We know sleep is important, but this study made me wake ups to how important it is. It found that people who sleep five hours a night instead of eight hours are 10 times more likely to catch a cold!

 

So what can you do about it if you aren't able to sleep well? 

 

WELL, This might sound funny, but how you breathe during the day influences how you feel and how you sleep. 

 

Many people go through the day over-breathing. Just like over-eating and over-drinking, this can actually be unhelpful — or even harmful — for the body and the mind.

 

What is over-breathing? Over-breathing is basically if you are breathing through your mouth most of the day. Breathing through your mouth means that you take in too much oxygen and you can’t make full use of this oxygen because there is not enough carbon dioxide in the body. 

 

When it comes to going to sleep, how you breathe during the day is going to influence how you breathe at night, so maybe you dribble, maybe you snore — all of these are actually signs of mouth breathing during sleep. 

 

In this state, your body is more on edge. 

 

Nose breathing activates the “rest and digest” part of the nervous system and will help you to feel more relaxed and help your body to switch off and wind down, and enable a better sleep.

 

Doing the breathing exercises at the end of our chats is a great way to practice breathing like this. The better you get at it during the practice, the better you will breathe during the day and night.