How Frozen Peas Could Help You Sleep

A TikToker has revealed a hack that can help you sleep if you suffer from night-time anxiety.

Waking up in the middle of the night because you're stressing about an upcoming exam, reflecting on a mistake you made over eight years ago, or panicking about whether or not you forgot your best mate's birthday can make it extremely difficult to then return to peaceful slumber.

However, as always, TikTok has all the answers to your burning questions, and this latest hack involves grabbing yourself a pack of peas.

Peas: delicious, easy to store, and apparently now with sleep-healing power.

Frankie Simmons, who calls herself the 'internet big sis', has taken to TikTok to share day five of her 'holy grails of [her] nervous system regulation tool kit'.

Explaining her own difficulties with anxiety during the night, Simmons reveals her discovery surrounding the 'vagas nerve' which bypasses the long breathing techniques, energy work and tea-drinking she previously tried to lull herself back to sleep.

'The vegas nerve is one of the longest nerves in your body and it controls a lot of your parasympathetic nervous system – AKA the nervous system in control of calming you down. Whenever we're talking about nervous system regulation, it's kind of the final boss because if [the vagus nerve] ain't happy, nobody's happy', she explains.

@heyfrankiesimmons/TikTok

Simmons goes on to reveal that if you apply cold to the vagus nerve, it 'helps to release inflammation, it stimulates [the vagus nerve] and helps it do its job better.'

'You can do this by taking ice-cold showers. You can do this by taking dips in ice-cold lakes. But, if you want to save yourself the discomfort, just put an ice pack on the center of your chest. Wrap it in a towel, put it right there, lie down for at least 15 minutes and it is [chef's kiss] a game-changer,' she states.

However, if you don't have an ice pack, Simmons explained how she once used a pack of peas, which 'changed [her] life'. 'I want everybody to know about this magic,' she concluded.

@heyfrankiesimmons/TikTok

The post has since amassed over 3.3 million views, with users flooding to the video in appreciation of the tip. One said: 'I saw this video a few weeks ago and I tried using an ice pack when I couldn’t sleep. It has helped me SO much! Thank you!!!!!.'

Another wrote: 'u can also take a single cube and place it on those spots behind ur ear. same thing but don’t need as much ice. works a lil quicker. tip for more.'

A third commented: 'Not me immediately getting a frozen burrito and shoving it down my shirt.'

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Topics: Food and Drink, TikTok

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.