This 5-minute habit is scientifically proven to help you fall asleep faster

Statistics say that most people need half an hour to fall asleep, although in reality this process shouldn't take so long. And scientists know what habit can help speed up sleep.

It is the concept of "cognitive offloading". Scientists suggest writing a to-do list every night before going to bed. In their opinion, it unloads your brain - you stop worrying about forgetting something and fall asleep faster, the NY Post writes.

Researchers at Baylor University used a diagnostic test to see if this habit really works on volunteers. As a result, they noticed that the more accurately the participants wrote their to-do list, the faster they fell asleep.

This concept, called cognitive offloading, means reducing the mental effort required to complete a task. Ultimately, this can lead to better productivity, the authors of the study write in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

The importance of it has been shown in previous studies. For example, among IT workers in 2014. Employees who did not complete tasks by the end of the week slept worse on weekends because they spent a lot of time worrying about unfinished business.

"When I started making nightly to-do lists, I didn’t have any idea it was going to help me sleep — I just wanted a way to better track my priorities and productivity from day to day. So every night before bed, I would write down three things I wanted to do the next day," said Adam Benjamin CNET managing editor, who now uses this habit every day to unload his thoughts before bed.

That's why sleep experts recommend scheduling time outside the bedroom to think about what might be keeping you from falling asleep. Write a to-do list for tomorrow and clarify what you didn't have time to do today. Then, when you go to bed, you will not worry about it and fall asleep quickly.

Only verified information is available on OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!