Does 'drunken monkey exercise' actually help you to fall asleep faster?

One thing making the rounds recently on social media is the Drunken Monkey Exercise. It may be hard to believe but people have claimed that it has helped them to fall asleep faster than usual.

TikTok has been a place full of ideas about how to sleep better. From aromatherapy to several exercises, you can find a bunch of tips and tricks to make your sleep an overall better experience.

A video was posted recently by USA Medical’s TikTok account in which Jake Crossman, a managing partner at USA Medical, demonstrated a weird form of exercise that he named “Drunken Monkey Exercise”.

His claims that this exercise helped him to sleep better. He was supported by the comments section which was flooded with people who agreed with him and shared their own positive experiences after doing this exercise. Let’s see how this exercise can help you to sleep like a baby.

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What is the Drunken Monkey Exercise?

Drunken monkey exercise involves shifting your body weight from side to side while keeping your hips loose enough for free movement (Image by Freepik on Freepik)

The Drunken Monkey exercise is designed specifically to promote blood flow to the extremities of the body. In this exercise, the person first needs to open their legs so that they are standing with a wide-legged stance. Then, they are required to move their hips back and forth, while moving their arms in alternating circular motions.

In the video that Jake Crossman posted on TikTok, he said:

“It's so stupid and easy, but I've been sleeping for the full night the last three nights.”

The simplicity and ease of this exercise are what garnered the attention of so many people. Additionally, you are not required to do this for a longer duration, and thus, a few minutes of time is just good enough to see the results.

Talking about the after-effects of this exercise, Jake said in his video:

“You do this for a minute, and then you speed it up. And seriously, after one minute, you're going to feel it in your shoulders and your hips. It hurts, but you'll sleep better, I promise.”

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How Does This Exercise Help with Sleep?

Drunken monkey exercise makes your body prepared to fall asleep. (Image by Gpointstudio on Freepik)

While there is no scientific research associated with the Drunken Monkey exercise and its effect on sleep, it is possible that it may or may not work for you. However, it has been proven that mild exercise can help an individual sleep better and enhance their sleep hygiene.

This is because gentle body movements before hitting the bed, like yoga, stretching, etc. help to relieve the tension, promote blood flow, and calm your body which makes it prepared for falling asleep. Hence, the Drunken Monkey exercise works in a similar way and allows you to fall asleep faster and stay asleep as well.

However, if this exercise does not work for you or if you are skeptical about trying this out because of the lack of scientific evidence, you can look into other forms of exercising that have sufficient proof related to their sleep-improving properties.

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So, if you like, you can give this exercise a chance to see if it helps with your sleep. Trouble falling asleep is a common problem, but by trying different methods, you can surely find the one that works the best for you.