How does counting sheep to get to sleep work? And how did it begin?

Question

I was having a hard time trying to get to sleep (because I don't know why) and I started counting sheep (jump over the fence). It made me pretty drowsy and I eventually DID get to sleep. I want to know -

1 - How it helps get to sleep

2 - How it began

Answer 1

hahaha i tried that once it frustrated me coz i kept losing count :-P

Answer 2

Did Sigmund Freud came up with that???

I wonder???

Answer 3

Meaning

A distraction technique used to combat insomnia.

Origin

Insomnia has probably always been with us. We have evidence of this particular technique, of counting sheep as they are imagined to jump over a fence, being used from 1854. Counting sheep is a mental exercise used in some European cultures as a means of lulling oneself to sleep. It most likely arose from Yan Tan Tethera, a traditional numbering system used by some northern English shepherds to count their flocks. According to an experiment conducted by researchers at Oxford University, counting sheep is actually an inferior means of inducing sleep. Subjects who instead imagined "a beach or a waterfall" were forced to expend more mental energy, and fell asleep faster than those asked to simply count sheep. Sleep, by the same token, could be achieved by any number of complex activities that expend mental energy.

"He shut his eyes with all his might, and tried to think of sheep jumping over a wall."

Answer 4

It helps you get to sleep because you focus on the sheep instead of all the things wandering through you're head that you worry about...

It's also a boring task.  When you're bored you get tired.

It was started by the shepards in the "old days".  When they brought them in from the fields, they had to count them to make sure they weren't missing any.  When they did this they got sleepy.

Answer 5

It might have come about because shepherds doze off on the job. Not necessarily because they count the sheep but because it's boring looking after them.

It's strange because normally to fall asleep you have to clear your mind of all thoughts.

I tried it when I was a kid and didn't think it was effective because you have to keep your mind active to picture the sheep and count them. If you're tired and you're lying down, you'll doze off no matter what.

Answer 6

counting sheeps may be makes our mind fiddle wid a very simple things that we do not think bout the rest n as its boring v sleep very fast

i hav no idea how it began these things spread like fire u cannot guess hu thought of it