How to breathe properly to sleep soundly. Breathing exercises to calm the nervous system, relieve tension and promote deep sleep. Mastering full breathing

Today, doctors are concerned that everyone is beginning to suffer from such an ailment as insomnia. large quantity of people. Moreover, if previously it was considered a disease of older people, today it is increasingly affecting young people. The main reason for the appearance of this disease is overwork and frequent stress. In rhythm modern life it's hard to avoid them. But nevertheless, we constantly fight the disease using medications is not a way out of the situation. It's better to try to fight it with breathing exercises for insomnia.

Exercise for insomnia

At first glance, it may seem to many readers that there is no connection between sleep and breathing. In fact, this is far from the case. Agree that in a hot and stuffy room, few people will be able to sleep normally due to lack of fresh air. Our body is in approximately the same state during overwork - it does not have enough oxygen for normal and full functioning.

Deep sleep occurs only after complete physical relaxation. After all, even with an uncomfortable position of the body, the brain will not be able to switch off and fall into sleep. In turn, breathing exercises help due to the following:

• promotes additional oxygen flow,
• activates normal blood circulation,
• provides muscle relaxation,
• helps to get rid of chronic respiratory diseases present in a person,
• speeds up falling asleep,
• normalizes work nervous system.

It should be noted that using breathing exercises is not at all difficult. And with regular use, you can gradually not only improve your health, but also rejuvenate your body.

How to do

Today there are several methods of performing gymnastics. The Chinese one is considered the most effective and simplest. It is widely used in the country and does not require any special skills.

Chinese medicine exercises for insomnia involve self-massage.

And so let's move on to the exercises:

• Warm up your palms by rubbing. After your palms become warm, run them over your face as if you were washing your face. Repeat these movements 20 times. Using your fingertips, alternately massage the yin-tan point. It is located between the eyebrows. Movements should be directed from bottom to top.
• Use your thumbs to massage your ears. Massage movements should be directed from top to bottom. Repeat the exercise at least 20 times
• Using massage movements from top to bottom, massage your neck. Using your fingertips, massage the an-mian point, which is located in the recesses behind the ears. The exercise must be repeated 10 times.
• Abdominal massage is ideal for insomnia. To do this, lie on your back and warm your palms. Gently move your palms over your stomach in circular motions, first in one direction, then in the other direction. The exercise must be performed in two sets of 10 times.
• Soles massage This exercise must be carried out strictly when washing your feet. Place in a bowl warm water and put your feet in there. When your feet turn a little red, start massaging them with your thumbs in a circular motion. Perform the exercise 20 times.

According to many people who have experienced the effects of exercises themselves, and Chinese breathing exercises for insomnia turned out to be quite effective. Especially if you still refuse bad habits, adjust your diet and lifestyle. Eat more plant-based foods and try to spend more time outdoors.

Health

A deep breathing technique can help insomnia sufferers fall asleep in less than a minute, says one expert.

Dr. Andrew Weil(Andrew Weil) explains that the method works because it helps lungs to completely saturate the body with oxygen, which promotes a state of calm, relaxes the psyche and muscles.

As we know, chronic sleep deprivation adversely affects your health and can lead to problems such as excess weight, heart disease and diabetes.

Dr. Weil, of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, says breathing properly can help you fall asleep.

How to fall asleep quickly

Method "4-7-8":

1. Exhale completely through your mouth with a whistling sound.

2. Close your mouth and breathe in calmly through your nose, counting to 4 to yourself.

3. Hold your breath while mentally counting to 7.

4. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whooshing sound, for a count of 8.

5. It's one breath. Now repeat the cycle three more times.

It is best to do this breathing exercise twice a day, but you can do it more often during the day.

Breathing exercise

“Within 4-6 weeks, you will notice amazing changes happening in your body,” said Dr. Weil.

Breathing exercises for insomnia will help solve the problem of poor quality night rest. Often it is the only fast-acting remedy that is on a par with drug methods of treating insomnia, however, it does not have side effects.

IN Lately The rapid increase in the number of patients suffering from sleep disorders surprises not only doctors. It is believed that approximately 25% of the world's population suffers from insomnia in one form or another.

But the problem is not only one of quantity. Insomnia is rapidly becoming “younger” these days, as overwork and stress are added to its natural, age-related causes.

The apparent impression that breathing does not affect sleep is wrong. If you sleep in a stuffy room in a position that constrains the respiratory muscles, then the night's rest will be very Bad quality. The next day the person will feel exhausted and unable to perform normal activities. A person will have approximately the same condition when they are overworked or stressed.

Quality sleep is possible only with physical relaxation, which subsequently results in mental relaxation. Even if we manage to tune in to sleep, we will not be able to quickly switch off if we feel physical discomfort associated with an uncomfortable body position or difficulty breathing.

This is why breathing exercises before bed are very useful. It helps not only to achieve almost complete relaxation, but also allows you to solve the following set of problems:

1. The body receives additional oxygen supply, which leads to training of the lungs.
2. Blood circulation is activated, capillaries and the entire circulatory system are toned.
3. In addition to deep relaxation, the feeling of pain and spasms is reduced.
4. The brain is switched off from solving everyday problems and tuned to rest.
5. Prevention of respiratory diseases is carried out.
6. Strengthening is underway immune system.
7. Falling asleep occurs faster, as a result, the nervous system stabilizes and the overall quality of sleep improves.

These reasons in themselves are sufficient to constantly carry out breathing exercises for insomnia. If such exercises become a habit, not only the quality of sleep will noticeably improve, but also changes will occur when you are awake, because proper breathing leads to an improvement in the body's oxygen supply.

In the East, which is actually the birthplace of such practices, they are very widespread, if not universal: there are entire treatment systems based on them. Such systems, for example, in China have the status of official medicine and have been successfully used for centuries.

Mastering the systems of breathing exercises can take quite a long time, but the effort is worth it: they not only improve the quality of sleep and get rid of insomnia, but also keep the body in good shape for many years.

Breathing exercises Insomnia treatment is best done under the guidance of an experienced professional who is familiar with the many nuances of the various techniques. However, there is certain basic knowledge that is quite simple and, at the same time, effective. They are ideal for both health improvement purposes and as a preventive measure in the fight against insomnia. These exercises are simple and it is almost impossible to make a mistake when performing them.

To begin a set of breathing exercises, you must first understand how breathing occurs in our body in various parts of the respiratory tract.

There are three types of breathing:

• lower or abdominal;
• middle or costal;
• upper or breathing using the clavicular region.

Let's look at them in more detail:

With it, the processes of inhalation and exhalation are controlled exclusively by the movement of the diaphragm. Its expansion or contraction is quite easy to control; This kind of breathing is also called “belly breathing.”

This can be easily controlled: you need to lie on your back and place one of your palms on your stomach and the other on the center of your chest. You need to exhale as much air as possible from your lungs and begin to inhale slowly (always through your nose). In this case, it is necessary to inflate the stomach with the help of muscles, and the chest should be in its initial position.

Breathing should be extremely rhythmic, without jerking or additional effort.

Here the diaphragm is no longer involved. Lie on your back, arms as in the previous position. Try to inhale with your stomach still, moving through your ribs and chest. As you exhale, return your ribs to their original position.

This type of breathing is much more complex than the previous one, and it will not be possible to implement it immediately, but after about a week after the start of regular training.

Such breathing develops in people leading a sedentary lifestyle; it is not ideal, since it enriches the body with oxygen to a much lesser extent.

We consider it because such exercises are part of a general complex.

From the same starting position, we try to inhale when both hands are in a stationary position. How then to breathe? Exclusively at the “tip” of the lungs and bronchi.

This breathing method helps prevent asthma and bronchitis. It allows you to develop the upper part of the lungs, which is not used in 95% of people. This has a very good preventative effect: the upper part of the lungs is freed from accumulated fluid and becomes less susceptible to the influence of pulmonary spasms.

When the considered techniques of all three breathing have been mastered, it is necessary to proceed to the main essence of any breathing exercises: the use of full breathing.

It is this that provides the greatest degree of relaxation, which is often enough to effectively fall asleep.

The full breathing cycle itself includes a sequential connection to the respiratory process of each part of the lungs.

This is done something like this:

1. Exhale as much as possible.
2. Inhalation begins with the stomach, which ends when it is completely “filled.”
3. Without interrupting breathing, you need to continue it using the chest.
4. After the chest is filled, the tops of the lungs are filled with air due to clavicular breathing.
5. Exhalation is also carried out sequentially in three stages, but in the reverse order: with the collarbone, then with the ribs, and finally with the diaphragm.

Mastering such a practice usually takes from two weeks to a month, if, of course, you carry out the practice daily.

It is necessary to carry out the exercises so that inhalations and exhalations are done without jerking, with maximum smoothness of movements, without delays or excessive tension. These exercises are needed for relaxation, and not for special forces training!

If everything turns out fine, try expanding the range of techniques used in breathing exercises. For example, use the following exercises for insomnia:

• achieve the same duration of inhalation and exhalation;
• try to breathe so smoothly that you can’t hear your breathing at all;
• try to make a delay between inhalation and exhalation from 1-2 to several seconds; optimal breathing is with a duration of inhalation and exhalation of 8 seconds and a pause between them of 4 seconds.

The use of such techniques can significantly reduce stress levels and achieve good, quality sleep.

The quality of your night's sleep determines the quality of your next day. It's no secret that a short night's sleep leads to weakness and a feeling of fatigue in the morning. If poor quality sleep happens regularly, it is fraught with negative consequences for the human body. Therefore, it is important to give up late-night gatherings at work or study, and give the body a full rest. If you can't sleep, breathing exercises for sleep will help.

Causes of poor sleep

The most common cause of insomnia or poor sleep is stress and anxiety. A person continues to scroll through the thoughts of the day in his head, and this makes it impossible to sleep.

The reason may be unsuitable sleeping conditions. Stuffy room, either too low temperature may disrupt sleep.

Perhaps the person has lost his rhythm - he sleeps during the day, so he can no longer sleep at night.

Health problems can cause sleep disturbances. If you have insomnia, be sure to visit a doctor.

ENT pathology also sometimes worsens the quality of sleep. Before starting drug therapy, you can try to discharge yourself with special exercises.

The benefits of breathing exercises for sleep

By performing exercises, a person will ensure the flow of oxygen to all cells of the body. This contributes to:

• Saturation of brain cells with oxygen, which will relieve nervous tension and improve cognitive functions.
• Cleansing the respiratory tract.
• Better functioning of all organs and systems.
• Increasing immunity.
• Relaxation of muscles.

In the process of concentrating on the method of performing the exercises, the brain switches from restless thoughts.

Rules for performing exercises

Provide a flow of fresh air into the room, ventilate it before performing gymnastics. It is recommended to sleep with the window open.

Perform the exercises slowly and at a calm pace.

Ask your family not to distract you, get some privacy, and put the children to bed first. Turn off the TV, computer, put your phone away, dim the lights. Wear comfortable clothes made from natural fabric.

While doing gymnastics, breathe through your nose and close your eyes.

Breathing exercises for sleep - the best techniques

After all the preparatory procedures, you can begin performing gymnastics. Here are some of the best breathing exercises for sleep.

Full breath

The name of the exercise contains the whole essence of it. You need to lie on your stomach. Focus on your own breathing. After exhaling, we begin to inhale. First of all, we draw air into the lower sections of the lungs, the diaphragm should move down, and the stomach should increase in size.

To control the exercise, you can put one hand on your stomach, the other on your chest. Secondly, inflate the chest. Thirdly, lift the collarbones, freeing up additional space for air. This is followed by a three-stage exhalation in the reverse sequence.

First, we lower the collarbones, then we exhale from the chest, then “from the stomach.” Must be performed 5-8 times. The exercise is very relaxing. Indicated not only for performing before bedtime. In any alarming situation, you should perform it a couple of times and the anxiety will go away.

Lower breathing

Perform only the first part of the previous exercise. Breathe only with the diaphragm, that is, “inflate” your stomach and exhale the air.

Breathing exercises for sleep using the “4-7-8” method

This is the most popular and effective breathing exercise for sleep. Throughout the entire exercise, the tongue is pressed against the tubercle of the upper palate behind the front teeth. You need to start by exhaling deeply through your mouth. Next, inhale through the nose, accompanied by a count to 4. Then hold your breath, count to 7 in your head, while pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth.

After this, exhale through the mouth with a count of 8. The exhalation is noisy. Repeat several times. The creators of the technique claim that this way you can fall asleep in one minute.

Breathing exercises for sleep “Anti-stress”

The technique of execution corresponds to the procedure of full breathing. Additionally, you need to exhale noisily, making hissing sounds. At the same time, imagine how all the negative from you leaves along with the exhaled air.

Count to 10, while imagining the numbers

When performing this exercise, you need to ensure that the inhalation cycle corresponds to one number, and the exhalation cycle corresponds to another.

You can try all the exercises and choose the technique that suits you.

How to enhance the effect of exercise

Be positive. Go in with a positive attitude.

It has been proven that the heavier the blanket a person is covered with, the better he sleeps. Therefore, give preference to heavier blankets rather than modern lightweight ones.

Use an aroma lamp. A few drops of rosemary, lemon balm, lavender or cedar will make it easier to fall asleep and improve the quality of sleep. You can drop the oil onto a cloth and place it in the room where you sleep. Try it essential oil, in the absence of effect from previous oils.

As you can see, there are many non-drug ways to improve sleep and each of them deserves attention.

Contents of the article

Insomnia, especially chronic insomnia, causes a lot of trouble for a person, ranging from bad mood and fatigue the next day to serious health problems. At the same time, strong sedatives and sleeping pills are by no means a good way out of the situation, because with prolonged use they can be addictive and cause significant damage to the body. Therefore, special breathing exercises for insomnia are becoming increasingly popular, helping to return a person to a full night’s rest without harm to health.

The connection between sleep and breathing

At first glance, it may seem that breathing and healthy sleep have nothing to do with each other. But if you try to fall asleep in a stuffy and hot room, being in an irritated state or worrying about important things planned for tomorrow, it becomes clear that without physical relaxation and mental balance, you can forget about a full night’s rest. Busy with restless thoughts and starved of oxygen, the brain is not able to completely switch off, preventing a person from falling asleep quickly. And correctly selected breathing exercises in this case help to reduce discomfort to a minimum, allowing the body to relax and tune in to rest.

These exercises will also help strengthen your immune system.

By regularly performing exercises of this kind, you can:

• clear Airways getting rid of chronic respiratory diseases;
• improve blood circulation, providing brain cells with additional oxygen flow;
• relieve muscle spasms and get rid of pain;
• normalize the functioning of the nervous system, reduce emotional stress and mental fatigue;
• strengthen the immune system and reduce the risk of developing many diseases of the endocrine, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems.

In addition, breathing exercises help the brain to distract itself from restless thoughts that prevent you from falling asleep quickly: performing such exercises requires full concentration on the alternation of inhalations and exhalations, leaving no time for the fears and anxieties accumulated during the day.

Basic rules of breathing exercises

Create a cozy atmosphere - open the window for ventilation, turn off all lights, TV and computer

In order for breathing exercises to really effectively cope with insomnia, using them, you must adhere to the following rules:

1. Before performing gymnastics, thoroughly ventilate the room, and then leave the window open for the entire time you sleep.
2. Tight synthetic clothing that impedes chest movement should be replaced with a light nightgown or a loose-fitting T-shirt, always made of natural fabric.
3. Create an environment favorable for falling asleep quickly: turn off the bright lights, turn off the TV and computer.
4. Try to distract yourself from everyday thoughts, fully concentrating on performing the complex.
5. Do gymnastics with eyes closed, which promotes greater relaxation and makes it easier to fall asleep.
6. Increase the pace of training gradually, increasing the number of approaches for each exercise every day.
7. During exercise, breathe only through your nose, at a slow pace, exhaling longer than inhaling.
8. To assess the correctness of the exercises, especially in the first days of classes, place one palm in the chest area, controlling its movements, and the second on the stomach.

Also, special exercises during insomnia are best performed alone, so that no external factors can distract or disrupt the correct breathing rhythm.

Breathing exercises before bed

After preparing for classes and the appropriate emotional state, you can proceed directly to the exercises themselves, which will help you completely relax and fall asleep quickly. Traditionally, breathing exercises for insomnia include the use of the following techniques:

1. Full breath. Lying on your back, exhale as completely as possible, and then begin to slowly draw in air through your nose, first inflating your stomach, then expanding your chest, and lastly, lifting your collarbones, thus freeing up additional space. The next stage is a slow and smooth exhalation, during which the air is first pushed out by the collarbones, then by the ribs, and at the very end by the diaphragm. The exercise is performed 5-7 times.
2. Calming Breath. In this case, the entire load falls exclusively on the diaphragm, that is, during inhalation and exhalation, only the stomach rises and falls, and the chest remains completely motionless. The exercise should be repeated 5-7 times at a slow pace.
3. “4-7-8” technique. The exercise begins with a slow and deep exhalation through the mouth, followed by the same leisurely inhalation through the nose, accompanied by a mental count from 1 to 4. The tip of the tongue should touch the palate behind the upper front teeth. Next, you need to hold your breath and count to 7. The next stage is a long exhalation through a half-open mouth (the position of the tongue remains unchanged), during which you should count to 8. After this, you can take an arbitrary break and repeat the exercise. In the first days, it can be performed 2-3 times, and then gradually increase the number of approaches to 8. To treat insomnia, it is recommended to use this technique daily for 2 months, repeating the exercise 2 times a day - sitting in the morning and lying down in the evening before bed.
4. Anti-stress exercise. It involves a combination of full breathing with the longest possible exhalation with the pronunciation of a hissing sound “s-s-s-s” or “sh-sh-sh-sh”. Letting out air as if from balloon, it is necessary to imagine as clearly as possible all the negativity leaving the body along with it.
5. Counting to 10 technique. When performing this exercise, you need to breathe in time with the count: inhale on odd numbers, and exhale deeply on even numbers. In this case, each number should be slowly spoken to yourself, even trying to imagine it visually. At the same time, it is necessary to focus on chest while breathing, mentally observing how it expands and deflates, as well as the movement of air that enters the mouth, then descends into the lungs and returns back. Having mastered this technique, you can learn to quickly disconnect from the outside world, the signals of which often prevent a person from falling asleep, and completely relax, preparing for a good rest.

Technique 4-7-8

Also, when performing any exercises of this kind, it is necessary to take into account that as you inhale, the processes occurring in the body are activated, and as you exhale, they slow down. Therefore, by lengthening your exhalation, you can help yourself calm down, relax and enter a sleepy state, and by focusing on inhalation, you can become toned and recharged with energy.

To enhance the effect

The results of using breathing exercises for insomnia will appear much faster if you combine it with additional factors that help you fall asleep quickly. First of all, for strong and healthy sleep you need a properly organized sleeping place - it is best if it is a high-quality orthopedic mattress and a special pillow. In the absence of disturbances in the functioning of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, the latter can be abandoned altogether - this will significantly improve cerebral circulation and ensure the health of the cervical spine.

Aromatherapy is also useful in this case: a few drops of oil can be added to an aroma lamp or applied to a handkerchief and placed under the pillow. Thanks to this, breathing exercises will become not only more effective, but also enjoyable. Problems with falling asleep are perfectly solved by bergamot, jasmine, cedarwood, lavender or rose oil, and you can make sleep deeper and get rid of painful dreams with the help of sandalwood oil, rosemary or lemon balm. In addition, while performing breathing exercises, you can use soft music for relaxation as a background, which helps to completely relax the body and tune it in the right way.

Contraindications

Before deciding to perform breathing exercises, you should definitely consult a somnologist, because it is possible that the causes of insomnia are much more serious than those that can be cured with breathing exercises

Despite all the obvious effectiveness and safety of breathing exercises to combat insomnia, in some cases such exercises should be performed with caution. This is about:

• infectious diseases;
• old age;
• acute or chronic forms respiratory diseases (obstructive bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, etc.).

In addition, sometimes insomnia can have quite serious causes, for which breathing exercises alone will not be enough to overcome. Therefore, when faced with a similar problem, it is better to consult a doctor who will help you choose best option therapy for each specific case.

And the most important thing that should not be forgotten when deciding to cope with insomnia with the help of breathing exercises is that any exercise of this kind should be performed with pleasure, accompanied only by pleasant sensations. You should not force your body, because in this case there will be no question of healthy and sound sleep. For the same reason, the pace of training should be increased gradually, without trying to complete all the exercises in full in the first days. It is important to closely monitor your well-being and at the first signs of fatigue or dizziness, take a break, giving your body the opportunity to adjust to continuing exercise.