The basic premise with paradoxical intention is to remove the anxiety surrounding falling asleep by focusing instead on the act of staying awake. When your anxiety diminishes and your mind and body become calmer, you could potentially fall asleep in record time. It can be likened to removing the “performance anxiety” related to sleep so you sleep better. In fact, according to a 2021 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Sleep Research, paradoxical intention significantly reduced the performance anxiety people with insomnia felt.
“If we fear something, we do everything we can to try and avoid it — and while we’re doing these things, we keep looking over our shoulder to see if the thing we fear is going to happen. As a result, we feel more anxious, and the thing we’re trying to avoid ends up happening. It’s a vicious cycle,” explained a sleep scientist at the sleep therapy program Somnia, Dr. Katharina Lederle (via Glamour).
Sleep experts warn, however, that paradoxical intention may not be appropriate for everyone. You shouldn’t turn to it if you’ve been diagnosed with a different sleep disorder, like obstructive sleep apnea, or if you don’t have trouble getting to sleep. It’s only recommended for anxious sleepers and people who have insomnia. That being said, here’s how you can tackle sleep-related anxiety by keeping your eyes open.
