4 7 8 Breathing Technique: How To Make You Sleepy and Sleep Like a Baby in a Minute

Peaceful calm dark skinned female model sits crossed legs on floor, practices yoga and tries to relax, breathes deeply, closes eyes, reaches nirvana, holds hands sideways, releases stress. Image from freepik.com

Well, for those of you who often complain of having trouble sleeping, try this 4-7-8 breathing technique. It is said that this method can make you fall asleep in just one minute!

4-7-8 breathing developed by Dr. Andrew Weil is inspired by the ancient yoga technique of pranayama

This technique can help you gain control of your breathing to make it more relaxed and calm.

If done correctly, this technique can make you fall asleep faster.

You have to focus on taking deep, deep breaths to be able to do this technique.

This breathing works by regulating the entry and exit of oxygen from the lungs.

If you relax, oxygen circulation from the lungs to all body tissues will be smoother.

This way, the body will have a sufficient balance that can make the heart rate more stable.

Well, if the heart rate is stable the nervous system will be calmer, so you can easily fall asleep soundly.

This 4-7-8 breathing technique is very simple, doesn’t take much time, and only takes five steps to do it.

Group of young sporty people sitting in easy seat exercise. Image from freepik.com

Before doing this technique, you are advised to sit or lie down with your back straight.

During this process, you must place the tip of your tongue on the back of the tissue behind the upper front teeth.

After that, try to exhale through the mouth around your tongue, then do the following five steps:

1. Make a whoosh and exhale completely through your mouth.
2. Close your mouth, inhale slowly through your nose for about four seconds.
3. Hold your breath for a count of seven.
4. Then, exhale through your mouth and make a whoosh sound for a count of eight.
5. Take a breath and repeat the cycle three times, for a total of four breaths.

Hold the breath for 8 seconds, this is the most important part of this process.

This process can help oxygen that was previously in the lungs to circulate throughout the body.

This then produces a relaxing process in the body.

To put you to sleep, you need to routinely do this breathing technique twice a day for two months.

Calm slim female in sports clothes sitting with crossed legs in Padmasana pose on yoga mat while meditating with closed eyes in flat. Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

Through the Medical Daily page, the founder of Northern Westchester Surgical Associates General, Dr. Michelle E. Gordon, said that this method is indeed powerful to make you more relaxed.

She even uses this method to calm his patients after surgery.

However, to be able to make you fall asleep takes time as explained in the previous point.

Until now, there is nothing that can make you sleep quickly, except medicine.

However, this method can still be an alternative breathing exercise to relax the body and invite drowsiness.

After all, you don’t need a lot of energy to do this exercise.

Quite simple and can be a solution, right?