Simple exercises, such as meditation, qi gong, Tai Chi, or breathing techniques, are powerful tools to help calm an overworked nervous system. Specifically, the 4-7-8 breathing method is a valuable technique to help reduce stress and improve sleep quality. It is a controlled approach to breathing that works to activate the sympathetic nervous system and calm heart rate.
What Is The 4-7-8 Breathing Method?
The 4-7-8 breathing method is quite simple, entailing a rhythmic pattern that requires you to:
- Inhale for four seconds
- Hold your breath for seven seconds
- Exhale through your mouth for eight seconds
Some practitioners refer to the 4-7-8 breathing method as “relaxing breath,” and it helps to quiet the mind and bring the body into a more balanced state. The slow, controlled breathing pattern may help to:
- Shift the body out of its stress response and lower the heart rate to support relaxation by activating the parasympathetic nervous system.
- Support mindfulness and improve focus by anchoring your attention to a specific pattern.
- Regulate your breath, since many people have chronically shallow breathing habits. By shifting to deep, intentional breathing, you can counteract that.
- Reduce feelings of anxiety and enhance respiratory efficiency by improving carbon dioxide tolerance.
How To Practice The 4-7-8 Breathing Method
Below is a simple step-by-step guide on how to correctly perform the 4-7-8 breathing method:
- Sit up straight or lie down and make yourself comfortable.
- Relax your jaw and place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind your upper teeth.
- Inhale through your nose for four seconds.
- Gently hold this breath for seven seconds.
- Exhale through your mouth for eight seconds, letting the air out with an audible “whoosh.”
- Repeat this for a total of four times, and you can work up to eight cycles as you get more comfortable with the technique.
Supports Better Sleep
A lot of people use the 4-7-8 breathing method as a natural way to fall asleep by settling the nervous system. One study involving 64 healthy adults found that doing a slow-paced breathing intervention for 30 days (about 15 minutes every night) significantly improved sleep quality. The practice also increased nighttime cardiac vagal activity (high-frequency heart-rate variability) compared to the controlled group.
A small study observed 14 people with self-reported insomnia and 14 good sleepers. Researchers found that one 20-minute session of slow-paced breathing before sleep reduced sleep-onset latency and decreased the number of night wakings. The effects were correlated with increased heart rate variability. Those small studies suggest that controlled breathing, such as the 4-7-8 breathing method, before bed may shift the autonomic nervous system into a parasympathetic response to calm the body.
Helps Lower Heart Rate To Aid Relaxation
People who practice the 4-7-8 breathing method report that they feel noticeably calmer within minutes. That is because longer exhales naturally stimulate a relaxing response. One study of 43 healthy young adults (ages 19 to 25) tested the immediate effects of the 4-7-8 breathing method. The participants did six cycles per set for a total of three sets. After they completed the sets, they experienced a significant decrease in heart rate and systolic blood pressure. Researchers also noted that participants showed increases in heart rate variability, indicating that the breathing technique shifted the autonomic nervous system toward a relaxed state.
Helps Reduce Anxiety And Stress
By slowing the breath and lengthening the exhale, you can increase vagus nerve activity, which quiets the body’s fight-or-flight response. In a randomized, controlled trial of 90 bariatric surgery patients, researchers compared routine care, a deep breathing program, and the 4-7-8 breathing method after surgery. The 4-7-8 breathing method showed significant reductions in anxiety scores on post-test measures compared to both the control and deep breathing groups.
Another study involved 22 sleep-deprived people and 21 healthy sleepers. Participants performed three sets of the 4-7-8 breathing method (six cycles per set). Once they completed the exercise, both heart rate and systolic blood pressure decreased, as did high-frequency heart rate variability. Additionally, another randomized controlled trial showed that slow-paced deep breathing for 20 minutes per day for four weeks reduced perceived stress and increased heart rate variability.
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
