The present disclosure relates to communication methods. One example method includes within a first discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle, starting, by a terminal device, a first timer (for example, a DRX inactivity timer (drx-InactivityTimer)) when a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) indicates a new transmission. When the first timer expires at or after a time position for sending an indication signal, the terminal device does not receive the indication signal, where the time position is configured by a network device for the terminal device, and the indication signal is used to indicate the terminal device to sleep.