A simple exercise for those who find everyday stress, prolonged holidays or extreme activity during the day prevent them from falling asleep and getting a good night’s sleep.
People of the XNUMXst century, the so-called generation Y, have several distinctive features: they are technologically advanced, tolerant of each other and the world around them, and have a broad outlook. Two more properties have been added to this set of properties: generation Y does not get enough sleep and constantly experiences stress, and these phenomena are interconnected.
“Fight or flight” or… sleep?
Stress is a typical manifestation of the fight-or-flight defense mechanism that all living beings have. It mobilizes the resources of the body in case of danger: the adrenal glands produce adrenaline, pressure rises, the heart rate accelerates, muscles tense up, and breathing quickens.
But if for our distant ancestors everything was obvious: a tiger attacked – run, a hostile tribe attacked – fight, today it is often pointless to respond to stress with fight or flight. But the body “does not know” about this, and if, already lying in bed, we scroll through the events of the past day in our head, we most likely will not be able to fall asleep. 42% of Russians can’t fall asleep for a long time, according to a VTsIOM poll1.
Breathing as a way to sleep
“Since breathing affects biological and psychological processes, as well as mood changes, simply focusing on it can relax the body and calm the mind,” says physician Andrew Weil. In stressful situations, the body is programmed for rapid shallow breathing (the upper third of the chest), so those who are nervous suffer from a chronic lack of oxygen in the blood. The “four-seven-eight” technique is aimed at combating this, as well as with improper breathing in general.
The method is simple and consists of four steps:
Stage 1, preparatory: lying in bed, press the tip of the tongue to the sky just behind the upper teeth (it will remain there throughout the exercise). Forcefully exhale the air from the lungs, so that a whistling sound is obtained. At the same time, fold your lips with a tube.
Step 2: counting to yourself to four, slowly inhale the air through your nose.
Step 3: hold your breath while counting to seven to yourself.
Step 4: Exhale slowly until you count to eight.
Repeat the exercise four times. If you usually spend at least half an hour falling asleep, this exercise will allow you to fall asleep in a couple of minutes.
What is the focus here? In fact, there are two of them: physiological and psychological.
The physiological one is that, firstly, this way of inhaling allows air to fill all the lungs, and not just their upper part, as happens with rapid breathing; secondly, holding the breath allows more oxygen to enter the blood; and finally, slow exhalation relaxes the muscles and removes much more carbon dioxide than with a normal exhalation.
The psychological background is this: when our mind is focused on the score, it can no longer be distracted by disturbing thoughts that prevent us from falling asleep. Have a good sleep!
1 wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=10193