Suffering insomnia? These few tips will help you fall asleep in two minutes

There are few things more frustrating than spending a night tossing and turning,
desperately trying to doze off to sleep.
And now the British government has announced that it will be publishing a set of
official guidelines on “sleep hygiene” to help improve public general health.
But if you’re used to lying in bed awake at night, brain whirring at a million miles
an hour and unable to get the sweet, sweet slumber you crave, then good news.

There’s a brilliant military technique that is said to help anyone fall asleep in just
two minutes – and it might just change your life.
The trick is reportedly used by the US army to help them fall asleep in situations
that are less than peaceful, such as on battlefields.
Detailed in the book Relax and Win: Championship Performance , 1981, the
technique is thought to have been developed by army chiefs to ensure soldiers
didn’t make life-threatening mistakes due to exhaustion.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Relax the muscles in your face, including tongue, jaw and the
muscles around the eyes
2. Drop your shoulders as far down as they’ll go, followed by
your upper and lower arm, one side at a time.
1. Breathe out, relaxing your chest followed by your legs,
starting from the thighs and working down.
1. You should then spend 10 seconds trying to clear your mind
before thinking about one of the three following images:
You’re lying in a canoe on a calm lake with nothing but a
clear blue sky above you
You’re lying in a black velvet hammock in a pitch-black room
You say “don’t think, don’t think, don’t think” to yourself over
and over for about 10 seconds.
The technique is said to work for 96 per cent of people after
six weeks of practice.
The NHS currently recommends the average person needs around
eight hours of good-quality sleep every night to function properly.
It warns a lack of sleep can make people more prone to a number of
medical conditions, including obesity, high blood pressure and heart
disease.
With one in three people in the UK suffering from poor sleep, the
army trick could provide some sweet relief.
If that doesn’t work, sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley says the most
important factor when it comes to falling asleep is quieting your
mind.
“In order to get to sleep you need three things: a
bedroom conducive to sleep’ a relaxed body and most
importantly a quiet mind. You can’t go to sleep if your
mind is racing and so anything you can do to slow it
down will help you sleep,” he tells The Independent.
“There is no magic way of doing this, you have to find
what works for you, be that reading, a warm bath,
camomile tea, mindfulness, aromatherapy or listening
to Pink Floyd. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as
it stops you worrying about the stresses of the day.”