Insomnia, Sleep Disorders

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If you have trouble sleeping you are not alone. 62% of adults around the world say they don’t sleep as well as they’d like, 44% say that the quality of their sleep has gotten worse over the past five years, and only 10% of people say they sleep very well. Sleep disorders are also extremely common with insomnia, snoring, and Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) being the three most prevalent.

Whatever your sleep problem may be, breathing exercises can help. Later in this article, we will share five breathing exercises for sleep problems. But first, we will explain the cause of sleep disorders, how to breathe better when sleeping, and how Buteyko breathing techniques for sleep can help.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT INSOMNIA, SNORING, & SLEEP APNEA

INSOMNIA

Insomnia is defined as having persistent problems with either falling or staying asleep. It is the most common of all sleep disorders, impacting approximately 30% of the global population and it becomes even more prevalent after the age of 35. It can vary in intensity from mild to severe and it can occur short-term or be chronic and enduring. A major contributor to many cases of insomnia is dysfunctional breathing. This is because dysfunctional breathing activates the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) which fuels stress and anxiety, and the underlying cause of almost all insomnia is stress and anxiety.

SNORING & SLEEP APNEA

Snoring is a sign of obstructed airways. It occurs due to a large volume of air passing through a narrow space, causing turbulence in the soft palate, nose, or back of the throat, which in turn, causes the tissues to vibrate. Obstructive sleep apnea is a common and severe form of sleep-disordered breathing that is also caused by blocked airways. Patients with sleep apnea breathe extremely heavily while sleeping and often cycle between thunderous snoring, followed by complete cessation of breathing, and loud gasping or choking when breathing resumes.

Fortunately, insomnia, snoring, obstructive sleep apnea, and most other sleep issues can be reversed by learning how to breathe better at night and we will share exactly how to do this below.

YOU MAY HAVE A SLEEP DISORDER & NOT EVEN KNOW IT

Some people believe their sleep is adequate, when in fact, they are sleeping very poorly. While lying awake at night, snoring, and sleep apnea are obvious indicators of poor sleep, there are also more subtle signs such as tiredness, fatigue, grogginess, poor concentration, accidentally dozing off during the day, irritability, and mood changes. In children, there may also be temper tantrums, hyperactivity, moodiness, daytime sleeping, and a reluctance to get out of bed in the morning.

Improper breathing is often the underlying cause of poor sleep and sleep disorders. Signs that this is the case, include a blocked nose, excessive mucus, chest tightness, wheezing, and breathlessness. These symptoms tend to be worse upon waking and may take hours to subside.

HOW BUTEYKO BREATHING CAN HELP INSOMNIA AND DISORDERED SLEEP

If you suffer with a sleep disorder or poor quality sleep, breathing exercises can help to significantly reduce your symptoms. They do so by addressing two of the biggest fuelers of poor sleep – a racing mind caused by the stress response and breathing irregularities. When you experience incessant thoughts and an inability to turn your mind off, it is because your Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) is dominating. This is the branch of your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) that is responsible for the ‘fight or flight’ stress response. When activated, it releases hormones that fuel hyperarousal, stress, anxiety, racing thoughts, and many sleeping issues.

Your ANS also controls your breathing and it responds to cues from your breathing. When you breathe too rapidly or shallowly from the upper chest, or overbreathe, your ANS believes you are under stress and your SNS becomes activated. When the SNS is activated, you breathe more in order to prepare to fight or flee, which leads to more stress, anxiety, and racing thoughts. This creates a vicious cycle with overbreathing fueling the stress response, and the stress response fueling overbreathing. Fortunately, you can turn things around with Buteyko exercises as they teach you to normalize breathing and reduce the volume of air you take in with each breath.

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO BREATHE WHILE SLEEPING?

The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) which is responsible for the ‘rest & digest’ response, is activated when you breathe slowly, lightly, and into your diaphragm. Breathing this way prevents overbreathing and is highly supportive of a good night’s sleep. However, the single most important breathing technique for a restful sleep is breathing through your nose with your mouth completely closed. This is vital, and most of us revert to breathing through our mouths either periodically during the night or throughout our entire sleep without even realizing it. Breathing through the mouth causes overbreathing and activates the stress response. Mouth breathing also leaves the airways more vulnerable to collapse, which can trigger snoring and cause breathing to periodically stop altogether (sleep apnea).

* For methods to establish nasal breathing, see the section ‘How Do You Train Yourself to Breathe Through Your Nose at Night?’

MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS WITH THE CONTROL PAUSE

Your Control Pause (CP) provides a measurement of how well you are breathing and it can be used to track your progress as you apply the breathing exercises for sleep below. To learn how to measure your CP click here. When you put the Buteyko exercises into practice, your CP will progressively increase, your sleep will become deeper, and your need for sleep will lessen. Once your CP is greater than 20 seconds, air turbulence in your nose and throat will reduce, and you will sleep more deeply and be less likely to wake up during the night. When your CP is consistently above 40, you should ﬁnd that your breathing during sleep is nasal and optimal, and special measures will no longer be necessary.

BUTEYKO BREATHING EXERCISES FOR SLEEP

If your breathing during the day is dysfunctional, your breathing during sleep will be dysfunctional too. It is thus important to practice breathing exercises not only before bed but throughout the day as well. Aim for a total of 60 minutes per day of breathing exercises and try to incorporate light, slow, and deep nasal breathing into your daily life. This will change breathing volume towards normal, and if you suffer from snoring, insomnia, or sleep apnea, it can help to reverse your symptoms.

DAILY EXERCISE #1: BREATHE LIGHT

This exercise will help reduce the flow of breathing, increase your CP, activate your body’s relaxation response, and quiet a racing mind. Use this exercise for 15 minutes before going to sleep and again if you wake up during the night and have trouble falling back asleep. If you have insomnia we recommend you also practice this exercise for 10 minutes, three times a day. If you snore, practice it for 10 minutes, four times a day. And if you have sleep apnea, practice it for 15 minutes just after waking up, and 15 minutes right before going to sleep.

Instructions:

Sit up straight in a chair or cross-legged on the floor or lie down on your back. If sitting, imagine a piece of string gently pulling you upwards towards the ceiling from the crown of your head.
Place your hands on your chest and tummy, or in your lap.
Observe your breath as it enters and leaves your nose. Feel the slightly colder air entering your nose and feel the slightly warmer air leaving your nose.
Begin to reduce the speed of each breath as it enters and leaves your nose.
Breathing should be light, slow, quiet, and calm.
Slow down your breathing so that you feel hardly any air entering and leaving your nostrils. Your breathing should be so quiet that the fine hairs in the nostrils do not move.
The goal is to create a feeling that you would like to take in more air. To create air hunger, your breathing now should be “less” than it was when you started.
If you feel stressed or lose control of your breathing, the air hunger is too strong. When this happens, take a rest for 20 to 30 seconds and start again. It is normal at the beginning to need to take a rest a few times during the exercise.
Continue practicing the exercise for around 10-15 minutes.

DAILY EXERCISE #2: BREATHE SLOW

This exercise involves changing the cadence (speed) of your breathing to six breaths per minute. It naturally reduces the volume of your breathing and helps to trigger the relaxation response. Practice it for 10 minutes, twice daily.

Instructions:

Sit up straight on a chair or cross-legged on the floor.
Place your hands either side of your abdomen on your lower two ribs.
As you breathe in, feel your ribs moving outwards, and as you breathe out, feel your ribs moving inwards.
To pace your breathing, inhale for a count of four seconds and exhale for a count of six seconds.
Breathe in, 1, 2, 3, 4, breathe out, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (if your CP is less than 15 seconds, breathe in 1,2,3, breathe out, 1, 2, 3).
Alternatively, you can breathe in for a count of five seconds and breathe out for a count of five.
Continue the exercise for approximately 10 minutes.

DAILY EXERCISE #3: BREATHE DEEP

This exercise helps you practice diaphragmatic breathing, which in turn enables slow breathing, triggers the ‘rest and digest’ nervous system branch, and calms the body and mind. Practice this exercise for 10 minutes, once daily.

Instructions:

Sit up straight in a chair or cross-legged on the floor.
Imagine a piece of string gently pulling you upwards towards the ceiling from the crown of your head.
Place your hands on either side of your lower ribs.
Silently breathe in, bringing the air deep into your lungs. As you inhale, feel your ribs expanding outwards. As you exhale, feel your ribs moving inwards.
Take fuller breaths but fewer of them.
There is no need to hear your breathing during this exercise, keep it quiet and calm.
Continue practicing the exercise for approximately 10 minutes.

NASAL DECONGESTION EXERCISE

This exercise is very effective if you find it difficult to breathe nasally because of congestion or obstruction. Please note that holding your breath to generate a strong hunger for air is not suitable during pregnancy or if you have a serious medical condition.

Instructions:

Sit upright on a straight-backed chair.
Take a small, light breath in through your nose if you can and a small breath out through your nose. If you are unable to inhale through your nose, take a tiny breath in through the corner of your mouth.
After exhaling, pinch your nose and hold your breath. Keep your lips sealed.
Gently nod your head or rock your body until you feel that you cannot hold your breath any longer. You should feel a relatively strong need for air.
At this point, let go of your nose and breathe in gently through it. Breathe gently in and out with your mouth closed. When you first breathe in, try to avoid taking a deep breath. Instead, keep your breathing calm and focus on relaxation. Use the mantra: “Relax and breathe less,” if it helps.
Repeat the exercise until you can breathe easily through your nose. If your nose does not become fully unblocked, wait around one minute and practice the same steps again. You may need to do the exercise up to five times.

HOW DO YOU TRAIN YOURSELF TO BREATHE THROUGH YOUR NOSE AT NIGHT?

Here are some suggestions which will help you make a permanent switch to nasal breathing while sleeping:

Unblock Your Nose Before Bed

If your nose is partially or fully blocked before going to bed, it’s important to clear it so that you can maintain nasal breathing throughout the night. You can do this with the nasal decongestion exercise outlined above.

Use a Hat or Scarf

For children, you can get a hat with a strap that comes under the chin. Cut most of the material from the hat so that there is just enough to keep the structure intact. Cutting away as much material as possible prevents the child from becoming too warm during the night which is important because this would contribute to overbreathing. Get the child to wear the hat to bed and bring the strap under the chin to stop the lower jaw from dropping down.

A variation of this method is to wrap a scarf around the child’s head and under the chin. Tie it to ensure that the lower jaw is unable to drop down during the night. Both of these suggestions could be consigned to the ‘off the wall’ category by image-conscious children. However, with these suggestions in mind, Asthma Care is currently in the process of having a special type of headwear designed to support night-time nasal breathing with minimum discomfort.

Tape Your Mouth Shut

While the above solutions can be used, taping your mouth shut at night is in our experience the most effective and straightforward way to train yourself to breathe through your nose.

WHY SHOULD I TAPE MY MOUTH SHUT AT NIGHT?

If you struggle with sleep problems, it’s vital to train yourself to breathe only through your nose, not only in the daytime but also while sleeping. Mouth breathing during sleep will reverse the benefits of reduced breathing during the day. If you neglect your breathing for seven or eight hours every night then it will be impossible to change your breathing pattern on a permanent basis.

Taping your mouth shut at night is helpful because it ensures that you do not breathe through your mouth. This in turn, ensures you don’t overbreathe and activate the stress response with your breath (which would prevent you from getting a good night’s sleep). It also eliminates mouth snoring, because you cannot snore through the mouth when breathing is through the nose; and it can dramatically reduce sleep apnea events.

We have created a tape specifically for this purpose called Myotape. It’s designed to safely and comfortably bring the lips together to help ensure nasal breathing. The tape can be worn by adults, teenagers, and children aged 5 years and up and it comes in small, medium, and large.

If for whatever reason you cannot purchase Myotape the second most suitable tape is 1-inch Medilite paper tape. Apply it horizontally to cover the mouth. Before placing, remove much of the glue on it by sticking the tape to your hand and peeling it off a number of times. Do this until there is just enough glue to hold the tape in place. Before placing the tape on your mouth, make two tabs by putting a small fold at two of the corners. This will ease the task of removing the tape in the morning.

Please note that tape should not be used on a child less than ﬁve years of age, and any child using it must be able to remove the tape during the night if they feel they need to. The tape also shouldn’t be used if you are feeling nauseous or if you have been drinking alcohol.

Also worth noting is that if you struggle with nasal congestion, your nose will never become completely blocked so long as you are wearing the tape. If you are breathing deeply during the night while wearing the tape, your nose will partially block. This is the body’s defense mechanism to prevent overbreathing. However, when the nose becomes partially blocked, the level of carbon dioxide in the body will increase and this will unblock the nose. Your nose will only block completely if you remove the tape and switch to mouth breathing.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU STRUGGLE WITH TAPING YOUR MOUTH SHUT

If you experience panic from the thought of taping your mouth shut you can help desensitize yourself by putting the tape on half an hour before going to bed. This should be enough time to become used to the tape and to overcome any nervousness. For the ﬁrst few nights wearing the tape will feel a little strange. It may come off during the night, but at least you will have spent some hours breathing through your nose. Continue to wear the tape until you have managed to change to breathing through your nose at night. How long this takes will vary from person to person.

If you feel that the tape is not for you, then you can use the hat or scarf technique. If you can’t use the tape because your nose is too congested, practice the nasal decongestion exercise outlined above. If that doesn’t work for you either, you can just do the reduced breathing exercises outlined above in the morning, afternoon, and before going to bed. Also practice breathing through your nose at all times during the day, and try to incorporate nose breathing into exercise as well. Your progress may be slower with these methods, but it will help nonetheless.

HOW CAN I RELAX MY MIND TO SLEEP?

Our lives are so busy and frantic with tens of thousands of thoughts each day and the mind never gets a break. This madness increases our breathing and creates insomnia, but since everyone is caught up in it, few see it for what it truly is. So, it is highly beneficial to devote 20 minutes to yourself every day to focus on your breath and quiet your mind.

By observing your breathing, relaxing your inner body, and allowing your breathing to reduce, the carbon dioxide level in your body can increase towards a normal level and this will calm down brain cell excitability. In addition, the act of watching your breath is meditative and very helpful for calming the mind. You cannot think while you are relaxing your body and experiencing a shortage of air.

An active mind with lots of thoughts is not so easy to switch off at night. If you have spent most of your waking hours investing in repetitive and useless thoughts, how can you switch that off when you go to bed? This is why people often revert to alcohol and medications to help them sleep. But this does not work long term. Numbing the mind is no good, all it does is sweep the issue under the carpet. The only way to stop useless thoughts is to address overbreathing and to make it a habit to still the mind!

To achieve this, try practicing the Mind Relaxation Exercise outlined below daily, and include a total of 60 minutes a day of the reduced breathing exercises outlined above. Also, bring more mindfulness into all that you do. As you go about your daily activities, try to identify the useless thoughts going about in your mind. Observe your thoughts. Be a passive observer. What are you thinking about? What purpose do the thoughts serve? Are they the same thoughts that you have been thinking for the past weeks, months, years? Are your thoughts beneficial? Do they help you or do they reflect the insane and repetitive nonsense that grips every Western human mind? It is estimated that we have an average of sixty thousand thoughts each day and 90% of these thoughts are repetitive and useless!

MIND RELAXATION EXERCISE

If you struggle with racing thoughts that keep you up at night, or have never felt your inner body before, try the following exercise. Bringing your focus to your inner body stops thinking because you cannot do both at the same time. Most people in the Western world are unaware of their body unless it feels pain. But your body is your connection with life and bringing your attention to it can produce incredible relaxation, grounding, and centering effects.

Instructions:

Place your hand in front of you. Now, close your eyes. Can you now feel your hand? Do you know whether your hand is there? Bring attention to your hand. Hold your attention there. After twenty seconds or so, when you are sure that you can feel your hand, bring attention to your arm. With eyes closed, hold your attention on your arm. After a period, bring your attention as far as your shoulder. Sense the energy vibrations as far as your shoulder. Feel the inner body. When you can comfortably hold your attention on your entire arm, gently move your attention across your chest.

Feel the inner chest. Sense the inner chest. Encourage this area to relax. You can help relax it further by physically tensing and relaxing your chest. Tense your chest and relax, tense and relax. When you have a good feeling for your chest, bring attention to the area around your tummy. You can also help the area around your tummy to relax by physically tensing the tummy and relaxing. A very simple way to do this is to exhale and pinch your nose with your fingers. Then try to gently breathe in and out while holding your nose to block airflow. A stressed mind will always manifest in the tummy. Encourage this area to relax. Encourage this area to still. Encourage this area to be quiet.

Continue scanning and relaxing different parts of your body for 10-20 minutes and repeat daily.

ADDITIONAL NATURAL METHODS FOR SLEEP AND INSOMNIA

For the Best Night’s Sleep Possible, Avoid the Following:

Avoid Oversleeping

Getting enough high-quality sleep is essential to your health and wellbeing but there is such a thing as too much. In fact, oversleeping is considered even more problematic for health than undersleeping and it’s linked to a host of medical problems. A good rule of thumb is to sleep only when you feel tired and generally, six to eight hours per night is enough. Correct breathing will increase your energy levels and reduce fatigue so additional sleep should not be necessary. As your Control Pause increases, the number of hours of sleep you need each night should gradually decrease – probably to somewhere between five to seven.

Avoid Sleeping on Your Back

Sleeping on your back is generally the worst position for sleeping and it can exacerbate insomnia, snoring, sleep apnea, and heartburn (which is a contributory factor to insomnia). Sleeping on your back causes your lower jaw to drop and makes mouth breathing, and snoring almost inevitable. In this position, there is also very little restriction to breathing, so breathing becomes deeper and this leads to overbreathing, stress response activation, and snoring.

The best positions for sleeping are on the tummy or on the left side (ideally in the fetal position), as these positions help prevent overbreathing. The reason why the left is recommended over the right is because of a variation in lung capacity: the lung which is closest to the bed performs most of the work and, as the left lung is smaller than the right, the volume of air brought through the lungs is reduced.

Changing from sleeping on your back to sleeping on your side may take some time. It may be helpful to place a number of pillows behind you while you sleep on your side. A hard mattress, which restricts frontal movement of the body, can also help to reduce breathing. Finally, if you must sleep on your back, you can reduce the negative impact by using four or five pillows to raise your head and chest above the level of the rest of the body.

Avoid Eating Three Hours Before Bed

Eating a meal or drinking a protein-rich drink such as milk or hot chocolate two or even three hours before going to bed will result in increased breathing and consequently, a poor night’s sleep. It’s best to eat your last snack or meal at least three hours before you go to bed.

Avoid Sleeping in a Warm Room (when possible)

Your bedroom should be cool. A bedroom that is too warm and stuffy will make you breathe heavier. Ideally, leave the bedroom window slightly open even during winter. If you live in a hot climate, set the thermostat to 18 C (65 F). This will help keep your breathing calm.

Avoid Taking Naps

It’s best to avoid taking naps during the day, as naps make you less tired at night and you will find getting to sleep more difficult. Only sleep when absolutely necessary. Get up half an hour earlier than you normally do. You will not be more tired. Instead, you will be suitably tired so that when you do go to bed, you fall asleep easily.

Avoid Physical & Mental Stressors Before Bed

It’s best to avoid watching the news or any other program involving negativity, stress, or violence before you go to bed. Doing so will activate the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and fuel hyperarousal. Strenuous exercise also activates the stress response and temporarily increases levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and you should try to leave at least a three-hour gap between intense exercise and bedtime. Additional stressors to avoid include screen time, blue light exposure, and the consumption of alcohol or caffeine in the evening. For the best night’s sleep, keep electronics out of the bedroom, and relax and reduce your breathing by practicing the Breathe Light Exercise before bed.

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