4-7-8 breathing

How to do it

Lie down or sit comfortably. Dr. Andrew Weil, who made this technique popular, suggests resting the tip of your tongue on the ridge just behind your top front teeth. It's optional, but some people find it helps keep the breath out slow.

1. Breathe all the way out through your mouth.
2. Close your mouth and breathe in quietly through your nose for four counts.
3. Hold your breath for seven counts. Let your shoulders stay heavy.
4. Breathe out through your mouth for eight counts, slow and steady, like a long sigh.
5. That's one round. Start with four rounds, and add more as it gets comfortable.

If you're using it to fall asleep, keep your eyes closed and let the count get a little lazier each round. Drifting off partway through is the goal.

The details. In 4, hold 7, out 8, with no hold at the bottom. One round takes 19 seconds. Four rounds is about a minute and a quarter; eight is about two and a half minutes. Sometimes called the relaxing breath.

Your first few rounds

The seven-count hold feels like a lot.

It does at first. Count faster and keep the same proportions. Four, seven, and eight quick counts still works, because it's the ratio that matters.

You feel lightheaded.

Common in the first few sessions, because you're changing your breathing more than usual. Go back to normal breathing for a moment. If you're pregnant or have a heart or lung condition, try extended exhale breathing instead, which has no holds.

You run out of breath before eight.

Take a slightly smaller breath in, or count a bit faster. You shouldn't feel like you're gasping at the end.

You didn't fall asleep.

That's okay. It isn't a switch. Even when sleep takes a while longer, your body often feels heavier and your thoughts quieter.

When to reach for it

4-7-8 is built for winding down, not for staying sharp.

• Lying in bed with your mind still running through the day
• Waking up at 3am and not being able to drift back off
• After a stressful evening, before you try to sleep
• When anxious thoughts start to spiral and you want to interrupt them
• On a plane or in a hotel when sleep doesn't come easily

If you need to stay alert afterward, like before a meeting, box breathing is a better fit.

Why it makes you sleepy

Your heart naturally speeds up a little when you breathe in and slows down when you breathe out. In 4-7-8, the breath out is twice as long as the breath in, so you spend most of each round in that slowing-down phase. Add the long, still hold, and the whole pattern drops you to about three breaths a minute. That's a strong signal to your body that it's safe to rest.

A small 2022 study found that 4-7-8 breathing shifted the heart toward its rest-and-recover rhythm in well-rested young adults.

An honest caveat: there isn't much research on 4-7-8 and sleep specifically yet. Most of the support comes from studies of slow breathing in general, which consistently link it with feeling calmer and more relaxed.

Easier ways in

Count faster.

Speed up the count so a round takes ten seconds instead of nineteen. The proportions do the work.

Shorten the hold.

4-4-8 breathing, which Orris calls Sleep Prep, cuts the hold to four counts.

Drop the hold.

Extended exhale breathing (in 4, out 8) gives you the same long breath out with no hold at all.

Questions people ask

Other ways to wind down

Read the guide to breathing for sleep · See all eight patterns