The 4-7-8 technique is a relaxation exercise where you inhale for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 7, and exhale for a count of 8. Faculty of Medicine, by email.
Rebecca Robbins, medical lecturer at Harvard Medical School and associate scientist in the Department of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham University, said: Women’s Hospital in Boston. “But exercises like the 4-7-8 technique give us the opportunity to practice staying calm, which is exactly what we should do before going to bed.”
“It doesn’t ‘put you to sleep,’ but rather reduces anxiety and may increase your chances of falling asleep,” says Joshua Tull, a clinical psychologist based in New York State.
Mechanism of 4-7-8
The 4-7-8 method doesn’t require any equipment or specific setup, but you should sit with your back straight when you first learn the exercise, says Weil. Practicing in a quiet, quiet place can help, says Robbins. Once you get the hang of it, you can use the technique while lying in bed.
As you exhale through your mouth around your tongue throughout the exercise, place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue behind your upper front teeth. Then, according to Weil, follow these steps:
- Exhale completely through your mouth with a hissing sound.
- With your mouth closed, breathe in gently through your nose and count to four.
- Hold your breath and count to seven.
- Exhale through your mouth for a count of eight hissing sounds.
- Repeat this process three more times for a total of four breathing cycles.
According to Weil, maintaining a 4-count, 7-count, and 8-count ratio is more important than the amount of time spent in each phase.
“If you find it difficult to hold your breath, increase the speed of the exercise, but keep the ratio of the three phases (consistent). You can get used to it,” advises his website.
Survey results
According to Dasgupta, when you’re under stress, your sympathetic nervous system (which governs the fight-or-flight response) becomes overactive and overstimulated to the point that you’re not ready to relax and go to sleep. “An active sympathetic nervous system can cause a rapid heart rate and rapid, shallow breathing.”
The 4-7-8 breathing technique helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest and digestion, reducing sympathetic activity and putting the body in a state conducive to restful sleep. Activating the parasympathetic nervous system allows the anxious brain to focus on something other than “why am I not sleeping?” Tal said.
Proponents may abuse this method, but say more research is needed to establish a clearer link between 4-7-8 and sleep and other health benefits. he added.
“There is some evidence that 4-7-8 breathing helps reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression and insomnia when comparing pre-intervention and post-intervention, but to my knowledge, 4-7-8 8 There are no large randomized controlled trials of respiration,” Tull said. “Studies on[the effect of]diaphragmatic breathing on these symptoms are spotty with no clear relevance due to poor research quality.”
“If you are practicing some of these activities, you will see an increase in the amplitude of theta and delta waves, which indicates that you are in a parasympathetic state,” says Robbins. Slow breathing like the -8 technique reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes and improves lung function.”
what to expect
The 4-7-8 technique is relatively safe, but it can be a little dizzying at first for beginners, says Dasgupta.
“Normal breathing is the balance between inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. If you upset this balance by exhaling more than inhaling, you rapidly deplete the carbon dioxide in your body,” he says. I was. “Low carbon dioxide levels narrow the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain. This reduced blood supply to the brain leads to symptoms such as lightheadedness. That’s why practice is often recommended, so give yourself some time to get used to the technique.”
Unmanaged stress can give a head start in the form of sleep disturbances, Robbins said. You can put yourself in the driver’s seat instead of being a victim of what happens.
