Some suffer from insomnia or do not fall asleep easily and experts believe that there is a certain technique in which a different set of numbers is chanted may help us sleep, which is very necessary for human health.
In this context, Dr. Raj Dasgupta, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Southern California, explained that the technique (4-7-8) can help us sleep, which is a relaxation exercise that includes breathing in for four times, holding the breath for seven times, and then exhaling for eight times. .
The 4-7-8 method is also known as “relaxing breathing” and has ancient roots in pranayama, the yoga practice of regulating breathing, but was repopulated by integrative medicine specialist Dr. Andrew Vail in 2015. “.
Rebecca Robbins, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and research associate in the Department of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said exercises like the 4-7-8 method give the opportunity to feel relaxed and comfortable, which is exactly what he needs. body before going to bed.
As Joshua Tal, a clinical psychologist in New York State explains, the 4-7-8 method “doesn’t make you sleep, but it can help reduce anxiety, increasing the likelihood of falling asleep.”
without equipment
The 4-7-8 method of breathing does not require any specific equipment or preparation, but one only needs to learn how to perform the exercise correctly in the beginning, as they should:
• Choose a quiet place and sit in a straight back position, then lie on the bed as soon as the person senses signs of relaxation of the body.
• The tip of the tongue is placed, for the duration of the exercise, on the edge of the tissue behind the upper front teeth, where the person will exhale through his mouth around his tongue
Then the following steps are followed:
• Exhale completely through the mouth, making a noisy sound.
• Close the mouth and inhale quietly through the nose until the person reaches four times that the person mentally calculates.
• Hold your breath and count up to seven times.
• Exhale through the mouth, wheezing, and mentally counting to eight.
• The exercise is repeated three more times for a total of four breathing cycles.
“If you are having trouble holding your breath, you can do the exercise more quickly and keep the ratio (constant) for the three phases,” Dr. Phil explained on his website. “With repeated practice, you can slow down all the phases and get used to the deeper inhale and exhale.”
parasympathetic nervous system
Dr Dasgupta said that when a person is stressed, their sympathetic nervous system becomes overly active, causing them to feel over-stimulated and unwilling to relax and go to sleep. “
He added that practicing 4-7-8 breathing can help reduce the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, making the body in a state more suitable for restful sleep.
Heart rate and blood pressure
A team of researchers in Thailand studied the direct effects of 4-7-8 breathing on heart rate and blood pressure in 43 healthy young participants. The researchers discovered that after practicing the “comfort breathing” technique, heart rate and blood pressure improved.