Worth a try the next time you're tossing and turning!
Sleep is the best.
In fact getting a good night's sleep has been linked to a healthier heart, an improved memory, weight-loss and a lower risk of depression.
But it's no secret that for a lot of us, falling asleep can be quite the challenge - especially if you wake up in the middle of the night
Various techniques exist that are said to help people who have a hard time shutting their eyes.
But according to one doctor, the 4-7-8 breathing technique is the best of the lot.
Dr Andrew Weil, who specialises in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona, says the breathing exercise comes from Indian yogis who use it as part of their meditation practice.
Here's how to do it:
- Inhale through your nose for a count of four.
- Hold that breath for seven seconds
- Finally take another eight seconds to slowly exhale from your mouth.
- Repeat until (hopefully) you enter dreamland.
“It’s the single best method that I’ve found for dealing with getting back to sleep if you wake up in the middle of the night,” he said.
“The theory is that by imposing certain rhythms on the breath with your voluntary system, gradually these are induced into the involuntary nervous system,” Dr Weil said.
“And that comes with time. So it’s the regularity of doing this over a period of weeks, months, years that produces the changes that you want.”
It's worth a try the next time you're tossing and turning.
