As a surgeon, Dr. Katelyn Tondo-Steele says she takes calls overnight, so she often wakes up in the middle of the night. Once awake, she says it usually takes her one to two hours to fall back asleep.
Almost everyone has the same frustrating experience when waking up in the middle of the night: It’s a struggle to get back to sleep. You toss and turn, trying to find a comfortable position, and then tell yourself to go to sleep. But rather than falling asleep, you end up staring at the ceiling.
Some people try deep breathing exercises, “clock blocking” (intentionally not looking at the clock), reading, folding laundry, or counting backward from 100 in an attempt to fall asleep. Sometimes, these techniques are effective, and sometimes, they are not.
In an Instagram Reel, Dr. Tondo-Steele said that she found a “sleep hack” on social media related to the eyes. But she wanted to test it out first before sharing it. So far, it appears to be effective.
“If I have tried it 15 times, it’s worked 14,” she said in her Instagram Reel.
Dr. Tondo-Steele demonstrated the “eye trick,” which is done with your eyes closed and involves four basic steps:
1. Move your eyes side to side.
2. Move your eyes up and down.
3. Move your eyes clockwise.
4. Move your eyes counterclockwise.
5. Repeat the pattern until you fall asleep.
Dr. Tondo-Steele noted in her Instagram caption that there is currently no direct research on the relationship between eye movements and sleep. However, she wrote that “eye movement techniques have been shown to reduce arousal, shift focus, and mimic early sleep brain states.”
Most importantly for Dr. Tondo-Steele, it is a “very low risk, high-reward hack that works for me!” So, she wanted to share the method with all of her “on-call peeps, mom and dads waking up with kids, or just people who have a hard time sleeping!”
The “Motivational Doc’s” Sleep Hack
Waking up in the middle of the night and having trouble getting back to sleep can feel like torture, according to Dr. Alan Mandell, also known as the “Motivationaldoc.”
“No matter how hard you try, your mind just does not shut off,” the chiropractor said in a video on his popular MotivationalDoc YouTube channel, where he shares self-help videos on wellness, stretching, and holistic health.
In the “This Eye Trick Puts You Back to Sleep in Minutes” video, Dr. Mandell demonstrated what he described as a “science-backed eye movement sequence.” His technique was similar to the sleep hack Dr. Tondo-Steele saw on social media.
Before the demonstration, Dr. Mandell explained that the small muscles that move our eyes are controlled by cranial nerves three, four, and six. These cranial nerves, which originate directly from the brain, work together to coordinate all eye movements, including up and down, as well as left and right.
According to Dr. Mandell, the cranial nerves are near the reticular activating system, a network of neurons that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. When it comes to falling asleep, the cranial nerves and the reticular activating system work together.
“When you guide your eyes to a specific position as you put them through different positions, you’re not just moving them mechanically, you’re sending calming sensory feedback into that system,” Dr. Mandell explained in the video. “(It’s) a bit like dimming the lights before a movie. You’re telling your entire nervous system, ‘We’re done for the night, and it’s time to go to sleep.'”
The eye movements that you make with your eyes closed also stimulate something called the “oculocardiac reflex,” which nudges your vagus nerve (cranial nerve number 10), which is part of the parasympathetic nervous system. Dr. Mandell called this nerve “your body’s master relaxation cable” because it slows down the heart rate and deepens your breathing. It shifts you into a parasympathetic mode, which he describes as “the rest and digest state you must be able to stay in to get that deep sleep.”
“Think of it like taking your foot off the gas pedal on a long drive and feeling that car naturally slow down,” Dr. Mandell said.
When you wake up in the middle of the night and you want to get back to sleep fast, here’s what Dr. Mandell says you need to do:
1. Close your eyes.
2. Look up for two seconds.
3. Look down for two seconds.
4. Look to the left for two seconds.
5. Look to the right for two seconds.
6. Go clockwise for two or three seconds.
7. Go counterclockwise for two or three seconds.
Then, open your eyes and look down at your nose as if you’re crosseyed for three seconds.
“What’s happening is a combination of muscle relaxation, cranial nerve stimulation, and nervous system downshifting,” Dr. Mandell explained. “When you release those last inward eye movements when you’re looking down at your nose, your eyelids will often feel heavier. That’s your biology telling you the alert system has powered down.”
So the next time you wake up in the middle of the night, Dr. Mandell advises, “don’t fight your mind, guide it.”
“Let your brain and your body speak the same language. And let the simple sequence that we just went over be the bridge between restlessness and
restorative sleep.”
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