Sometimes a simple routine helps you settle down at bedtime—or return to sleep after waking during the night. On The Diary of a CEO, neuroscientist Andrew Huberman described an exercise that combines slow eye movements with a long, relaxed exhale.
I tried it after hearing him explain it, and it has helped me fall asleep. That experience made me want to share the routine here, along with a clear distinction between his proposed explanation and what research has established.
How to try it
Lie comfortably with your eyes closed. Keep your head still and make the movements gently, within an easy range. There is no need to stretch your eyes or make perfect circles.
- Move your eyes from side to side. Slowly direct them toward one side, then toward the other, underneath your closed eyelids.
- Look up, then down. Keep your eyes closed and your head still.
- Make a gentle counterclockwise circle. Let your eyes trace a small, comfortable circle.
- Make a gentle clockwise circle. Repeat in the opposite direction.
- Direct your gaze toward your nostrils. With your eyes still closed, gently look downward toward your nostrils without deliberately crossing or straining your eyes.
- Finish with a slow exhale. Let your breath out comfortably, without forcing it or holding your breath.
Huberman suggests repeating the sequence two or three times. Then let your eyes rest and allow sleep to come without checking whether the exercise has worked.
You do not need to time the movements or get every step exactly right. Keep the routine quiet, gentle, and easy.
My experience
I heard this technique on The Diary of a CEO and decided to try it. It has helped me fall asleep, which is why I’m sharing it on MySleepPilot.
My experience is encouraging, but it is still one person’s experience. It does not establish how reliably the routine works for other people, or why it helped me.
Why might it help?
Huberman connects the exercise to proprioception—your sense of where your body and limbs are positioned. He proposes that the eye movements influence brain circuits involved in that awareness, helping the transition into sleep.
In the podcast, he describes the scientific support as indirect. That distinction matters: an explanation can draw on real neuroscience without the complete technique having been demonstrated in a clinical trial.
What related research tells us
Researchers have studied gentle rocking during sleep and the slow eye movements that naturally occur around sleep onset. These are related areas of research, but they do not establish that deliberately performing this particular sequence makes someone fall asleep.
They also do not establish that this exercise “switches off” the brain circuits that track body position. That proposed mechanism should be treated cautiously.
A simpler possibility
The routine may give a busy mind something quiet and neutral to focus on, while the comfortable breathing helps you settle. That is a possible explanation rather than a demonstrated finding about this exact exercise.
You can find a routine personally useful while remaining uncertain about the explanation behind it.
Keep it comfortable
Use small, easy movements. Stop if the routine causes eye discomfort or dizziness. If it makes you more alert or frustrated, let it go; sleep does not need to become another task to complete.
If difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep becomes a recurring problem, discuss it with a healthcare professional rather than relying on this exercise alone.
Source and related reading
- Source of the routine: Andrew Huberman’s appearance on The Diary of a CEO, in the segment approximately 56:24–59:29 of the recording used for this article. This page paraphrases his instructions.
- Effect of Rocking Movements on Afternoon Sleep —a study of rocking during naps, rather than this voluntary eye-movement exercise.
- Slow horizontal eye movement at human sleep onset —research on eye movements occurring around sleep onset, rather than a test of this routine.