Hey Team,
We often talk about the nighttime routines you can instill into daily life to help make falling asleep faster and more efficient. You can stop eating three hours before bed, stop drinking two hours before bed, cut off screen time one hour before bed, and overall make the tail end of your day the least stressful. The reality is that everyday canβt consist of the perfect routine, and sometimes, oftentimes, the day gets away from us. If you find yourself ridden with things to do that are following you into the sheets each night, I have one hack that can work within mere minutes- mindfully slowing down your respiratory rate.
Your respiratory rate is how many breaths you take per minute. The average normal respiratory rate hovers between 12-18 breaths per minute, meaning thatβs about how many you should be averaging subconsciously throughout your day without focusing on breath. Though something magical happens when you purposely slow things down, and begin to decrease the amount of breaths per minute and work below the 12 mark.
Breathing at 12 breaths per minute sends a feedback message to the brain that increases vagal tone and HRV (heart rate variability) and reduces stress responses. As this number decreases, the response time increases.
Try this the next time you canβt fall asleep: lay down, lights off, phone off, and get comfortable. Close your eyes, seal your lips, and breathe in through your nose. Breathe in for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, and hold for four seconds. One round should take you 16 seconds, and allow you to complete four rounds within a minute. Youβre now down to four breaths per minute, significantly expediting the stress response process referenced above.
This process isnβt only applicable to bedtime, but can be used in a particularly stressful point of your day to bring yourself back to the present.
When in doubt, breathe it out.
Until next time. π
