Have you ever wished you could fall asleep in 60 seconds or less? If so, then this is the video for you. I am going to breakdown not only a technique that I have used for much of my life that helps me to fall asleep fast, but also one of the leading causes for disrupted sleep as well and something that you can do to help mitigate the problems caused by this one thing.
When it comes to fitness, we know that the obvious keys to success in changing our bodies for the better are found in our nutrition and our efforts in the weight room. However, there is a very important factor that leads to the most muscle growth possible and that is recovery. One of the most imperative and driving factors that comes along with recovery is sleep.
The time that we spend sleeping allows for the body to recover and repair to form new muscle. Not only that, but a lack of sleep can be detrimental to your very next workout leading to the impairment of your goals. Think about this, if you are exhausted from a lack of sleep, do you think that you are going to be able to perform at your highest abilities? Probably not!
Insomnia is not something rare either. Around 270 million people worldwide are affected by the inability to sleep with “can’t sleep” being one of the highest googled search terms.
So what do you do if you are one of those people that can’t sleep and have tried a number of different techniques to finally get yourself to knock out? Well, I have something for you that has helped me and countless others to fall asleep in 60 seconds or less.
It all comes down to relaxing the body. This might sound simple but many people have a lot of trouble achieving this. In fact, as a physical therapist, I know that one of the most efficient ways to get someone to relax a muscle is to put it through a contraction first. This will allow for an individual to gauge the difference between tensing a muscle up and actually being able to relax it.
First, start at the eyebrows – raise them as high as you can and hold it for 5 seconds. Breathe out for 5 seconds and allow them to relax down in the process. Then close your eyes as hard as you can for 5 seconds before breathing out for 5 seconds and allowing them to relax as well. After that, you will smile as wide as you can, following the same practice. Shrug your shoulders up before relaxing and do this for the muscles that lead down the rest of your body. You should be asleep before you even get to your toes.
Not only does this technique relax the muscles in the body, but it can help relax the mind as well. One of the chief complaints about insomnia is racing thoughts. Focusing on the breathing, the relaxation of the muscles, and keeping the mind off of other topics will help to keep the mind at ease leading to you falling asleep faster.
What about the external factor that is causing people to have trouble to fall asleep or stay asleep? Well this is caused by the exposure to blue light from our cell phones. We know from Dr. Andrew Huberman as well as many other sources that there is a direct correlation between light expose and brain physiology. Research shows that blue light mitigates the secretion of melatonin in the body and the blue light emitted from our cell phones before bed is a major disruptor of sleep.
So what can you do? Outside the obvious of not looking at your phone 30-60 minutes prior to bedtime, there is a built-in functionality of the iPhone that will actually eliminate blue light exposure. In your settings, under the accessibility feature, there is an ability to apply a color filter – specifically a red filter. Red light has been shown to be easier on the eyes and the changing away from blue light means that you are not going to exposing your brain to melatonin reduction. This means that you will be able to fall asleep faster as well as stay asleep and as we know, eliminating insomnia is important not only to our fitness goals, but general health as well.
Now, there is an easy way to make this filter applicable to your phone with the triple-tap of the side button. In the settings of your iphone, you have the ability to create a shortcut that allows you to triple-tap your lock button which will turn that red filter on and off.
If you’re looking for a complete training program that will help you build a ripped athletic body while still keeping an eye towards performance and longevity, be sure to head to athleanx.com via the link below. Use the program selector tool to find the plan best suited to your current goals.
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so for this exercise, no rubber bands?
You forgot about the EMF Jeff. You CAN put the phone down an hour before bed, if your clients are that pedantic about getting a text back @ `11pm, drop em.
Noooo! I’m late!
Give away a weekend with your wife’s friend, Brianna at the 4 Seasons in Bangkok, pencil neck.
This is not fair. I was asleep when you uploaded this video. I’m from UK. So end up missing your giveaways for the past whole my life! Lol
Thanks Jeff! Love your content!
Failing to sleep and this just gets posted
…Jeff is a classic
I guess it says greek captain hook,its obviously Greece and its midnight here
@Greek captain hook gotta get up early for the Tsitsipas match
@Greek captain hook oh ok so I guess you need to change your name anytime you get out of Greece.
Goodnight
@rah-su-chiis Lol there are people who live all around the world who watch these videos. Lots of different time zones
Only 10 seconds into the video and I’m already getting sleepy. Thanks Jeff!!
@andrew taylor just casually telling someone to get a prescription for a sleeping pill is probably the worst piece of advice ever given for sleep
10/10 roast
@Chris Romero consider the 1000’s of positive reviews on WebMD…not to mention the glowing experiences posted on Bluelight & Erowid about the most pleasure inducing benzo on the market besides, Xanax…pillow biter.
Eccl 5:12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
Perpetually sleep deprived for over 20 years, cheers Jeff
@Milan no one claimed they did…
@Petting My Cat Cheers in advance I guess
@Milan you know what they say about assumptions..
How about I was just showing some gratitude for Jeff sharing his knowledge and experience with us.
@Sajid Javid – Temple of Doom (aka Ting) My man I was just trying to be funny
@Sajid Javid – Temple of Doom (aka Ting) You know what, you’re right man i’m sorry
This video just came in as I am trying to sleep, shift working at night and trying to sleep is rough. Appreciate the tips.
Tell me if it worked… If you don’t reply I assume it did. lol
Black out blinds or curtains and/or eye covers helps a ton!
Look up the Huberman Lab Podcast that covers sleep and shift work. He did it very early on, like episode 5 and it is really helpful.
@Cold Beer thank you
@Empty took a bit longer than 10 seconds, totally got a back cramp from the shoulder but he mentioned lol
Progressive muscle relaxation. It’s mostly used for people with panic disorder. If you don’t have severe anxiety, this will work for sleep.
If you do, you’re screwed. I’ve done it over 1000 times guided and not guided. Completely useless. Color filter is good for anyone tho.
@SuperSaiyan Zero Sounds like it works if you keep doing it 1000 times
No it doesn’t. It creates sleep resistance and distress signal to the limbic system. This will backfire.
It’s like you knew I couldn’t fall asleep until 3am last night. Good stuff!
These tips are gold! But do you also have any tips on how NOT TO fall asleep after lunch or during the afternoon when there’s a dip in energy, especially if the person worked out in the morning?
What helped me to stop having this post-lunch slump was developing a normal sleeping schedule. Wake up and go to bed at around the same time, even on weekends. If you’re still having slump, strong tea with milk helps. Don’t drink it after 2 pm to go to bed at a normal time, between 9-11 pm to get up at 6:30.
There are good answers here. Delay your caffeine intake in the morning by 1-2 hours. Try to get early sunshine and don’t play with sugar. After that there are a lot of tools you can play with. Power naps or non sleep deep rests is also something you can do if you are feeling low energy
Look up, body has a wakeful chemical reaction when we simple tilt our head and look up, Andrew Huberman(?) has a helpful video on it on YouTube, look it up
@Maurício Rodrigues sweet potato??? three times the sugar or normal potato??? if normal potato is a no-no then a sweet potato = poison. also, if u r dsoing IR what r u doing eating lunch?
Could you recommend a routine or create a video on stretches or things we should do prior to getting into bed?
If you find the screen color tint thing works well for you, you can also get red/orange tinted goggles that will filter out the blue light from everything around you at night. Works even better!
Agree on it working better. Color filters don’t work for me, but tinted computer glasses do!
Use LUX or nightlight mode, there is an auto nightlight by time on some phones. Who wants to put on freaking goggles to go to sleep?
I got the full body relaxation routine exactly like in the beginning. Felt good but didn’t take health issues, economy issues, loneliness etc away so I grabbed my phone after some hours and entertained myself watching something while being dead tired. Also used the night mode/flux/whatever things for monitors/phone. Started meditating. Etc etc.
You need to tackle the psychology behind your anxieties. I recommend people like Alan watts and his seminars on inner Peace. You can’t stop the production of cortisol, but you can control it with behavior and mentality.
Thank you, Jeff! I’ve always struggled with getting a good night sleep and this video is super helpful
I always had issues with sleep I recently started reading a book before bed and it really clears the mind and relaxes me.
Mine split when I was 7 years old. That indeed does cause anxiety and restless sleep. Great video, thanks Keff!
I remember my midwife telling me to relax my face when I was in labour and my entire body responded into a more relaxed state. As a physiotherapist I’ve often taught these techniques, but I really like how you’ve done this Jeff. I’ll be sharing it with my patients!