Sleep expert's '4-7-8' method will get you back to sleep in middle of the night
Anyone who has suffered from insomnia or sleep disturbances can attest that it can end up being completely debilitating. Whether you're a new parent up all night with your newborn, or struggling with work stress that you can't get off your mind: difficulties with sleep can impact anyone across the course of their life.
These types of difficulties with getting enough rest can make daily life so much harder: sleep deprivation at its most extreme is even used as a form of torture remember, so it's by no means a superficial issue.
Not getting enough sleep can have a hugely detrimental impact on being able to manage the multitude of things on your plate and really increase anxiety levels, so expert insight like this '4-7-8' method is always welcomed. The best part about this approach is you don't need any extra tools, just your own breath, which also means it costs absolutely nothing.
The tip comes from sleep expert Dr Michael Breus, who is clinical psychologist with two decades of experience of sleep medicine. In a video posted to his Tiktok account, @thesleepdoctor, he explained why this is his absolutely "favourite" approach to recommend to those who are suffering from sleeping difficulties.
"One of the things people always ask me about is: 'what can I do in the middle of the night to get back to sleep?' Or 'I'm having a hard time falling asleep, what is an exercise that I can do?'"
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The doctor explains that his 4-7-8 breathing method "helps lower your heart rate and makes you pretty tired. You breathe in for a count of four, hold it for a count of seven and then breathe out for a count of eight. What this does is it pulls all the carbon dioxide out of your lungs. Puts in fresh oxygen, which means your heart has to work less and you get to fall asleep".
If you don't get enough sleep, your body and mind don't have the ability to repair themselves and rejuvenate for the day ahead. On average we need about 7-9 hours of sleep as adults, although children and adolescents need more because they're growing. The amount of sleep we need isn't a hard and fast rule, because some people naturally can get by on a little less, but everyone will suffer if they aren't getting enough rest.
Our internal body clock is called the circadian rhythm and Dr Breus has said previously to the Today Show that it can impact everything from "your digestion, your cognition and your sleep" - it's also impacted by light. Our bodies release something called melotonin once it gets dark, which acts as a signal that it's approaching time to sleep. Once dawn breaks, a hormone called cortisol is released, signalling it's time to wake up, according to the Sleep Foundation.
Lights from electronic devices are said to confuse this natural hormonal process, and therefore disrupt our internal body clocks, meaning we might not get enough sleep. So it's good practice to step away from your devices a few hours before your bedtime. Not scrolling in the comfort of your bed might sound appealing, but not getting enough sleep has been linked to increase risk of stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure and even early death.
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