To keep your brain, muscles and joints in the best shape possible, sleep is important. And in the army, even more. The body and the mind are under great pressure. Recharging your batteries is therefore essential to follow military training .

But some people have trouble sleeping. So how do you fall asleep quickly? Answers in detail in this article.

The importance of falling asleep quickly when undergoing military training

Military training is part of the daily life of a member of the army. Whether enlisted in the Navy, Air Force or Army, a soldier endures intense training.

To recover as well as possible, it is important to sleep well and not to neglect your sleep. A great way to sleep better is to fall asleep faster.
Falling asleep quickly is a considerable asset for sleeping more and recovering more energy.

We do not advise the use of sleeping pills which lead to addictions and side effects.

We advocate the method of calm breathing to enter into a form of meditation, favorable to sinking into the arms of Morpheus.

Many sleep specialist organizations in France and the United States have established recommendations concerning the ideal duration of sleep.

For teenagers under the age of 18, the ideal duration would be 8 to 10 hours. For adults over 18, the ideal duration would be 7-9 hours. These figures are indicative only. If you feel you need more sleep, take the necessary rest time.

The main sleep distraction: screens

Don't you tend to stare at your phone for dozens of minutes before falling asleep?

Sometimes ending up on videos you're not even interested in? Or watching a Netflix episode and then hitting the “next episode” button on the pretext that you aren't sleepy?

It is necessary to remember a basic advice to fall asleep quickly and promote restful sleep: avoid looking at screens 1 to 2 hours before bedtime.

When a soldier is on mission , no phone. But this advice applies when you are at the base or at your home!

How to fall asleep quickly?

This trick would be used by the American army, and French more recently, to help soldiers fall asleep in complicated situations, such as during a mission over several days.

The method we are going to give you is taken from the book Relax and Win, Championship Performance by Lloyd Bud Winter. It is said to have been developed by army leaders to ensure that soldiers do not make life-threatening mistakes due to exhaustion.

It is also very useful for recovering effectively from military training .

Start as follows:

• Relax your facial muscles, including your tongue, jaw and the muscles around your eyes.
• Lower your shoulders as far as you can, then your arm and forearm, one side at a time.

• Exhale, releasing the chest and then the legs, starting with the thighs then descending to the ankles.

You must then spend 10 seconds trying to clear your mind before thinking of one of the following three images:

• You are lying in a canoe on a calm lake with nothing but a clear blue sky above you.

• You are lying in a black velvet hammock in a dark room.
• You say to yourself “don't think, don't think, don't think” calmly for about 10 seconds.

The first attempts may be unsuccessful and will require you to repeat the process several times.

The more you practice the method, the more effective it will be. And when you are in the middle of the forest, badly installed for the night, this technique will save you from a restless night !

In France, we call this technique the TOP, the Techniques of Optimization of the Potential.