Everyone has been through such nights where we lie in our beds for hours and hours but can’t seem to sleep. While you can always opt for prescribed sleeping aids from online pharmacies such as Click Pharmacy, others may try to use their breathing for a peaceful night’s sleep. There are many breathing exercises out there that help with sleeping issues, but a lot of them are filled with complicated steps that result in making us feel even more sleepless rather than sleepy. Here we have some of the easiest breathing exercises to help you have a sound sleep.
Why is sleeping so hard sometimes?
It might seem like sleeping is a relatively easy task to do as it does not require us to do any activity except for lying down and closing our eyes, but it can be an issue for many and even for us at times. The reason why sleeping can be so hard sometimes may be because of anxiety, stress, or panic regarding a certain situation
While we can’t necessarily help you solve all your problems at once, what we can do is provide you with some of the easiest breathing exercises that will help you fall asleep so that you can tackle your problems with a fresh mind.
Three-part breathing exercise:
Now, if all that counting in the 478 breathing exercises didn’t seem like much help to you, the next exercise will surely be your favourite, simply because of its simplicity
- Simply relax and breathe in.
- After inhaling, start exhaling slowly while focusing on how your body feels while doing so.
- Repeat the same process 2 to 3 times.
- Once your body is in rhythm with this breathing in and breathing out motion, start slowing down your exhaling to the point that it almost feels twice as long as your breathing in.
This simple yet effective exercise is not only known for its simplicity and effectiveness, but it is also well known for reducing anxiety and stress. In addition, it has also proven to help negate minor panic attacks.
4-7-8 Breathing technique:
Although the name makes the exercise sound like a difficult task, the activity itself is much easier. Therefore, it is termed one of the most straightforward and efficient breathing exercises.
- You can start the exercise by relaxing your face in such a way that your lips are apart.
- Place your tongue against the roof of your mouth, right behind your top front teeth, and maintain this position for a while.
- After setting your face in position, exhale through your mouth.
- Now close your mouth and inhale through your nose while counting to 4.
- You’ll have to hold your breath like this for 7 seconds. You can adjust your counting speed accordingly.
- After this, simply exhale through your mouth and count to 8.
You’ll start feeling sleepy after the first three tries, and repetition of about eight cycles will help you go to sleep in no time
Body Scan technique:
This next breathing exercise requires some creative imagination from your end. It takes the simple concept of reading and combines it with the tension in your body.
- As always, the first step is to lie down and relax your body.
- Then start breathing slowly. This exercise doesn’t require you to time your breathing. So feel free to adjust your breathing according to your will.
- Once you’re done, create a mirror image of yourself lying down and pinpoint all parts of your body.
- This imaginative recreation will help you with the next step, which involves looking for the spots that feel tense to you.
- Once you have pinpointed all the spots where you feel a little bit of tension, start relaxing the muscles while breathing slowly.
- As you relax, try synchronizing this relaxation with your exhaling.
- The whole basis of this exercise is to relax your muscles and synchronize them with your exhaling.
This technique is also used in many yoga exercises as it is a great way to remove all the tension from your body, and in our case, this will help us to have a good night’s sleep
Box breathing:
If you feel like counting helps you sleep more quickly, but you also don’t want to make things complicated, then box breathing is the definite choice for you.
- Firstly, lie down in a comfortable position and start breathing slowly.
- Once your body is in a relaxed state, inhale for about 4 seconds and hold your breath.
- After this, simply breathe out for about 4 seconds and pause for 4 seconds before repeating the same cycle
The reason why many suggest a time of about 4 seconds in box breathing exercise is because it is relatively easy for everyone. It’s not too long and not too short for your body to enter a state of relaxation. In fact, this exercise can also be used to relieve stress and anxiety in your day-to-day activities as well.
