How To Breathe Your Way To Better Sleep
Contents
If you find it difficult to sleep at night, you’re not alone. In a fast-paced modern world, the stress of everyday life can make it difficult to calm and unwind the mind and get restful sleep. You’re supposed to be resting, but your thoughts won’t let you fall asleep, or they can wake you up in the middle of the night.
When you’re having trouble to sleep, breathing exercises can help. With mindful breathing, you can slow down your thoughts and relax your body to improve your sleep. Loud snoring and sleep apnea are also common causes of poor sleep quality, but breathing exercises do not treat sleep apnea.
If someone notices you snore or gasp for air during sleep, NHLBI advises talking to your healthcare provider, who may order a sleep study.
In this article, you’ll learn some of the common breathing exercises you can use to help you fall asleep. Read on.
1. Abdominal Breathing
This breathing exercise refers to deep breathing from the abdomen instead of shallow breaths from the chest. It can help you feel calmer and may slow your heart rate, making it easier to drift off. Abdominal breathing is one of the relaxation methods taught in cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), the most strongly recommended insomnia treatment.
To practice abdominal breathing, follow the instructions below:
- Lie down straight.
- Close your eyes.
- Place one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. See which hand rises the most when inhaling.
- If your chest rises more as you inhale, focus on breathing and filling your stomach. To do this, let your abdomen rise as you inhale.
- When breathing, inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
- Continue breathing for five to ten minutes.
Doing this exercise can be difficult at first. However, practicing at least once a day can help it get easier over time.
2. Alternate Nasal Breathing
Alternate nostril breathing is a type of pranayama or yoga breathing practice. It’s also known as Nadi Shodhana and is focused on breathing through the nostrils, one side at a time. Like other slow-breathing techniques, alternate nasal breathing may help you relax, and managing stress is one of the lifestyle steps that can help lower your blood pressure.
Evidence that it improves lung function or snoring is limited, so don’t use it in place of treatment for a breathing or sleep disorder.
Here’s how to do this:
- Sit with your legs crossed.
- Place one hand on your knee and the other toward your nose.
- Exhale completely.
- Use your thumb to close the left nostril.
- Inhale from the right nostril, then close it.
- Open your left nostril and exhale through it.
- Continue the cycle for at least five minutes.
- Finish the practice on an exhale.
For the Nadi Shodhana variation, hold each inhales for two to three seconds before exhaling. Over time, you can increase the pause length in two-second increments.
3. 4-7-8 Breathing
Developed by Dr. Andrew Weil, the 4-7-8 breathing exercise is described by Weil as a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system. It is based on pranayama, and many people find it calming at bedtime, although research on it is limited.
To practice 4-7-8 breathing, follow these steps:
- Sit with your back straight.
- Position your tongue against the back of your front top teeth.
- Exhale through the mouth and around your tongue.
- Close your lips, then inhale through the nose for four counts.
- Hold your breath for a count of seven.
- Exhale completely through the mouth, with a whoosh sound, for a count of eight.
- Repeat the cycle three more times, for four breaths in total.
You can practice 4-7-8 breathing anywhere, anytime. But practice it at home since you may feel lightheaded at first. Also, keep your tongue in the same spot throughout the exercise.
4. Buteyko Breathing
Buteyko breathing was named after the Ukrainian doctor who developed this technique in the 1950s, Dr. Konstantin Buteyko. It uses breath retention exercises to control the volume and speed of your breath. Doing so may help you learn to breathe more calmly, slowly, and effectively.
This breathing exercise may also enhance breath control, prevent breathlessness, and promote proper breathing cycles. As such, it’s sometimes used alongside medical care for anxiety and asthma. It is not a substitute for asthma medicines or for sleep apnea treatment.
Here’s how to do it:
- Sit comfortably.
- With your mouth closed, breathe through the nose naturally for about 30 seconds.
- After a relaxed inhale, hold your breath. You can use your fingers to plug your nose. Hold it until you feel the urge to breathe, then inhale.
- Breathe normally for 10 seconds.
- Repeat the cycle.
For best results, learn the method from an instructor trained in Buteyko breathing. If you are pregnant or have heart or lung disease, ask your doctor before practicing breath-holding.
Takeaway
As you can see, you don’t have to struggle to force yourself to sleep at night. Breathing techniques can help you relax and wind down, so try the exercises above and see what works for you.
If trouble sleeping lasts for weeks, or you snore loudly or wake up gasping, see a clinician for diagnosis and treatment.
