The wisdom of Wednesday 3 june 2020

We hope you managed to find some sanity or at least sleep a little easier with the Military Method we posted last week, if not we will expand on this today with the 4-7-8 breathing exercise.

This is a sleep inducing breathing exercise that becomes more effective with practice. However, if you have a respiratory condition, such as asthma or COPD, please ensure that you check with your doctor before trying it as it could serve to aggravate your symptoms.

It is also not advisable to practice this whilst driving a car or operating machinery…

Give it a try, see if it works for you and tune in few Wednesdays to learn about one of our personal favourites; Progressive Muscle Relaxation another exercise that underpins the Military Method along with the 4-7-8 breathing exercise on the next slide.

4-7-8 breathing:

You may find it useful to place the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth, behind your two front teeth.  Try to let your tongue remain there throughout the exercise and purse your lips if you feel a need to.

• Lay down in bed or recline into a chair and put your feet up.
• Let go of your thoughts.
• Allow your lips to part slightly and exhale through your mouth creating a whooshing sound as you exhale.
• Then close your lips and inhale silently through your nose. Count to 4 in your head.
• Now hold your breath. Count to 7 in your head
• After, exhale (again with the whooshing sound) for the count of 8.
• And repeat
• Don’t try to be alert at the end of each cycle. Aim to practice it mindlessly.
• Complete this cycle for four full breaths. if you feel relaxation coming over you before this allow sleep to take you earlier than anticipated.

If you think of some more tips tricks or strategies that work for you – please be sure to let us know.

Sleep well and sweet dreams.