4-4-8 breathing

How to do it

Dim the lights, put your phone face down if you can, and get comfortable in bed or on the couch.

1. Breathe in gently through your nose for four counts.
2. Hold for four counts. Let your body feel heavy.
3. Breathe out slowly for eight counts, letting each breath out empty you completely.
4. Go straight into the next breath in, and repeat.

Keep going for about three minutes, or until you notice yourself drifting. There's no need to finish the round.

The details. In 4, hold 4, out 8, with no hold at the bottom. One round takes 16 seconds; three minutes is about twelve rounds. In Orris, this pattern is called Sleep Prep.

When to reach for it

4-4-8 is meant for the end of the day.

• The last few minutes before you turn out the light
• When you're in bed but your body still feels wired
• After screens, when your eyes are tired but your mind isn't
• Waking up in the night and wanting to settle back down
• Any time the long hold in 4-7-8 feels like too much

Your first few nights

The eight-count breath out runs short.

Breathe out more slowly from the very start, or count a little faster. Keeping the breath out longer than the breath in is what matters.

You feel a bit lightheaded.

Breathe normally for a moment and it will pass. If holds don't agree with you, extended exhale breathing skips them.

Your mind keeps replaying the day.

Very normal at bedtime. Each time you notice, go back to the count. That's the whole practice.

Why it helps you wind down

Your heart slows a little each time you breathe out. With a breath out twice as long as the breath in, plus a short, still pause, you drop to under four breaths a minute and spend most of each round in that slowing-down phase. Over a few minutes, that steady signal helps your body shift out of alert mode and into rest mode.

In a small study of people with insomnia, practicing slow, paced breathing for 20 minutes before bed helped them fall asleep faster and wake up less during the night.

Sleep researchers have suggested slow breathing as a helpful addition to good sleep habits, because it calms the kind of alertness that keeps people awake.

Make it your own

Skip the hold.

Extended exhale breathing (4-8) has the same long breath out with no pause.

Lengthen the hold.

If 4-4-8 feels easy and you want something heavier, try 4-7-8.

Make it a ritual.

Same time, same place every night. Your body starts to learn that this is when it winds down.

Questions people ask

Other ways to wind down

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