The 4-7-8 method for falling asleep in less than one minute

A strategy to fall asleep quickly and without the hassle of insomnia.

There is nothing worse than spending the night lying awake in bed, trying to fall asleep and wishing you could rest because the next day you have a hard day's work ahead of you. Not being able to sleep at night will affect your performance throughout the next day and is detrimental not only to your physical health, but also to your mental health. not only to your physical health, but also to your emotional well-being.

There are many tips to end insomnia that I have heard throughout my life, tips that I don't know if they will work for others, but for me they are useless. A glass of hot water before going to bed, an infusion of lime tea, counting sheep... nothing at all.

However, it seems that the solution lies in learning to breathe. Today we will talk about the 4-7-8 method to fall asleep in less than a minute..

What is the 4-7-8 method

The 4-7-8 method is one of the most powerful and effective relaxation techniques that can be practiced anywhere or anytime you feel stressed or anxious. This technique is part of the Yoga breathing practice (Pranayama), and was popularized by Dr. Andrew Weil (Director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona). In fact, the psychological benefits of yoga are many, you can check it out in our article: "The 6 psychological benefits of yoga".

This method is easy and simple to applyIt requires little time to notice its effects, no equipment is needed to carry it out and it can be practiced anywhere, not only in bed to combat insomnia, but also to relax, for example, when attending an important job interview or a decisive exam.

According to Dr. Weil, the 4-7-8 breathing technique helps people to fall asleep in as little as 60 seconds by fall asleep in as little as 60 seconds by acting as a natural calming agent for the nervous system, reducing stress and tension in the body.which reduces stress and tension in the body.

How to do 4-7-8 breathing

In order to use this method to fall asleep quicklyfollow this sequence of steps:

• Get in a comfortable position: If it is to combat insomnia you can do it from your own bed. If what you want is to relax, you can use a posture to meditate when you decide to perform the breathing. If you do not know how to meditate, we invite you to read our article: "How to learn to meditate, in 7 easy steps".

• Press the tip of your tongue just at the top of your front teeth, in the tissue area of the oral cavity. Hold it there during the breathing cycles.

• Breathe deeply through your nose for 4 seconds.

• You must hold your breath for 7 seconds controlling the diaphragm.

• Exhale slowly through your mouth for 8 seconds. As you exhale, imagine that the air exits through the tip of the tongue that remains pressed in the tissue area behind the front teeth.

• Repeat the steps as many times as necessary. Generally, it is not necessary to perform more than 10 cycles in a row. If you feel dizzy, this is normal when you first start practicing this type of technique. This will disappear as you become more familiar with the method.

How it helps you get to sleep quickly

This technique allows you to introduce more oxygen into your body, which relaxes the parasympathetic nervous system.which relaxes the parasympathetic nervous system and slows your Heart rate, promoting a state of calm. In this way, it rebalances the nervous system that can become overstimulated during times of stress.

When it's time to go to sleep, insomnia can feed anxiety and stressful load, because when you see that you can't sleep, you breathe faster and you can't relax. Undoubtedly, this technique is effective so that there is a connection between body, breath and mind, and helps you to be more focused, away from those daily thoughts that prevent us from sleeping..

Also, breathing deeply and holding your breath increases intra-abdominal pressure, thus stimulating the vagus nerve, which sends signals to the brain so that the body reduces its state of alertness and "fight or flight" characteristic of stressful situations.

You can learn more about how this technique works in the audiovisual content below:

Some tips for better sleep

This technique can be useful to relax you at a certain moment and thus be able to find yourself in a better state to fall asleep.. However, insomnia is caused by a series of bad habits that damage both our physical and psychological health.

If you find yourself in a situation where you have difficulty sleeping and you have been doing so for several weeks, you may need to visit a professional who will help you manage the problems that are causing your insomnia. Now, to sleep better you can try a series of habits that will be useful. They are the following:

1. Watch your diet

How we eat and what we eat can affect our sleep. A balanced diet, not to eat copious dinners before going to bed or to maintain a more or less stable timetable of the meals promotes good sleep.

2. Take care of your environment

Environmental conditions influence the quality of sleep. Be in a room where you feel at ease, with the TV turned off, or sleeping on a comfortable mattress with the right pillow make a difference. make all the difference.

3. Don't overdo it with napping

Napping can be beneficial, for example, to perform better and be more productive. However, don't overdo it, do not overdo it, the ideal is half an hour..

4. Do physical exercise

Practicing physical exercise is healthy and, in addition, reduces stress and helps you fall asleep because you will be more tired after exercising. because you will be more tired after exercising.

• You can learn more about these and other tips in our article: "Fight insomnia: 10 solutions to sleep better".