Dr. Michael Breus

So I modified the technique and I did four, five, six breathing for two weeks.

Then I moved it to four, six, seven breathing.

Then I did four, seven, eight breathing.

So I don't want anybody to be discouraged because they're having a hard time because the last thing we want to do is make this stressful, right?

Because remember, we want our stress to go down, not up.

So,

If you want to do four, five, six breathing with the fingers and picturing the number as a start for two weeks and then move to four, six, seven, go for it.

That's what we have found to be unbelievably effective overall.

Now, there are instances where somebody gets through this whole four, seven, eight, gets through all 20, and they're still awake, okay?

Here's what I would tell you to do at this point in time.

You have two options.

One,

get up and get out of bed.

Now, for a lot of people, I don't like them to get up and get out of bed.

Only if their heart is starting to beat faster or if they have anxiety, then go ahead and get out of bed.

Now, if you're going to get out of bed, you need to have an area already set up.

So what I recommend for people is they have a chair with a book that they're currently reading with a table lamp next to it, and they can go directly there.

Because what I don't want is at three o'clock in the morning, you're looking around for something to do.

Because what will happen is you'll flip on the TV, you'll get engrossed in a show, and then it's two hours and you don't even realize that it's been two hours.

I want you to go to a calming activity like reading a book.