Doctor reveals one thing anyone who struggles to fall asleep 'should never do'

One of the most frustrating feelings is lying in bed and watching the hours tick by painfully slowly as you struggle to fall asleep - not to mention that it always seems to happen when you've got a big day ahead of you.

While there are plenty of remedies you can try - from counting sheep to lavender pillow spray - sometimes your brain just does not want to switch off.

And as daylight hours vary throughout the year, it can be quite confusing for our bodies to get into a strict sleeping routine.

While most experts will advise on what you can do to help you through the night, a doctor has revealed the one thing you should never do if you're struggling to drift off.

Los Angeles-based anesthesiologist and medical school educator Dr Myro Figura shared the warning with his 857,000 followers over on TikTok - and it's not what you would expect.

Although this might be the opposite of what you would usually do, he explained that the one thing you absolutely 'do not want to do is stay in bed'.

Dr Myro advises: "If after 30 minutes you can't fall asleep, your brain is too activated and you need to change the environment. Things like knitting, reading, staring out of the window. You need to restart the secretion of melatonin by your pineal gland."

However, the doctor's second no-no is 'absolutely no screens', so make sure your chosen way to wind down is not scrolling through TikTok, no matter how tempting it might be.

The doctor continued: "Your laptop and your phone will emit blue light that will interrupt that cycle."

If that still doesn't work and you're still not feeling tired, the doctor suggests trying some deep breathing techniques.

He added: "If this is still not working, now take a melatonin and repeat the cycle again. But do not go to bed until you actually feel sleepy."

One method you could try, which health professionals are seemingly raving about, is the 4-7-8 method.

One of the many professional promoters of this ground-breaking approach is Dr Michael Breus - a sleep specialist and psychologist, who has dedicated his entire life to helping others catch their Zzzs.

Sharing his expertise - which include neat tips and tricks for sleep health - on TikTok, a recent video of his went viral after viewers tried and tested his recommended technique and were pleasantly surprised by the results.

"One of the things people always ask me about is, ‘What can I do in the middle of the night to get back to sleep?’ or ‘I’m having a hard time falling asleep, what is an exercise that I can do?'", he can be heard telling his fans.

"My favourite is 4-7-8 breathing. It helps lower your heart rate, and makes you pretty tired. You breathe in for a count of four, hold it for a count of seven, then breathe out for a count of eight.

"What this does is it pulls all the carbon dioxide out of your lungs, puts in fresh oxygen, which means your heart has to work less and you get to fall asleep."