A health expert has revealed his top "life-changing" tip that could help relieve stress and help if you have trouble sleeping at night.
Diet and wellbeing guru Dr Michael Mosley, who founded the 5:2 and Fast 800 eating plans, was speaking to presenter Behnaz Akhgar on BBC Radio Wales about his new book Just One Thing which is coming out in paperback. And his number one piece of advice from the book wasn’t about diet - it was about breathing.
He said if people who have trouble nodding off at night followed his advice, then "nine times out of ten" it should work. He also said he does this exercise every day, reports Wales Online.
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Speaking about his new book, Dr Mosley said: “The idea is they are very simple things to do and most people can fit them comfortably into their day and there is some real science behind them and some real mental and physical health benefits from doing it."
Behnaz Akhgar said: “Do you have any favourites of your own? The list is long - try Tai Chi, swap out sugar, chose red wine in small doses. Do you have any particular ones that are your favourites that you do every day?”
Dr Mosley replied: “Well I do almost all of them now I gradually built up over time. But strangely enough one of my favourites and what has been genuinely life-changing is doing the slow deep breathing exercises.
“They’re really simple called 4-2-4. What you do is you inhale through your nose for four, you hold it for a couple of seconds and then you breathe out through your mouth for kind of four. You do that for a minute or so, your heart rate slows down.
“If you’re feeling a bit stressed through the day it has a big impact. But say you’re awake in the middle of the night and you’re worrying about stuff.
“You do that for a minute or so and you’ll be surprised that nine times out of ten you’ll just drop off to sleep. In the book I kind of go into the science of that and also variants on it.
“It is amazing how much difference just changing your breathing pattern can do. It’s something really really simple but it has a profound effect.”
Behnaz Akhgar said: “On the program at half past two every day we have a section called the ‘sofa song’ where I say to the listeners ‘guys I’m going to play you a very chilled track which is going to take a moment and breathe’ because we do go about our lives but we’ve all forgotten how to breathe haven’t we?”
Dr Mosley replied: "We have. It’s an odd thing because obviously, we do it unconsciously - we breathe in and out. But this is a much more conscious process where you deliberately slow everything down and you listen to your breath. It’s been the basis of Yoga and all sorts of things and practices for thousands of years.
“It is astonishing - the science is really interesting as well and one of the reasons it helps with sleep is because it slows your heart rate down and then that is a trigger for sleep.”
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