The UK is so tired that, even in the midst of a cost of living crisis and rolling government instability, many of us can't dream of an alternate reality: almost one in five people in the UK don't get enough sleep, according to Mental Health UK, with a big knock-on effect on our physical and mental health. As anyone who has tossed and turned until the small hours will know, sleep deprivation can lead to poor mood and the inability to control our emotions, making us not only exhausted but irritable and less productive.
It's a problem that has been doing big numbers on TikTok. The platform is awash with viral videos offering you the secret to a good night's sleep, from the ‘military sleep method’ to the ‘Navy SEAL 10 minute sleep hack’ to mouth taping, all promising users a hack to get them to sleep within minutes, or have the best nap of their life.
The military sleep method, said to be tried and tested by the US army and detailed in the 1981 book Relax and Win: Championship Performance, claims the ritual will put you to bed within two minutes and is designed to work in volatile environments like a battlefield (a three-person house-share should work, too). TikToker Justin Agustin first posted about the technique in January and since then it has amassed over 12 million views.
The method is:
- First relax your body, starting with the top of your head and working down to your toes.
- Relax the face muscles, tongue, jaw and the muscles around your eyes.
- Lower your shoulders as far down as they’ll go, then do the same with your upper and lower arm, starting with one arm and then going onto the other.
- Exhale, relaxing your chest then move down to your legs, starting from the thighs all the way down to your toes.
Clearing your mind is essential to this hack too, and Agustin suggests you imagine you’re lying in a canoe on a calm lake, with a clear blue sky above, or lying in a black velvet hammock in a pitch-black room. If you feel like you're getting distracted, he says you should repeat “don’t think, don’t think, don’t think” for 10 seconds. But if you really want to reap the military method's benefits, you've got to practice it regularly – every night for six weeks, which is quite a commitment.
According to TikTok napping can be optimised, too. The ten-minute Navy SEAL nap hack promises effective micro-naps which allow you to wake up even earlier in the day, and was popularised by retired US Navy officer Jocko Willink in a video with 8.8 million views. In it, Willink claims he wakes up at 4:30am every day and, thanks to his method, can take eight to 10-minute naps and feel like he's slept for hours.
The trick? Elevate your feet above your heart, i.e. put your feet on a sofa or something, as you lie on the floor, and then set your alarm for ten minutes. According to Healthline, lying down with your legs elevated can help improve blood flow and circulation and help you fall asleep faster.
If all else fails, you can consider taping your mouth shut. TikToker Cory Rodriguez, or @healthwithcory, claims the tip alleviates dry mouth, helps oral health and stops snoring, and other TikTokers have shared they regularly tape their mouth shut while sleeping.
Unsurprisingly, experts have said shutting oxygen circulation to your body isn't ideal, and confirmed this could be dangerous to people with obstructive sleep apnea, which is the complete or partial collapse of the airway. Also, there's “limited evidence on the benefits of mouth taping and I would be very careful”, Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California told CNN.
Of course, SleepTok and the wider internet's fascination with turning rest into viral video content feels particularly ironic given how much evidence there is that being glued to blue light-emitting devices is terrible for our sleep. Regardless of how effective these methods are, the idea of following a sleep hack used for warzones or taping your mouth shut demonstrates how obsessed our tired society is with finding a shortcut to rest and relaxation.
In truth, we already know the answers to a good night's sleep. Science tells us a calming bedtime routine that involves creating a restful environment, shutting out any light and crucially switching electronics off, are the key to sleeping well. While those with sleep disorders should seek proper medical advice, for most of us the first step toward a good night's sleep is – sorry to say – stepping away from TikTok.
