4-7-8 Breathing for Better Sleep

September 16, 2020

Falling asleep is a HUGE problem for some of us. With all that we have going on, it can be very hard to shed the stressors of the day with enough conviction to get our bodies to settle in for sleep. You can’t just go from a 55 mph day (or, dare I say, 65 mph?!?) straight down to zero in a matter of minutes — our bodies need winding-down time. But, for many of us, winding-down time isn’t an option. A quick way to get your body to switch into that calm, resting mode is by doing some deep or controlled breathing. The following is an amazing — and amazingly simple — technique I picked up a few years ago. I do this when I'm lying in bed trying to fall asleep every night.  The more you do it, the better at it you get (meaning, the slower you can breathe). It's called 4-7-8 breathing:

1. Breathe in to the count of 4 through your nose.

2. Hold your breath to the count of 7.

3. Breathe out to the count of 8 through your mouth (or your nose is fine too, if you don't like the way it feels to breathe out through your mouth in this exercise).

4. Repeat for a total of 4x at least.  You can do it as many times as you want, but at least 4.

 I hope you’ll give this a try — and try it for more than a few days. Try it for a solid month. And please do let me know if you’ve found it effective for you!