On average, millions of people struggle to fall asleep every night. Trying to sleep keeps your mind alert, making it a challenge for the body to rest. Today, sleep disorders like narcolepsy and insomnia are common. They result from parent burnout, financial strains, and many more. They make your mind restless, and calming down becomes a challenge. However, there is no need to worry. Here are three ways to improve your breathing at night.
Abdominal Breathing
As the name suggests, abdominal breathing involves taking deep breaths into your abdomen. The deep breaths you take in this method are quite different from the shallow breaths you take in your chest. There are a few steps you can take to enhance diaphragm breathing. Start by lying flat on the ground and straightening your legs. Remember to put your legs apart. Place one of your hands on your chest and the other on your stomach. Meanwhile, it is crucial to take note of the hand that rises most during inhalation. In criteria where the hand on the chest rises most, you should ensure your stomach is full. With practice, the exercise gets more manageable.
Aside from this, ensure you breathe using your nose and exhale with your mouth. It’s essential to relax your face while you do this. If you want to make sure that you are breathing slow, try counting. After this, relax as you focus on your breath. Make the practice a daily routine to help your body adapt to it. Whenever you feel anxious, you can engage in this practice. Abdominal breathing is ideal for people who have difficulty sleeping. It slows down your heart rate and different body functions, which can cause anxiety. Once the processes slow down, you will easily drift to sleep.
Visualization to Release Energy
The secret to falling asleep is finding a breathing technique to relax your body and mind. By relaxing, your body expels energy and prepares you for sleep. Imagine that the anxiety and stress in you is a colored gas. The gas ends up filling different parts of your body. As you exhale, imagine that it is moving through your body in a ball, preparing to be expelled. Imagine the ball contains negative energy such as stress and worries.
You can imagine it being shot out from your body into the air. Once it is expelled from the body, you can now enjoy the calmness left. After this, your body slowly drifts into sleep. Today, conditions like sleep apnea can be a nuisance as they disrupt sleep because of less oxygen intake. Thankfully, modern technology has been fundamental in the treatment of this condition.
4-7-8 Breathing Routine and Counting while Breathing
The 4-7-8 breathing exercise is gaining popularity as it is an efficient technique for breathing. While practicing this routine, sit down and ensure your back is straight. Place your tongue behind your upper teeth. Meanwhile, breathe in, then exhale using your mouth. Remember to make a ‘whooshing ‘ sound and count to eight while doing the routine. After this cycle, you have completed one breath. If you want to complete the process for four breathes, you have to do the practice three more times. It is worth stating that breathing in should be quiet, unlike breathing out. It is essential to increase the duration you exhale, hold, and exhale air. With constant practice, you will be able to keep your breath for a more extended period. You are free to adjust this time duration as you get accustomed to this exercise. Try practicing this two times daily to grow your confidence.
Many people do not know that counting before sleep can help induce sleep. Here, the first step is to lie down in your bed. Your primary focus should be relaxing and exhaling. Count from one to ten, then count backward. Remember to exhale as you count. Repeat this sequence until you fall asleep. The counting technique varies, and you can count to 99 and backward.
If you struggle to breathe at night, try the above practices and find which suits you. If there is still no change, it is advisable to seek medical services. The doctor will establish if your problem is severe or mild.
