I used to have a lot of trouble falling asleep at night until I started reading.  Now, I am out like a light.  But, if reading doesn’t help and counting sheep doesn’t either, you may want to try this.

Check out something called the “4-7-8” exercise.  Supposedly it can help you fall asleep in under a minute.  Here are the five steps you have to do . . .

1.  Press the tip of your tongue behind your top front teeth, and keep it there the entire time.  It’s a yoga breathing trick.

2.  Exhale through your mouth, and make a whooshing sound while you do it.

3.  Close your mouth and breathe in slowly through your nose for four seconds.

4.  Hold your breath for seven seconds.

5.  Slowly exhale through your mouth for eight seconds, and make the whooshing sound again.

Then repeat the whole thing three more times.  So basically, you breathe in through your nose for four seconds . . . hold your breath for seven . . . and breathe out through your mouth for eight seconds.  That’s why it’s called the “4-7-8” exercise.

Breathing in for four seconds helps you take in more oxygen . . . holding your breath gives it a little more time to absorb into your bloodstream . . . and breathing out slowly for eight seconds slows your heart rate down.