You’re in bed and your body is ready. Your mind isn’t yet.
Today’s conversation keeps going around in circles, tomorrow is coming by, and somewhere in between you realise you forgot something. The harder you try to push it away, the more awake you become.
Trying to switch off your mind with your mind simply doesn’t work. Breathing gets you much further.
Your heart rate follows your breathing
Place your fingers on your neck and breathe steadily. When you inhale, your heart rate rises, and when you exhale, it drops again. Every breath gives a small push on the gas and then a small push on the brake.
That brake is a nerve that runs from your brainstem to your heart and your organs. It belongs to the part of your nervous system that restores, starts digestion, and lowers your heart rate. As you exhale, that nerve becomes more active, and as you inhale, less so.
You can use that. If you make your exhale longer than your inhale, you get more braking time than gas time, and that is exactly the direction you want to go in the evening.
What the 4-7-8 breathing does
Four counts in, seven counts hold, eight counts out. That is how the exercise is known, and the ratio is the whole point, because you exhale twice as long as you inhale.
There’s something else too. One round takes almost twenty seconds, so you end up at about three breaths per minute. At rest, you normally do twelve to sixteen, and you can feel that difference in your heart rate pretty quickly.
The counting itself helps too, by the way. Your mind has something to do that has nothing to do with tomorrow, and that is part of why it works.
Where most people go wrong
They force the hold. Seven counts is too long for many people at first, and then you end up fighting your breathing when you were trying to relax. Start with four counts in, four hold, and six out, and build it up slowly.
They blow out through their mouth. In the original version that’s allowed, but for sleep I prefer to keep it entirely through the nose. You don’t dry out your mouth, and at the same time you practise the way of breathing you need for the rest of the night.
And they do thirty rounds in a row. More is not better here, because going on too long can make you feel lightheaded.
What you can do about it
Do it like this. Lie on your side with the light already off. First exhale fully once. Then inhale for four counts through your nose, hold for seven counts, and exhale for eight counts through your nose, with your lips gently together.
Do four rounds and stop after that. If it feels easy after a week, you can add two more.
Use the same exercise when you wake up at night. That is exactly the moment when your mind switches on and four rounds are enough to bring your heart rate back down.
Don’t judge it by how long it takes you to fall asleep today. This is an exercise, and you get better at it, so give it a week or two. The evenings when you need it most are precisely the evenings when it goes the least smoothly.
And keep in mind that the exercise stops the moment you drift off. After that, your body takes over and breathes the way it is used to, so a fast, shallow breath returns once you fall asleep. That is also why the exercise doesn’t work if your nose is blocked. Nasal strips keep your nasal passage open with a splint that pulls your nostrils outward, and mouth tape keeps your mouth closed once you’ve fallen asleep.
This week’s habit
Four rounds as soon as you turn the light off. Every night, even on the nights when you’re already tired and think you don’t need it.
Don’t turn on your phone to count the seconds; just count quietly in your head. It doesn’t have to be exactly four counts :)
After a week, notice how long it takes you to drift off. That’s the first thing that changes.
Every Night 1% Better.
Guy Veeke
PS: Want to breathe well at night too?
Then you can try the Snoozeless Deep Sleep Duo. The combination of nasal strips and mouth tape keeps your nose open and your mouth closed, so calm breathing through your nose is actually possible.
