GETTING a good night's sleep might feel out of right some days – but if you change up your breathing you could find you nod right off.
According to one expert, altering how you breathe can improve your overall health and your sleep.
Dr Andrew Weil from the University of Arionza teaches something called the "4-7-8" technique, which he describes as a "natural tranquiliser for the nervous system" – helping you nod off within minutes.
The idea is to get more oxygen in the body, slowing the body and mind right down, and getting you ready for sleep.
You have to sit comfortably for a few minutes before you want to sleep, mixing between nose and mouth breathing.
We don't realise but many of us will breathe in a more shallow way thank we think, due to posture and being busy.
It's not until you actively start to deepen and lengthen your breath that you realise how little oxygen you've really been taking in.
Mediation app Headspace says that when we breathe in a shallow way, "the body remains in a cyclical state of stress.
They say it's because "stress causes shallow breathing and our shallow breathing causing stress".
When you're stressed, you don't sleep very well. So it makes sense that breathing deeper might help us to unwind enough to fall into a deeper sleep.
Long-term shallow breathing has been found to seriously affect our health.
Taking slower, deeper breaths can suppress inflammation as well as lower levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.
Over time, that low-level chronic stress can result in our bodies becoming susceptible to illnesses and struggling to recover.
Shallow breathing can also turn into panic attacks and cause respiratory issues.
How to breathe your way to a better sleep
Dr Weil's approach requires just four simple steps:
- Put the tip of your tongue on the ridge of the gum just above your upper front teeth before exhaling forcefully through your mouth to make a whooshing sound.
- Then close your mouth and inhale through the nose for a count of four.
- Hold your breath for a count of seven, then exhale through the mouth making that whooshing sound again, for a count of eight
- Repeat the cycle four times.
How to breathe well
Part of the problem is that many of us breathe from our chests – using the muscles in our shoulders, necks and chests.
If you're slouching forwards, there's no way that you're getting a lung-full of air, and you could put yourself at risk of injury.
You can change this by breathing from the diaphragm (you'll know by putting a hand on your belly and seeing how much it rises and falls), and start to slow down your heart rate, lower blood pressure and decrease stress.
So before you go to sleep tonight, why not spend a little time trying this breathing technique?
Breathing deeper is something more of us should do more often – it calms you down in the evening and invigorates you during the day.
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