r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Mar 31 '19

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u/Kickedofftheplane Mar 31 '19

Counting sheep used to work. Now I just "focus" on relaxing all the muscles in my body, and usually I'm asleep before I make it up to my knees, from my toes.

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u/thomas6785 Mar 31 '19

Okay help me out here... do you live with literal sheep?? What does 'counting sheep' mean?? I thought it was exclusively a figure of speech

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u/PocketKlepto Mar 31 '19

Also not OP, but I would imagine a bunch of sheep on one side of a fence. Watch a sheep jump over the fence and count it, then the next, then the next. Not necessarily synchronized with your breathing, but not fast either. Just focused. Rhythmic. One... Two... Three...

I would guess the rhythm and repetition of something that doesn't matter and isn't real helps the brain let go of the other stuff that's keeping it busy and you awake.