We tested the “4-7-8” breathing technique, whereby you can fall asleep in 60 seconds

Most people have or have had trouble sleeping. Therefore, many do meditation or listen to calm music. But among many methods, there is a breathing technique called “4-7-8” created by Dr. Andrew Weil, which can be an effective way to deal with stress and anxiety, allowing you to fall asleep more easily.

An author of awesome.club decided to test the method to see if it really works and wants to share with everyone how was his experience using this breathing technique for 7 nights.

Hello everybody! My name is Miriam, I’m 24 years old and I love to sleep. Yes, I plead guilty. That’s why I decided to put this technique into practice, because while I could sleep most of the time, there are times when I just can’t. For a few years now, I have days when insomnia catches up with me, and even though I’m very tired, when I go to bed, everything in my head starts to spin. Thoughts invade me and I start planning what I will do the next day, in a month or in a few years. I remember all the pending activities I have and organize my time in advance. I shift positions and try to clear my mind, but nothing works.

When I read about a supposed magical method that made it possible to fall asleep in 60 seconds, the first thing I thought was that if it works for some people, I wasn’t on this list. But out of curiosity, I wanted to do an experiment to see how well it could work on a person as restless as myself. Before I tell you everything I experienced in those days, I want to talk about the steps that must be followed to correctly apply the “4-7-8” breathing technique.

The method is very simple. To put it into practice, you must follow the following instructions:

Once you’re lying on your bed, position your tongue behind your upper incisors, pressing down and holding it there. Afterwards, inhale and exhale all the air through the nose Then, inhale again and exhale all the air through the mouth, but without changing the position of the tongue and emitting a hiss. Close your mouth and mentally, counting to 4, inhale through your nose as silently as possible. Hold your breath until you reach 7. As you exhale, breathe out through your mouth, whistling and counting to 8.

This whole process is just a breath cycle. Repeat 3 more times to complete 4 in total.

It doesn’t matter how long you do the exercise. The important thing is that you must be constant in the times of 4, 7 and 8.

Most days I wake up at 5:40 am to go to school. On the first day of the experience, I really wanted to sleep, but I resisted. I was exhausted, a little stressed, and ready to put the breathing technique into practice. I thought it would be effective because I already wanted to be in my bed and not know anything else. When I went to sleep, I told my partner that I would do an experiment to see if I could fall asleep faster. I started following the steps and by the time I was in the middle of the process she was already snoring… without doing any breathing exercises!

It always happens to us. When she can’t sleep, she puts on a meditation CD and I listen to it until the end, until the woman in the audio says “sleep tight”. And there I am, awake and sleepless.

Anyway… I kept whistling on the exhale, but I couldn’t get to 60 seconds as the method suggests. Gradually I managed to calm down and relax. Although it took a few minutes, I fell asleep. However, I woke up in the morning scared because I thought I had overslept and my alarm hadn’t gone off. I saw the clock and I still had a few hours to wake up. I fell asleep again, but this cycle repeated itself a few more times. Although it was not a relaxing and steady sleep, I had significant moments of rest thanks to the relaxation that my breathing gave me, and the next day I was able to stay alert. However, as time passed, my sleep increased.

On the second day, I knew that when I got to bed, it would be easy to fall asleep because even though I hadn’t slept as much the night before, I needed to pull myself together and rest. When I went to sleep, my girlfriend kept walking around the room, packing up some things. She turned on the light and made noise, which didn’t let me concentrate. Also, I found it difficult to remember the steps of the technique; so I had to reread them to run them.

Finally, when she turned everything off and lay down beside me, I told her that I was very tired and that I was sure to fall asleep at any moment. I asked her to do the breathing exercise with me and she tried. She said that breathing like that felt a little weird because she couldn’t relax listening to the whistles and that mentally counting while she was breathing didn’t seem like a good idea because she lost the feeling of breathing. And something similar happened to me. Every time she counted I focused more on the numbers than the breath and had to start over. I decided to do the exercise, but not counting… and it worked. It wasn’t 60 seconds, but I managed to fall asleep after taking a few breaths. This time, I was the first to snore.

At this point in the experience, I already understood more about what the technique was about and how it should be applied. It still felt weird holding my breath for 7 seconds, but I tried to follow the steps to the letter to get better results. That day, I wasn’t so tired. It was the best time to test if it really worked or if it only served me when I was already very sleepy.

In the middle of the exercise, between laughs, my girlfriend said to me: “Stop your weird whistles”. I ignored her and kept exhaling, but on one of the hisses, I got stuck and couldn’t get it right. I had a fit of laughter and unintentionally infected my partner. I had to start over.

This time, it didn’t work for me. Not in 60 seconds, not in a few minutes… I had a hard time falling asleep. I started imagining stories about aliens who could invade the world or thieves who could break into my house. My imagination won out that night and the technique didn’t help me much.

I was a little upset about some differences I had with my partner and I didn’t even want to sleep. Fortunately, she always finds a way to cheer me up. I was lying down and all of a sudden she turned off the lights and took the Star Wars sword from the closet. Her inner child floated and all I could do was laugh. I just heard “Surrender to the dark side” and saw the colors change as she waved the toy in the air.

We chatted for a while while she reviewed some papers. When I put on my pajamas, I started to feel that nice feeling of drowsiness. Laying my head on the pillow, I looked up at the ceiling and, to be honest, I didn’t feel like breathing anymore. My girlfriend put a mask full of seeds on my eyes and I felt more relaxed. I think I took two breaths and fell asleep completely.

Friday! There was a party, but I decided to stay home to rest. I used the seed mask again, chose a meditation CD, and started breathing a few times to relax. While I was exercising, my partner was already snoring.

Though relaxed, she couldn’t fall asleep that fast. I started to think she shouldn’t have eaten a giant slice of chocolate cake…you know, regret. I was nervous because the next day my mother-in-law was going to visit us, so I couldn’t concentrate. Background music and darkness helped to calm me down slowly. At some point, I felt calm and, moreover, happy because I knew I didn’t have to wake up early. I fell asleep, except I forgot to turn my weekday alarms off for 5:30 am and had to get up to turn it off. I went back to bed and settled down to continue sleeping. This is what I call “happiness”.

When my mother-in-law arrived, I had to sleep with my mother upstairs. Remember my girlfriend’s snoring? Well… my mom is twice as loud. Fortunately, I was very tired, because my day was over at 1 am and my feet were killing me for everything I had walked. I invited my mother to accompany me in the technique; but I was so tired I didn’t even need to. I took a deep breath and after a few minutes I fell asleep. However, at dawn, I heard strange sounds. I opened my eyes and saw that the door was open. I didn’t realize I had left her like this before going to bed and I was scared.

I saw the clock on the nightstand and it was 3:20 am, so I settled in and went back to sleep.

The last day of my experience arrived and all I wanted was for there to be no interruption, for my breaths to help me relax and sleep so it wouldn’t be difficult to wake up in the morning. This time, I didn’t wear the mask, I didn’t listen to any meditation CDs, there were no snoring or Star Wars fans. I did the breathing exercise automatically and settled into my pillow. I no longer had so many difficulties to perform the method, because, as the days went by, I was getting used to breathing.

It wasn’t 60 seconds, but the technique worked for me after a few minutes and I flipped over. This time I didn’t wake up at dawn, and when my alarm went off, I got up without any problems. It was a restful sleep and I was able to rest.

One of the advantages of this technique is that it is simple to perform; you don’t need to invest a lot of time and you can do it anywhere and in any position. After a few breaths, you may feel more relaxed and this helps you rest better. You have the possibility to accompany the exercise with the music you like the most. Another factor that can increase your sense of tranquility is the use of a mask or scented candles.

This technique is suitable not only for sleep, but also for those times when you feel very stressed and need to calm down. While it may be difficult at first to learn the steps to follow, in practice it is not difficult to memorize them. On the other hand, you also have the possibility to slightly alter the technique as it works for you, decreasing the time or doing other types of breathing that are easier for you.

One of the disadvantages is that it involves a lot of concentration and, in the case of anxious or restless people like me, it is very difficult to have an effect…