The military sleep method

What the evidence shows

The method comes from Relax and Win, a 1981 book by the American athletics coach Lloyd “Bud” Winter. In it he describes the relaxation programme he ran for US Navy pilots during the Second World War. The version that circulates online goes like this:

Relax your face, including your jaw, your tongue and the muscles around your eyes.
Let your shoulders drop, then your arms, one side at a time.
Breathe out slowly and let your chest go loose.
Relax your legs, from your thighs down to your feet.
Clear your mind for ten seconds, either by picturing a calm scene, such as lying in a canoe on a still lake, or by repeating “don’t think, don’t think”.

The two-minute promise, and the success rates often quoted with it, don’t come from any study. Nobody has tested this routine as a whole.

Its parts, though, are familiar from sleep research.

Relaxing the body. Relaxation therapy, which works through the muscles in turn and slows the breathing, is one of the treatments the American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests for chronic insomnia in adults. It is a conditional recommendation: worth trying, and helpful for some people, with less evidence behind it than full cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which the same guideline recommends strongly.

Picturing a calm scene. In a 2002 study at the University of Oxford, people with insomnia who were taught to fill the minutes before sleep with a detailed, engaging image fell asleep sooner than people given no instructions. The researchers’ explanation was that a specific picture takes up just enough attention to keep worries from creeping back. The canoe on a still lake is exactly this kind of image, as long as you build it in detail: the water, the light, the sound, the way the boat moves.

“Don’t think”. This step has the least support. Research on thought suppression suggests that trying hard not to think about something can make it come back more often, and the effect is stronger under stress, which describes most nights spent lying awake. For many people, holding a picture will work better than pushing thoughts away.

So the verdict is some basis. The relaxation and imagery steps are reasonable, and both reflect techniques with evidence behind them. The two minutes is a story, not a finding.

Who it might suit

People whose bodies stay tense at bedtime: a clenched jaw, raised shoulders, shallow breathing. Working through the body in order gives your attention something to do while the tension goes.

People who picture scenes easily. If imagery comes naturally, a calm, detailed place can hold your attention better than counting does. If it doesn’t, a word game like the cognitive shuffle gives the mind a similar job in a different form.

Anyone who wants something free and quick to learn. It takes a few minutes to read and costs nothing to try, and there is no harm in it.

What to watch for

Timing yourself. Measuring yourself against two minutes turns falling asleep into a test, and effort works against sleep. Most good sleepers take 10 to 20 minutes to drop off, so still being awake after a while is normal, not a failure of the method.

The “don’t think” line. If repeating it brings thoughts back rather than clearing them, drop it and stay with the picture.

One try is not a fair test. Relaxation is a skill, and it gets easier with practice. Try it at an ordinary bedtime for a week or two before deciding, rather than judging it on a single bad night.

When it isn’t enough. If nights have been hard for weeks, CBT-I is the most effective treatment and worth asking a doctor about. When to get help explains what it involves.

Common questions

Did the US military really use it?

The story comes from Bud Winter’s own book, about the training he ran for naval pilots. Beyond his account, there is no published evaluation of how well it worked.

What if two minutes pass and I’m still awake?

That is normal. Keep going gently with the relaxation and the picture. If you have been lying awake for a long time and feel wound up, getting out of bed for a while and coming back when you feel sleepy usually works better than lying there trying.

Is it the same as progressive muscle relaxation?

It is a shorter, looser cousin. Progressive muscle relaxation tenses and releases each muscle group in turn; this method skips the tensing and simply lets each part of the body go.