4-7-8 How to Fall Alseep Fast

[Vex]

[Boadicea]

Thanks for sharing, Vex. I actually discovered this a few weeks ago and then completely forgot to share it here. 

 I've tried it and it's good for calming down, but I find that the breathing technique discussed somewhere here on MM, in which you exhale for double the counting time of inhaling, works better for me. But I've worked the 4-7-8 technique into my routine; I'll usually do it two or three times, and then the other one, and it usually knocks me out pretty soon after that. Sometimes though I think the 4-7-8 thing makes me more tense, but I dunno. Sometimes after I do it I'll exhale and then hold my breath for as long as I can comfortably, and then take a deep breath and settle into my 2-1 ratio.
I'm still trying new things and new combinations to find what works, but so far this combo has worked pretty well. I was hoping it really would knock me out as fast as it said, but no such luck.

[iadr]

[Vex]

I like the idea of inhaling deeply and slowly and exhaling at the same rate. Sounds like it would accomplish the same thing. Or maybe it's the combination of breathing and mentally counting that that makes the 4-7-8 work? Dunno.

I've tried it and it doesn't knock me out like the woman in the article claims it does to her. I think it does help though. I can feel myself relax a little more with each prolonged exhale. I'll keep using it and see how effective it becomes over time.

Good luck with your own personal experiments with the technique.

[iadr]

I've tried it and it doesn't knock me out like the woman in the article claims it does to her. I think it does help though. I can feel myself relax a little more with each prolonged exhale.

Same here, although the counting seemed to distract us, as we're able to relax deeper by visualizing various scenes, which we had difficulty doing while doing the counting. So we may just try the deep breathing while visualizing various scenes without worrying about the length of the inhale and exhale.

If a person can learn to slow their heartbeat down though, with either this or some other technique, they should be easily able to enter a lucid from that state.

[Vex]

I tried the technique the other night with the intention of WILDing.
Instead of actually counting out the 4-7-8 I visualized the numbers in the form they would appear on dice. I visualized the word lucid like this, one word at a time after stating, Tonight I will get:

(Inhale)
Lucid Lucid
Lucid Lucid

(Hold Breath)
Lucid Lucid
    Lucid
Lucid Lucid

Lucid
        Lucid

(Exhale)
Lucid Lucid
Lucid Lucid

Lucid Lucid
Lucid Lucid

Washed, rinsed, repeated until I fell alseep. Think I did it about 5 times that I can remember. And while I didn't WILD I did get lucid that night with the Scars dream. I'll try it again when I have the energy to focus on the technique. It does take a lot of focus, for me at least.

[Shellidfl]

Something similar...

Found on Facebook.  Each finger is associated with different organs and emotions/attitudes.  There's a chart for each digit. 
Thumb: Stress, worry, tension; stomach, spleen; stomach aches, headaches, skin problems, nervousness
Index: Fear, mental confusion, frustration; kidney, bladder; digestive problems, wrist, elbow, upper arm discomfort, muscle and back aches, teeth/gum issues, addictions
Middle: Anger, irritability, indecisiveness; liver, gall bladder; eye/vision problems, fatigue, migraines, frontal headaches, menstrual cramps, circulation problems
Ring: sadness, fear of rejection, grief, negativity; lungs, large intestine; digestive problems, respiratory issues (asthma), ringing in ears, deep skin issues
Little: overdoing it, low self-esteem, insecurity, judgmental, nervousness; heart, small intestines; bone or nerve problems, heart conditions, blood pressure, sore throat, bloating

Hold the finger correlating to the emotion you want to calm or organ you want to heal for 3-5 minutes while breathing deeply.  (Can be done with all fingers on each hand).

"In a study at Markey Cancer Centre patient's of all stages and types were able to feel positive benefits, including reduced stress and nausea after each of their sessions.  Also many patients that were having trouble getting rest reported they had a much easier time falling asleep while holding their thumb.  Maybe this has something to do with why babies tend to find comfort in sucking their thumb, or reason behind flashing people the middle finger to show anger?"

I've tried this getting to sleep, both at bedtime, and at WBTB.  Saturday morning, after my last lucid, I was still holding my first little finger.  And I've gotten to sleep much faster at WBTB, even with my stimulating supps.