You are getting very sleepy.” Add a swinging chain watch and a magician, and you’ll be out in seconds. A new study conducted at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology shows that the words involved in coaxing your brain to sleep may be more important than the magic.
Study participants who were exposed to sleep-related words such as “cozy” and “relax” for five minutes before napping snoozed 47% longer than those who didn’t see the language. Their heart rates also dropped significantly—a sign of deeper rest, the study authors say. A follow-up experiment showed the cue words were also effective among people with sleep issues.
Just as you can use keywords and images to improve your confidence or motivate yourself to accomplish a task, you can prime yourself for sleep by thinking of restful language, says study co-author Mitsuru Shimizu, Ph.D. Reading relaxing words activates goal-oriented mental processes in your brain that help control how tired or wired you feel, he explains, although the exact psychological process at work is unclear.
