Breathing and relaxation techniques for a good night’s sleep

STOP!

We invite you to listen to this short Ho’oponopono meditation to help you erase negative thoughts and memories before sleeping. Allow yourself to work with your unconscious to open your heart and allow yourself to heal many situations in your life.

8 min

We know that rest is the key to starting each day with energy and a good mood. Taking care of your health involves maintaining schedules and rest routines that are satisfactory for your body. If you have failed before, do not despair; there are breathing exercises to relax so that you can try and get a good rest.

Enjoy a better rest with breathing and relaxation techniques.

Connecting with your body is essential to achieve optimal rest; therefore, knowing and performing breathing and relaxation techniques will help you face the day in a better mood. Science has demonstrated the strong relationship between respiratory processes, body oxygenation, and sound sleep.

A major study by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) showed that breathing disorders are the leading cause of sleep disorders. Although breathing is an unconscious function, it is sometimes necessary to perform conscious breathing exercises to guide our body toward a particular state or goal.

Many factors can alter the quality of your rest, such as work stress, worries, or family obligations. Learning to relax and prepare the body and mind for sleep is something we can all achieve with the necessary guidance and help.

Five breathing and relaxation exercises for your rest

You may need to learn how to perform practical breathing exercises for your body. It is a common occurrence, especially when we are worried about difficulty falling asleep, as it causes high levels of anxiety that further complicate breathing. Is this your case?

The more nervous we are, the lower the oxygenation of our body and the greater the difficulty of rest. It is essential to relax your mind, provide the opportunity for rest, and try, little by little, with these exercises designed for you.

Diaphragmatic breathing

This exercise involves recognizing our diaphragm to expand our lungs to their maximum capacity. You will feel how the chest opens and fills with oxygen. It decreases anxiety and nourishes your blood for a fantastic rest:

• Lie comfortably in your bed or wherever you wish to sleep.
• Put one of your hands on your abdomen and the other on your chest.
• Breathe deeply through your nose from your abdomen, not your chest, feeling your belly expand as you inhale. You must do this slowly, recognizing its great capacity.
• Exhale slowly through your mouth, feeling your abdomen contract.
• Concentrate on making your breathing slowly, deeply, and regularly. Repeat for a few minutes until you feel relaxed and tired.

Remember that your shoulders or chest should not move but your abdomen, as this is about recognizing the strength of the diaphragm. When we breathe by moving our shoulders, we fill the beginning of our lungs.

4-7-8 Breathing

This deep breathing exercise is ideal for developing conscious oxygenation routines, concentrating on each step. With this technique, you can train your body to receive the oxygen necessary for a good rest:

• Start by placing the tip of your tongue behind your upper teeth, the relaxation position of this organ, with your lips together.
• Breathe deeply through your nose while counting in your mind up to 4.
• Hold your breath for 7 seconds without rushing.
• Breathe out completely through your mouth for a count of 8. Do it slowly and with control.
• Repeat the cycle several times, keeping the same 4-7-8 rhythm with each breath.

These steps will help you hold the air in your system for the time necessary for efficient oxygenation. Don’t rush; remember that the goal is to fall asleep healthily.

Progressive muscle relaxation

It is a technique highly recommended in the artistic field for actors and models who need control over the body. It will help you relieve unknown tensions and prepare your body to rest:

• Start by tensing the muscles in your feet for a few seconds, then relax them completely. You can make small movements with each toe, ankle, and sole; the important thing is to recognize each one.
• Continue progressively tensing and relaxing each area, moving up through the legs, abdomen, chest, arms, neck, and facial expressions. Remember the wrists, hands, and fingers.
• Concentrate on the feeling of relaxation and relief as you release the tension in each muscle.

When you reach the crown of your head, you will completely relax, recognizing your body and relieving accumulated tension. You should accompany this process with conscious, gentle, and deep breathing.

Self-disposed visualization

It is a technique properly developed to fall asleep. Just as some people count sheep, you can visualize known or unknown spaces that generate peace in your mind. Follow these steps:

• Close your eyes and visualize a quiet, relaxing place, such as a beach, a forest, the setting of your favorite book, or a mountain café.
• Imagine the details of that place, the sounds, the colors, the textures. Spend some time on this part, and add elements that are pleasing to you.
• Immerse yourself in that image and feel enveloped by the serenity and calm of the environment you imagine. Feel it, live it, without worrying about anything else.

If you do it carefully while you breathe or relax your muscles with the previous exercises, you will gradually fall asleep. You will lose yourself in that mental image until you completely relax and sleep.

Meditation

The last of these breathing and relaxation exercises is meditation, which consists of emptying and relieving the mind of worries. It will help you focus on your breathing and forget what is distracting you:

• Settle into a comfortable position and focus on your breathing.
• Feel the air going in and out of your body with full awareness. Feel the coolness of the air as it enters through your nostrils and warm as it exits over your upper lip.
• If your mind wanders, don’t judge yourself and redirect your attention to the breath.
• As you relax, you can expand your awareness of other bodily sensations or let thoughts pass by without dwelling on them.

Spend a few minutes practicing this meditation before going to sleep to reach a state of relaxation and oxygenation appropriate for sleep. You can combine it with the breathing exercises that we offer.

Accompany these exercises with therapeutic music

Breathing is the vehicle to connect with our inner world. It allows us to increase consciousness levels and feel our system’s vibrational frequencies. Humans flow between more or less perceptible vibrations, impacting our ability to breathe and rest.

Accompanying deep breathing techniques with therapeutic music will help your system control your breathing consciously. Thus, you will be able to achieve the physical and psychological benefits needed for a good rest.

With Aloharmony, you have at your fingertips eight breathing levels to exercise your respiratory capacity and oxygenation more efficiently. Discover a much more effective rest that fills you with vitality for your day-to-day, stimulating your body with the frequencies:

• Theta3 -8 Hz. To take away the distractions of the world and focus on starting to fall asleep.
• Delta0.5 -3 Hz. Which promotes meditative states, relaxation, and deep sleep.

Experience better rest with these breathing and relaxation techniques, accompanied by the frequencies your body needs. Rediscover the well-being and energy you miss daily in a healthy bond with your body.

Download Aloharmony and improve your sleep quality

Aloharmony is an application that combines therapeutic music, breathing techniques, and guided meditations to facilitate the reconciliation of sleep and improve the quality of rest. The sound frequencies in Aloharmony have been developed based on scientific research on the influence of breathing and auditory stimuli on sleep and relaxation.

By using Aloharmony, you can easily incorporate a relaxation and breathing routine into your sleep hygiene. The app will guide you through different breathing techniques, helping calm the mind and prepare the body for sleep. In addition, the soothing sounds provided by Aloharmony will create an environment conducive to falling asleep and improve the quality of your rest.