If you find yourself lying in the dark at 3am with your eyes wide open and struggling to fall back asleep, a weird trick might help.
According to social media wellness guru Heather Gordon, you should try rolling your eyes.
Gordon, who shares health and wellness content with his 16,000 TikTok followers under the name Heather quite sickshared a video detailing the trick that she says always works.
And science suggests there may be something to that, with studies showing that eye movements can increase levels of the sleep hormone melatonin.
In the clip, which has accumulated 2.6 million views, She ordered the spectators to begin by closing their eyes.
The next step is to perform a series of eye-rolling movements while keeping them closed.
First you direct your gaze toward the ground and then bring it back to the center.
Then, look all the way to the left, before bringing them back to the center and then to the right. Then roll them back to the center.
He then tells his followers to look up again before rolling their eyes in a clockwise and then counterclockwise circle.
Finally, to finish, direct your gaze towards the bridge of your nose as if you were trying to appear ‘cross-eyed’.
“You will do this as soon as you wake up at night and repeat it until you fall back asleep,” he said.
‘I’ve never gone through two cycles of this without falling asleep. I promise you, you won’t be able to do this and not go back to sleep.’
The comments below the video are full of social media users claiming that the trick worked for them.
One wrote: ‘It took me 3 cycles but you can feel yourself starting to fall asleep and get sleepy!’ THANK YOU!!!’
Meanwhile another said: ‘I did this while watching and fell asleep. I woke up three hours later still with this video on repeat.’
One woman claimed the trick helped her “sleep more than ever.”
Experts say there is intriguing science supporting the technique’s benefits.
Dr. Willem Gielen, a Denmark-based cardiologist, wrote about the effectiveness of the method in a blog post published on the content platform. Half.
He explained that the action of rolling is associated with the release of melatonin, the hormone that regulates our sleep-wake patterns.
Therefore, by consciously turning your eyes upward, you can trigger this natural process and prompt your body to start the sleep cycle.
A large number of studies have shown that REM sleep, the most restful period of sleep that involves rapid eye movements, helps trigger the release of melatonin, providing further evidence for the link between the sleep hormone and eye maneuvers.
One in three adults in the UK and almost half of American adults suffer from insomnia, and millions more report sleepless nights.
Prolonged lack of sleep can lead to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Insomnia can be caused by stress, anxiety, alcohol, caffeine or nicotine, noise, shift work, and jet lag.
If you have trouble sleeping regularly, there are simple ways to improve your sleep hygiene.
This includes maintaining regular bedtimes, staying active during the day, and creating a quiet, peaceful space to sleep.