General Dreaming > The Science and Psychology of Dreams and Sleep

4-7-8 How to Fall Alseep Fast

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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:

--- Quote from: Vex on January 23, 2015, 02:13:20 PM ---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.

--- End quote ---
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.

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