This Exercise could help you sleep and reduce anxiety
Tense at work or struggling to drift off at night ? Then maybe Dr Weil’s 4-7-8 breathing technique could help. Harvard trained Dr Andrew Weil advocates practising the ‘relaxing breath’ twice a day in order to reduce tension or help you sleep.
The technique is a ‘natural tranquiliser for the nervous system’; it mimics aspects of yoga and meditation and helps the body unwind. According to Dr Weil's YouTube channel: 'The 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise is utterly simple, takes almost no time, requires no equipment and can be done anywhere. '
Sitting up with your back straight, Dr Weil suggests you do the following twice a day, for six to eight weeks until you have mastered the technique.
1) Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
2) Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
3) Hold your breath for a count of seven.
4) Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.
5) This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.
'Note that you always inhale quietly through your nose and exhale audibly through your mouth. The tip of your tongue stays in position the whole time,' Weil stresses.
'Exhalation takes twice as long as inhalation. The absolute time you spend on each phase is not important; the ratio of 4:7:8 is important,' he continues.
The most important part of the process is holding your breath for eight seconds.
Keeping the breath in allows oxygen to fill your lungs and then circulate effectively around the body.
This extra oxygen can have a relaxing effect.
Focusing on your breath can also distract you from stressful thoughts and allow you to calmly focus.
There are similarities to the practices of mindfulness and yoga which both use breathing techniques to focus the mind.
Dr Weil is an author as well as a trained physician and lives in Tucson, Arizona.(source)