Blinking Might Help You Fall Asleep

Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most essential aspects of staying healthy, yet also one of the biggest struggles for so many people. You’ve probably spent more than a few nights tossing and turning, desperately searching for whatever tricks to help you drift off as you you can find. That’s exactly what led me discovering a surprisingly simple approach to finally catching some zzz’s.

It doesn’t involve any medication or rigorous routine — which I was hoping to avoid — just blinking. Yup, that’s it! I read on Quora that blinking rapidly for a full minute or two after your head hits the pillow will ease you into sleep. The theory is that the constant blinking will tucker out the muscles around your eyes in the same way running a few laps makes our legs feel exhausted.

Though I was skeptical at first, it didn’t actually sound too far-fetched when I really thought about it. So, while laying in bed stressing about how few hours I had left until I had to wake up, I decided to give this blinking thing a shot. I’m not sure if it was a placebo effect or that focusing on blinking (it’s actually not that easy to do!) just distracted me from my thoughts, but I definitely felt my eyes get tired and did manage to get to sleep quicker than I usually do.

You may still think it sounds silly, but it’s worth giving it a shot. If it works, you’ll finally get the sleep you’ve been lacking. If it doesn’t, all you’ve lost is a couple minutes of your time and at least your eyes got a workout. Ha!

You can also take a few extra easy steps to really get your body ready for a full night’s rest. Start your evening by doing a few gentle yoga poses to release stress and relax and make sure you’re not sleeping with your TV on. Some people swear by the electronic’s ability to lull them to slumber, but a new study actually confirms it could be making whatever sleep you do get worse – and potentially cause you to gain unwanted weight.