Four Ways In

The techniques that actually shorten sleep onset share one trick: they hand your busy mind a task dull enough to bore it asleep, yet absorbing enough to crowd out racing thoughts.

• Military method — relax your body head to toe, then quiet your mind with a calm mental image
• 4-7-8 breathing — inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale slowly for 8; the long exhale flips you into rest mode
• Cognitive shuffling — picture random, unconnected objects one by one, so your brain can't build a worry story
• Body scan — drift your attention slowly through each body part, just noticing how it feels.