sleep). However I prefer e-books primarily (I think paying for books is redundant expense), and so bathe my eyes in blue light prior to bed.I tried cataloguing my sleeping time with the time I stop reading every night. And It seems to me that from that psuedo-experiment, as long as your sleep wake cycles are consistent light exposure affects too little. I would like to share my data, however 30 days of a boring spreadsheet is a really poor way to satisfy an audience. But beware, I’ve been night-e-reading for like four years. So maybe I am used to it. But it is a good skill in my opinion: being able to stare at a screen and go to sleep in 5 minutes.

At last try reading something at night. Boring ones work best, so take out that old school book, quantum physics even, or the finance pages on the day’s newspaper. And to some having milk helps. Some are comfortable with a warm bath, other with a whole bottle of water before sleep (yeah, those guys exist).

There is also this thing called sleep cycles (not sleep-wake cycle), It is the set of time that some physiological processes repeat during sleep. And that a good night’s sleep has 5-6 sleep cycle. This website: SleepyTime(click here), calculates when you must go to sleep, to wake up at a certain time. It is not consistently accurate, but works on usual conditions, and feels a little fresh after waking up.

"What"s and "What if"s

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