Michael Breus

So this technique of four, seven, eight breathing, I actually have taught many of my insomnia patients who wake up in the middle of the night.

So you might have listeners out there who are saying, hold on a second, what is he talking about?

So I have a lot of patients who tell me that they wake up between one and three o'clock in the morning and they have a terrible time falling back to sleep.

This is where breathing can actually come into play to help lower your heart rate, decrease your anxiety and get you back to bed.

The 4-7-8 method works because number one, you're counting during the whole process so you can't think of anything else.

And because of the way you're breathing, it's lowering your heart rate at the same time.

This allows you to not think and just breathe.

And then the natural sleep process has a tendency to take over.

And so that pattern is, just run me through it again, four.

Sure.

Go ahead.

Seven, eight, breathing.

Actually, we can do it together.

So everybody listening, you would do it like this.

Breathe in, two, three, four.

Hold, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

That's it.

It's very simple.

And you count in your head and you go through it 10 to 12 times and you really get involved and you're counting and you're breathing and you get into it and you just stop thinking.