Featured Image Credit: Oleg Breslavtsev/Flashpop/Getty Images
Topics: Health, Mental Health, TikTok, Hacks
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Health, Mental Health, TikTok, Hacks
There's nothing worse than trying to drift off to sleep when there are things playing on your mind.
Work, health and familial stresses can each have a huge impact on our ability to relax, and worrying about the worst case scenario can leave you lying in bed, staring at the ceiling for what feels like a lifetime.
On top of this, the fact that a lack of sleep can make you even more anxious the following day means this is often a vicious cycle that seems inescapable.
And with a plethora of sleep experts suggesting their own vastly varying ways to hit the hay, it can be impossible to distinguish the magic solutions from the myths.
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One technique you may not yet be familiar with, however - which health professionals are seemingly raving about at the minute - is the the 4-7-8 method.
One of the many professional promoters of this ground-breaking approach is Dr Michael Breus - a sleep specialist and psychologist, who has dedicated his entire life to helping others catch their zzz's.
Sharing his expertise - which include neat tips and tricks for sleep health - on TikTok, a recent video of his went viral after viewers tried and tested his recommended technique and were pleasantly surprised by the results.
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"One of the things people always ask me about is, ‘What can I do in the middle of the night to get back to sleep?’ or ‘I’m having a hard time falling asleep, what is an exercise that I can do?'", he can be heard telling his fans.
"My favourite is 4-7-8 breathing. It helps lower your heart rate, and makes you pretty tired. You breathe in for a count of four, hold it for a count of seven, then breathe out for a count of eight.
"What this does is it pulls all the carbon dioxide out of your lungs, puts in fresh oxygen, which means your heart has to work less and you get to fall asleep."
And later, speaking about the idea on the Today show, Michael said it was a ‘very easy’ method to improve your sleep, explaining how it’s a great way to ‘calm’ your mind and body down.
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"If you wake up in the middle of the night thinking through how to get calm and relaxed, [this is a] very easy thing to do," he said.
"What this does is it lowers your heart rate in the middle of the night.”
This, he said, provides a calming sensation – which, in turn, makes it easier to get back to sleep.
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Michael added: "Your circadian rhythm affects your digestion, your cognition and your sleep.”