Breathing exercises - help with insomnia

Breathing exercises - help with insomnia and sleep disorders

Many people have problems falling asleep because their thoughts are circling around in their heads, worries and stress do not allow them to rest. Often, stress and everyday worries also drive up adrenaline levels during the day, so that the heart beats too fast and the breath comes far too short. Yet it is precisely the breath that is the key to more rest and relaxation. Sleep disturbances and everyday stress are very hard on the body, so that concentration problems and poor performance are the consequences. With breathing exercises you can help yourself to calm down after a stressful day and to fall asleep better.

This breathing exercise will help you fall asleep better

Conscious breathing is a way to let go of heavy burdens, emotional crises and stress and to find balance and one's own center. Conscious breathing also keeps body, mind and soul healthy. Even the Indians knew about this power of breathing. However, people in Western industrialized countries still pay too little attention to breathing. For years now, the American Dr. Andrew Weil, who is involved in integrative medicine and yoga, has been emphasizing that it is precisely the observance of a certain breathing rhythm, such as the 4-7-8 breathing technique, that has a positive effect on the involuntary (vegetative) nervous system and contributes to relaxation and thus to maintaining health.

Dr. Well describes this 4-7-8 breathing technique as a kind of sedative that can be used to fall asleep faster and better, as well as during the day in stressful situations such as fear of flying, stress, anger or nervousness. You can do the exercise while sitting, standing or lying down. Just try it out as it works best for you. The breathing technique works as follows:

Preparation: Place your tongue behind your upper incisors and keep it there throughout the exercise. This allows the air to escape to the left and right of your tongue with a slight hiss when you exhale. Your lips can also be shaped somewhat pointed. In our experience, this makes the exercise a little easier.

Breathing cycle:
1. breathe out completely through the mouth while sighing. Sighing is very important because it releases all tension.
Now close your mouth again and breathe in softly through your nose, counting to four.
3. now hold your breath and count to seven.
4. then exhale completely through the mouth again, counting to eight while sighing.

Due to the prolonged inhalation phase, more oxygen is absorbed by your body. The oxygen then enters the bloodstream by holding your breath. The final long exhalation phase removes a lot of used air from the lungs.

Dr. Weil recommends using this breathing technique regularly, for a period of about eight weeks, four times in the evening before going to sleep and four times in the morning after waking up. After these eight weeks, you can increase the exercise to eight cycles each in the morning and evening.