Breathe, and snore less!

Could this be a snoring break through! This story is from Wendyl’s new book Natural Care, I’ve shared a blog or two on the importance of breath work previously and very much enjoyed Wendyl’s take on it.

Breathing properly can help with a wide range of concerns, anxiety and depression are two that we hear most about. Sleeping well and learning simple breathing techniques can help to lower blood pressure, alleviate headaches, improve mood, and help with brain fog.

Breathe, Natural Care, Wendyl Nissen

Last year, I tucked myself up in bed and made preparations to sleep. I turned to Paul to kiss him goodnight and was met with a response I didn’t particularly like.

‘I don’t want to know.’

He said it in a very firm, no-nonsense way, in a voice he uses when I am being totally ridiculous, which to be fair does happen sometimes.

This was one of those times because there, trying to give him a kiss, was a woman who had taped her mouth shut with surgical tape – not in a ‘full-on duct tape across the whole mouth because I’m being held hostage’ way, just a little piece of tape the size of a Hitler moustache placed vertically in the centre of my mouth to keep it closed.

It was an idea I had taken from Breath: The new science of a lost art by James Nestor. The book had already helped a friend’s anxiety by teaching him how to breathe properly through anxiety attacks. I reasoned that I would use it to help me sleep.

The theory is that by teaching yourself not to breathe through your mouth at night, you will sleep better and stop snoring, and that if you are suffering from sleep apnea, your symptoms will disappear.

I woke up the next morning feeling amazing. The tape was still in place and I felt that I had really rested. Paul also confirmed that I hadn’t snored, so it worked out all right for him in the end.

I interviewed James Nestor, who told me that so much of the science around breathing that has been conducted in the past 50 years has been totally ignored by the medical profession. Many of the breathing techniques that have been studied were also an essential part of medicine for humans 3000 years ago.

‘Ancient traditions, from the Indians to the Chinese, believed that if you didn’t breathe correctly you would die,’ said James, whose painstaking research uncovered evidence of breathing practices from all over the world. ‘There’s tummo breathing, practised in Buddhist traditions, and prana – many of us have come across this at yoga classes – which translates as ‘life force’ in Sanskrit. The concept of prana was first documented around the same time in India and China some 3000 years ago and became the bedrock of medicine. The Chinese called it ‘ch’i’, the Japanese called it ‘ki’, the Greeks called it ‘pneuma’, Hebrews ‘ruah’ and Iroquois ‘orenda’.

The problem with getting a prescription for breathing exercises during a doctor’s visit is that scientists have traditionally been sceptical of these ancient practices.

‘It was easy to dismiss because there weren’t any randomised controlled trials out there but I did find out that for the past 50 years, researchers at some of our top institutions have been running controlled trials, doing the science, and have proved that this stuff absolutely works,’ James told me.

But, like so many things that are good for us, when there is no money to be made from telling people to breathe, the message doesn’t tend to make it to the medical establishment.

‘I don’t really want to point the finger at big pharma but a top pulmonologist at a top university did tell me that the reason we’re not being taught this stuff and people don’t know about it is that there is no way of making money off it,’ said James.

After I talked to James I instituted a regular breathing practice every day and I found it really helped. I now breathe completely differently because it has become a habit. Occasionally if I feel anxious I’ll notice that I’m not breathing properly so will take some time to do the breathing practice and get it back to normal. I will also do breathing exercises at night if I find it hard to get to sleep.

These are the two breathing practices I use, but there are many others you can find in James’s book or online. I really encourage you to think about the way you breathe as you would think about the way you feed yourself. We tend to think that breathing is just something we do automatically, which is true, but we can help our body breathe better with some practice.

4-7-8 breathing

The following technique, made famous by Dr Andrew Weil, places the body into a state of deep relaxation.

Take a breath in, then exhale through your mouth with a whoosh sound.

Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.

Hold for a count of seven.

Exhale completely through your mouth, with a whoosh, to the count of eight.

Repeat this cycle for at least four breaths.

Weil offers step-by-step instructions on YouTube.

Resonant (coherent) breathing

Resonant breathing is a calming practice that places the heart, lungs and circulation into a state of coherence, where the systems of the body are working at peak efficiency. There is no more essential technique, and none more basic.

Sit up straight, relax the shoulders and belly, and exhale.

Inhale softly for 5.5 seconds, expanding the belly as air fills the bottom of the lungs.

Without pausing, exhale softly for 5.5 seconds, bringing the belly in as the lungs empty. Each breath should feel like a circle.

Repeat at least 10 times, more if possible.

Several apps offer timers and visual guides for your breathing practice. Many smartphones and watches will give you guiding breathing programmes as well.