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These days, it seems like everybody suffers from stress, anxiety, and major sleep deprivation.
In fact, according to NPR, a surprising 60 per cent of Americans reportedly suffer from insomnia—and the majority of those people are overly stressed Millennials.
Poor sleep can lead to a slew of health issues, like depression, weight gain, heart disease, high blood pressure, and even diabetes.
Many people who suffer from insomnia can’t sleep because they feel so anxious about falling asleep. Nothing will delay a good night’s sleep quite like racing thoughts, a rapid heartbeat, and heavy, shallow breathing.
Don’t you think you’d fall asleep easier if you could just relax? While Western medicine doesn’t focus much on the link between breathing and anxiety, many practitioners of Eastern wellness methodologies swear that relaxed breathing is the key to a better night’s sleep.
One particular breathing technique that’s starting to make waves in the West, after appearing on Oprah.com, is the “4-7-8 exercise.”
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Alina Gonzalez, who wrote “How I Learned to Fall Asleep in Under 1 Minute” for Byrdie.com, claims that this powerful breathing technique helped ease her anxiety and relaxed her body so quickly that she can now fall asleep in under a minute by trying it.
Here’s how to do the “4-7-8 exercise” to fall asleep faster tonight:
- Hold the tip of your tongue against the tissue just above your front teeth. Keep it in place there for the remainder of the exercise.
- Slowly exhale through your mouth completely before starting the exercise.
- Now, close your mouth and slowly inhale through your nose while mentally counting to 4.
- Hold your breath for a total of 7 seconds.
- Exhale slowly through your mouth for a mental count of 8 seconds.
- This is the complete cycle. You should already feel less anxious and more relaxed. Repeat the process about two or three more times, until you finally doze off.
Have you tried this exercise? If so, tell us how it worked for you in the comments!
