Breathe better. Sleep better.

How to improve your sleep through the simple (and free) habit of lighter, slower breathing.

The more I learn about our breath, the more confused I am about why breathwork isn’t more popular.

I read somewhere that it might be because there’s no big money in it. Companies and institutes aren’t throwing cash at researching the benefits of breathwork because well, there’s not much they can sell us on.

Think about it. Wherever there’s a big problem, someone’s trying to sell a big solution. Like with sleep issues. So many of us struggle with sleep, ending up grumpy, tired and not at our sharpest. But, not to worry!

We have pills, $10k temperature-controlled mattresses, black-out curtains, rings and watches that track your every movement, air diffusers, baby sea lion sounds, you name it.

All in the name of helping us sleep better.

But maybe, juuuust maybe, we’re overlooking something super simple and free… our breath.

THE LOWEST HANGING FRUIT FOR BETTER SLEEP: FOCUSING ON YOUR BREATH.

It’s really simple:

Here are three ideas you can immediately start experimenting with:

1. Calm down your mind and body before going to sleep

It’s kind of funny when you think about it:

We run around all day like maniacs and then we expect our brains and bodies to calm down the second we put our heads on the pillow.

Of course, there needs to be a transition period. One of the things you should do to prepare for deep sleep, and discourage heavy breathing at night, is taking time to “down-regulate” before going to bed. That means activating our body’s parasympathetic nervous system, which is our relaxation response. Heart rate goes down, blood pressure goes down, digestion increases, body temperature increases.