When you feel stressed or anxious before going to bed, you can also practice breathing in this way that calms your emotions.
Experts, who comes up with the 4-7-8 breathing method, told Very Well Mind, that practicing this exercise regularly restores your breathing rate naturally.
Experts also recommends that the practitioner try to breathe slowly, evenly with a longer exhalation than the inhalation to soon notice the effect.
The 4-7-8 breathing method is considered by medical experts to be one of the breathing techniques that can be practiced easily. Below are six steps to this method.
Step 1: You find a comfortable, quiet seat.
Step 2: You touch your tongue on the back of your upper molars.
Step 3: Exhale through the open mouth line, feel the air being pushed out around the tongue.
Step 4: You close your mouth and breathe in slowly through your nose, counting to 4.
Step 5: You hold the air, hold your breath, keep counting to 7.
Step 6: You breathe out strongly through your mouth and continue counting to 8, feeling the whole air being pushed out.
Experts recommends that practicing this technique at least twice a day will notice the results and can be increased to up to 8 cycles as you get used to it.
You can also practice breathing 4-7-8 when you need to relax during work hours, before a speech or presentation in front of a crowd, reviewing your exams, or waking up.
In the beginning, the practitioner may not be used to breathing when trying to control the counting rate and may feel uncomfortable.
You try to get through, practicing regularly will get used to it.
Some 4-7-8 breathing exercise tips can be applied such as focusing attention on the breath instead of being distracted into other thoughts when practicing.
The practitioner should also choose a comfortable sitting position in the middle of a quiet space.
