A simple breath exercise to help you sleep
4-7-8 breathing to relax your mind, eases anxiety and help you fall asleep
This is a helpful breath exercise that I learnt a few years ago that relaxes your mind, eases anxiety and helps you fall asleep quickly. The use of slow deep breaths eases your body into a relaxed (parasympathetic) state. Breathe slowly and deeply into the belly; your belly should rise gently with each in-breath, and lower gently with each out-breath. The important numbers to remember for this breath exercise are 4 - 7 – 8.
Are you ready to begin?
Find a comfortable position to begin; I recommend lying on your back with a pillow under your knees and hands gently resting on your belly. Otherwise, find a comfortable sitting position with your hands on your lower belly.
4 – breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose for a count of 4; you can feel your belly gently fill out under your hands as you breathe in deeply
7 – hold your breath for a count of 7
8 – breathe out slowly through your mouth for a count of 8; you can feel your belly gently lower under your hands as you release your breath
Inhale- 2-3-4
Hold-2-3-4-5-6-7
Exhale- 2-3-4-5-6-7-8
Repeat this breath exercise at least 5 times, and feel free to continue if you’re enjoying this mindful time with your breath.
With each cycle of this breathing sequence you will notice that your breath naturally becomes slower and deeper; the tension releases from your body, you are feeling more grounded and more relaxed
Variations:
Some people find it difficult to either
hold their breath for 7 counts,
or to exhale for 8 counts;
so it’s completely fine to gradually build up to these intervals.
Try starting with 4-4-5 (inhale -2-3-4, hold-2-3-4, exhale-2-3-4-5), then when that is manageable try 4-5-6; and when you have the hang of that sequence, try 4-6-7.
Or if you are finding that holding your breath is too hard; its’ ok to skip the holding breath part of this breath practice. You can focus on making your out-breath longer then your in-breath instead. Breathe in for 4 counts, breathe out for 5 counts focusing on slow deep breaths into your belly.
In-2-3-4, Out-2-3-4-5
This all still helps with relaxing your body and releasing your anxiety. You are still able to engage your resting (parasympatheric nervous system) state