Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Westend61
Topics: Sleep, Mental Health, TikTok
Niamh Shackleton
If you're tired of counting sheep as a way of falling asleep, then there's another thing you can try in the hopes of nodding off.
Sleep is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle so it's no wonder that we're always on the hunt for tips to help us either fall asleep faster or have a better night's rest.
Sleeping for the whole night is a difficulty many people face — 89 percent of Americans to be more precise. There's an array of different reasons for this: from environmental factors to a person's stress levels.
While many of us struggle to stay asleep, some find themselves unable to fall asleep in the first place.
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Known as sleep latency, this is the time it takes someone to nod off after turning off the lights. According to the Sleep Foundation, 'normal sleep latency generally hovers between 10 and 20 minutes'.
As a way of achieving this sleep latency sweet spot, TikToker Dr Joe Whittington urged people to try something called the 'Infinity Tracing Technique'.
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Speaking in one of his social media videos, Dr Joe said: "Brain won't shut up at night? Do you ever lay in bed at night overthinking all of the embarrassing things you've done since childhood? Same.
"I'm going to teach you a technique that might help you calm your overactive brain... Try this weird but effective trick to calm racing thoughts and actually fall asleep."
This technique consists of you putting your finger up into the air and tracing the infinity symbol slowly.
"As you're tracing this infinity symbol, you're going to just follow it with you eyes — only your eyes," Dr Joe continued. "What this does is activate your vestibular center which is involved with your balance and eye movements."
When this is activated, it's supposed to calm any thoughts you're having. He compared the technique to distracting a 'toddler with a shiny object'.
Many people in the comments section of Dr Joe's video have compared the technique to EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy.
This is a form of mental health treatment that 'treats mental health conditions that happen because of memories from traumatic events in your past', says Cleveland Clinic.
It's often used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the website adds.