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After a demanding day and during long-term stress or strong agitation it can be almost impossible to fall asleep. You roll from side to side and no position is comfortable enough. Besides, you constantly check the time until the alarm will ring. And the more you focus on the fact that you absolutely need to fall asleep because you get up early in the morning, the worse the whole situation becomes and you are less able to fall asleep. However, a simple and easy method described in this article can help you.
Simple counting while breathing
This breathing exercise is suitable to do regularly, every day after waking up and also every night before sleep, because this way you train your body and improve the effect. Besides shortening the time needed to fall asleep, this simple trick based on the 4-7-8 counting will help, for example, in stressful situations, panic attacks, or when you need to lower blood pressure in tense and demanding moments.
Deep breath
The first step that starts it all is the inhale. It should be deeper, but at the same time you are not competing for the biggest breath. Keep your tongue in a relaxed position so that it touches the palate. Then slowly inhale through your nose and calmly count to the number 4 in your head.
Hold your breath
Now hold your breath while remaining relaxed, and count to 7 in your head. Your body will now have enough time to absorb the oxygen. During this time the organs relax and, thanks to concentrating on the counting, you clear your head of distracting thoughts that prevent sleep. In this way the oxygen content in your blood also naturally increases and your body begins to relax.
Calming exhale
Exhale all the air through your mouth while counting to the number 8. Try to exhale evenly and as smoothly as possible. With the slow exhale we ensure that all the air that has already been used is completely pushed out of the body. With a bit of practice you can use this trick anywhere to get into a state of relaxation within a few seconds, which can be very practical in stressful situations or panic attacks.
