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Doctor's unique 4-7-8 technique could fix your sleep problems instantly

Try this next time you're staring at the clock wondering why you can't sleep.

via Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels
The 4-7-8 technique can help you fall asleep.

Are you having a hard time falling asleep? If so, you're not the only one. Falling and staying asleep typically becomes more difficult as adults get older. We spend less time in deep sleep and REM sleep, and we struggle to fight off our worries and anxieties while lying in silence. Did you know there's actually a name for the phenomenon where you keep yourself awake by lying there and wondering why you're still awake? It's called "spectatoring" and it's incredibly frustrating.

Worse yet, the older we get the more likely we are to wake in the night and have trouble falling back asleep. This is why more and more Americans are turning to white noise, melatonin, meditation apps, special pillows, and anything they think can help them get most rest.

Fortunately, a doctor has shared the “most powerful” relaxation technique he knows, and it doesn’t require any equipment or cost a dime.


sleep, dr. andrew weil, fall asleep fast, relaxation techniques, breathing techniques, calm, anxiety, science, meditationEver stare at the clock and repeatedly wonder why you can't fall asleep? It's called "spectatoring." Photo by Mpho Mojapelo on Unsplash

Dr. Andrew Weil has dubbed it the 4-7-8 method and it’s backed up by science.

Dr. Weil is an expert in integrative medicine and the founder and director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona.

The technique is simple:

  1. Breathe in through your nose while you count to 4.
  2. Hold your breath while you count to 7.
  3. Exhale while you count to 8.

It's a unique protocol, especially when compared to another popular technique like Box Breathing. Box Breathing calls for an inhale, hold, exhale, and another hold of equal time (4 seconds). The extended exhale, in particular, is what makes Dr. Weil's 4-7-8 so original.

Here's Dr. Weil explaining his method:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Dr. Weil says the method creates a "very pleasant, altered state of consciousness" that you may not experience the first time but will come as a "reward" of regular practice. Dr. Weil insists that the 4-7-8 technique is a practice, and you must do four breath cycles at least twice a day to get the benefits. "After a month, you can increase to 8 breath cycles if you're comfortable with it," adding that's the "absolute maximum."

Dr. Weil says that 4 to 6 weeks of doing the practice can lower heart rate, improve blood pressure, digestion and circulation and can promote sleep. A study published in Physiological Reports agrees, saying that practicing the 4-7-8 technique reduces heart rate and blood pressure for several minutes. It's important to note, though, that research is limited on the longterm benefits of 4-7-8 and experts urge us not to overhype it as more than it is.

4-7-8 is also an easy, fast, and effective way to help you fall asleep.


sleep, dr. andrew weil, fall asleep fast, relaxation techniques, breathing techniques, calm, anxiety, science, meditationDeep, intentional breathing may jumpstart melatonin production, helping us sleep. Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

"If you get up in the middle of the night for any reason, it is the most effective anti-anxiety technique that I've found,” Dr. Weil says.

Deep breathing, interestingly enough, has been shown to increase melatonin production in our bodies; that's the hormone that signals to our body that it's time to sleep. Combined with its ability to calm our mind and body, it's no wonder that intentional breathing exercises can put us to sleep in no time.

Why does deep breathing help us calm down and relax so effectively? There are a few reasons. First, when we're stressed or anxious, our breathing naturally becomes more shallow and irregular. Breaking that anxious breath pattern signals to our body that things are OK, that we're in control. Counting and being mindful of our breath also gives our mind something neutral to focus on instead of the usual chaotic images, intrusive thoughts, or worries. Third, deep breath settles down the part of our nervous system that controls our "fight-or-flight" response — and helps with elevated heart rate and muscle tension.

Remember again that 4-7-8 breathing is a practice. It can be used situationally to great effect, but for the best benefits its founder urges you to try it every single day for a cycle of 2-8 cycles.

This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

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Culture

29-year-old moves to UK and is baffled when her boyfriend hides his pajamas under a pillow

"British people: please confirm if I need to send for help"

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An American woman was so confused when she discovered her boyfriend 'hiding' his PJs somewhere strange.

When 29-year-old Cameron moved to London in 2024, she was expecting a bit of culture shock coming from New York City. Though she was used to living in a big city, she knew there were certain things they did differently in the UK, and she expected it would take her time to pick up on all of them.

She had to learn British slang, adapt to their style of greetings and humor, develop a taste for their food, and learn how to properly order a Guinness. Somewhere in all of that excitement, she met a man and fell in love.

When Cameron moved in with her boyfriend, Laurence, she noticed something peculiar about his pajamas: Every night, he'd hide them under his pillow before bed. Was he a serial killer, she wondered, or just British? While making the bed one day, Cameron found a pair of shorts, aka jammies aka pyjamas aka jimjams, tucked behind one of her boyfriend's pillows.

pajamas, pyjamas, sleep, sleep habits, sleep routine, british culture, american culture, culture shock, viral videos, tiktokOne solution: The Bananas never took their Pajamas off.Giphy

Cameron took to TikTok to find out if this was a cultural thing or if she should be concerned about Laurence's strange behavior.

"Can someone please tell me what this is about? I just moved in with my British boyfriend and he does this every morning and I just wanna know why, and if it's actually a thing with other people," she says. She then whips the camera around to show a (rather adorable) pair of pajamas neatly folded and discretely hidden away behind one of the pillows on the bed.

"British people: please confirm Y/N if I need to send for help. Why does he do this??" Cameron captioned the video.

@camabroad

British people: please confirm Y/N if I need to send for help. Why does he do this??

The Brits responded to the call, and came out in full force of the pyjama-hiding boyfriend.

Here are just some of the comments:

"As a British person I can tell you this is ingrained in us from literal birth"

"Where else do you put your pyjamas?"

"Hi! I’m from Spain, I think that’s an European thing, here we do it too"

"I think it’s an European thing as I’m French and used to do this as a child"

"Too clean to put in the laundry, not clean enough to put back in the dresser so we put them under the pillow to wear them again that night."

"Royal inspectors visit 1000s of houses across the U.K. every day and if your pyjamas aren’t under your pillow and your crumpets aren’t in your crumpet bucket you have to give a shilling to the king."

Pajamas under the pillow is normal not just in the UK but all over Europe. It seems to come from a cultural expectation that pajamas don't need to be washed after every use. As a parent who's absolutely drowning in two kids' laundry every day, I totally respect this idea! Maybe we'll even steal it for my household. It's practical and even kind of fun.

Though Americans and Brits speak mostly the same language, and we both need to sleep, our bedtime routines can be drastically different.

Mattress sizes are different in the UK and America, for example. As you'd probably expect, the UK doesn't have anything quite as big as the popular King size—though the British Super King is close.

Americans also religiously drink coffee first thing in the morning whereas many Brits like to wait for mid-morning, if they drink coffee at all. For now, tea still reins supreme.

We Americans are big on white noise while we sleep to drown out distractions and sometimes even our own thoughts. About 52% of Americans use music or white noise to sleep compared with just a quarter of folks in the UK.

Brits also commonly use a hot water bottle to keep the bed warm at night during the winter, something that's completely foreign to Americans. This is partly because of another big difference in how UK and US-ers sleep. In the US, we tend to use a top sheet under our cover or duvet which provides extra insulation and keeps things warmer.

Finally, about a quarter of Americans use melatonin regularly to fall asleep. In the UK, you can only get melatonin with a prescription!

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Our sleep rituals are so personal to us and so vitally important in how we live our lives. You can imagine how jarring it might be to go to another country and discover that you, with your white noise and melatonin and your fresh jammies every night, are the weird one!

TikTok viewers got a kick out of Cameron's discovery, and it's always fun to playfully and respectfully discuss our cultural differences. There's always more to learn!

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Joy

'Hack expert' explains why he can tell your personality by which side of the bed you sleep on

“People who sleep on the right side of the bed earn more money."

via jordan_the-stallion8 and Gary Barnes/Pexels

A couple sleeping and Jordan Howlett sharing sleep facts.

Jordan Howlett recently blew people’s minds with a TikTok video explaining why you can learn a lot about a person based on the side of the bed they prefer. Jordan is a popular creator, who some know as the "Maor of TikTok" with nearly 11 million followers who shares candid monologues, reactions, stories, life hacks, and intriguing fast food secrets.

His video was a response to TikTok users Angelina & Skyler, who confessed they don’t usually pick a side of the bed which sounded strange to a lot of their followers. (FYI: Your side is determined from the perspective of lying in bed. For example, sleeping on the left side means that your partner would sleep to your right.) Howlett responded to their video by explaining why the side you choose is so important. “Psychologically speaking, humans will pick a side of the bed due to attitude towards work, personality, and income,” he says.

@jordan_the_stallion8

#stitch with @Angelina & Skyler || DIY 💚 #fypシ

“People who sleep on the left side of the bed psychologically have a more positive outlook on life, they can deal with heavy workloads, they’re not easily phased by stressful days, and they’re calmer in a crisis than their counterpart,” he continues. “And they’re more confident.”

“People who sleep on the right side of the bed earn more money, have a less positive outlook on life, but are more prepared for worst-case scenarios than their counterparts,” Jordan said. Jordan ends his video with a final fact: “Also, people who are claustrophobic naturally choose to sleep near the wall.”


sleep, sleep side, sleep hacks, right side sleeper, left side sleeper, personality testA couple sharing a bed.via Canva/Photos

The post caused some confusion with those who were neither left- nor right-side sleepers. "I sleep in the middle of my bed. In a nest of pillows with silk pillowcases. No sharing," Cricket wrote in the comments. "I sleep in the middle of my bed. Just saying. What now?" Sir Comment added. "And people who sleep in the middle of the bed have been single for too long," SMO joked.

Although Howlett didn’t cite any specific data, his points are perfectly aligned with current research on the topic. It appears he may have taken his facts from sleep expert Hope Bastine. Recently, Bastine told Cosmopolitan that folks who sleep on the left side are more optimistic than their grumpier, right-side counterparts. She also shed some light on the old saying "woke up on the wrong side of the bed." "If we sleep on a side that’s different to usual, we might not sleep as well (after all, we're creatures of habit). And of course, sleeping badly is a surefire way to make us feel grumpy," she said.

sleep, sleep side, sleep hacks, right side sleeper, left side sleeper, personality testA couple sharing a bed.via Canva/Photos

"According to research, people who sleep on the left are likely to be more cheerful than their right-side counterparts," Bastine said. "A positive outlook allows lefties to be more capable at dealing with a heavy workload, which means they’re not as easily fazed by a stressful day. Those who sleep on the left believe they are calmer than their partner in a crisis and are more confident in general."

This article originally appeared two years ago.

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Mental Health

Wellness expert explains what 'self-care' really is and it's not what we've been sold

Self-care doesn't need to cost you a thing.

Photo credit: Canva

Self-care is not what we've be taught one therapist explains

Self-care. It's something that has been co-opted by wellness influencers and gurus that somehow (and all-too-often) involves spending money on something luxurious. Self-care is often branded as things like pedicures, vacations, and hour-long massages at the spa, but according to Dr. Raquel Martin, we've been doing self-care all wrong.

In July 2024, Martin—a licensed psychologist—uploaded a video to her Instagram explaining what self-care is truly supposed to be. Spoiler alert? It's not meant to be indulgent. At least, indulgence shouldn't be an all-the-time expectation of self-care. Martin acknowledges that the wellness industry has monetized and conflated self-care with self-indulgence, and she explains that having self-care propped up as something that is indulgent isolates people who cannot afford those types of activities.

The psychological toll for conflating self-care with self-indulgence can get dangerously high. In the 2020 Psychology Today article, "Why Does Self-Care Sometimes Feel So Hard?", author and licensed psychologist Alicia H. Clark Psy.D notes that "indulgence stops being self-care when you feel guilty or unhappy with yourself, and this threshold is different for everyone." She goes on to say that "one person's self-caring indulgence can be another's gateway to self-harm, depending on your relationship with the activity, your capacity for moderation, and the reality of its consequences." This makes wellness influencers who tout a heavily indulgent, "treat yo' self" ideology of self-care all the more dangerous. Self-care is not one size fits all, and for those who struggle with self-discipline and moderation, the mindset can do more harm than good.

self-care, indulgence, moderation, treats, discipline Parks And Recreation Treat Yo Self GIFGiphy

So, what is self-care actually? How is it achieved? And is it always supposed to feel good? Dr. Martin goes on to share how she practices self-care, and what she lays out was surprising her viewers. According to Martin, "Self-care is not responding to every call and, if I do not have the bandwidth to have the conversation, stating that I don't have the bandwidth to have the conversation." She also notes that she says "No" to things she doesn't want to do, sets a financial budget, and does not drink caffeine after 4 p.m.

These things might seem a little boring when compared to indulgent self-care, but one thing is clear: these self-care practices are actually good for Martin's body, health, and overall wellness.

Much of what Martin listed are things a lot of people don't consider as self-care, but in actuality, self-care is defined simply by taking care of one's self. This means practicing self-care is getting in a few minutes of exercise a day, drinking more water, or spending time with friends. You don't have to spend money to care for yourself.

yoga, exercise, movement, body, health, self-careA woman practices Yoga.Image via Canva.

Commenters were shocked and thankful for Martin's clarification on what self-care is actually supposed to be:

"Love this list!! As a massage therapist, I have to call out the misconception that massage is indulgent. I'm always telling my patients that self care is more than a bath. I will be sharing this list with my patients. I'm also trying to make massage more accessible," one person writes.

"Thank you for this post. I’m internalizing your advice to see how I can apply. You resonated with my thoughts on so many levels. However, you also provided some clarity and food for thought/fuel for action," another says.

"I really appreciate what you said about pallet cleansers! Sometimes I get frustrated with myself because I'm not able to read and consume and learn about all the issues different people are facing. It's really important to me to learn about those things, not just for awareness, but also so I can do something about it. But self care is so important throughout that, like leaving my phone in the other room, or watching my comfort shows like you said. I often read kids books or TV because of how horrible the world is right now, and I need something extremely wholesome to balance it out. Also, workshop? I'm not sure what that means but I like learning from you. Thanks," another viewer shares.

So, maybe it's time to collectively ditch those indulgent expectations of self-care and really take a look at ways we can actually care for ourselves instead.

This article originally appeared last year.

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