06 June 2023 , 14:09
687
0
A doctor who used to suffer from insomnia has shared the hack he personally used to turn to when in desperate need of some shut-eye - and it doesn't exactly feel like the most obvious answer.
Dr Karan Raj, who regularly shares fascinating and accessible health information with his TikTok followers, suffered from insomnia in the early years of his medical career, but managed to find a "weird" way to cure it.
The NHS surgeon, whose myth-busting book This Book May Save Your Life is set to hit shelves later this year, initially didn't think the seemingly counterproductive method could possibly work, but was left pleasantly surprised.
In a TikTok video that has left followers fascinated, Dr Karan opened up about the "reverse psychology" trick he claims worked like a charm.
Dr Karan, who goes by the username @dr.karanr, revealed: "Basically, you tell yourself 'I'm not going to sleep', and you stay awake. Like you don't read a book, you're not on your phone, no TV nothing.
'My neighbour's screaming baby keeps me up all night - I'm sick of it'
"You just lie in bed, eyes open, and you're forcing yourself to stay awake. Tell yourself, 'don't go to sleep, don't go to sleep'. In many cases, you will feel tired and you will fall asleep, and that worked for me."
Expanding on the logic behind this tip in the comment section, Dr Karan explained: "By the way this is called 'paradoxical intention'. If I tell you NOT to think about a polar bear, guess what you think of first? Works the same way!"
The doctor was eventually able to banish his insomnia altogether after stopping watching TV late at night, but this top tip helped him through a tricky time.
One amazed person commented: "It works for me too! I started doing this after watching an old video of yours about it and it's how I fall asleep almost every night."
Another wrote: "It's 3:53 am now and I'm on TikTok because I can't sleep. I'm going to try this right now. Fingers crossed!"
According to a chapter in the 1998 volume of Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, paradoxical intention has been found to be effective for sleep onset insomnia in some studies, but not in others.
It's previously been suggested that instructing a patient to stay awake could increase their sense of voluntary control over sleep, and that a voice indicator of defiance could predict success with this particular method.
Do you have a health-related story to share? Email us at [email protected]