If you're tense, take a deep breath. Suck in a big breath of air and you'll feel better for a moment.
That's the reflex, and it's not quite right. Especially not in your sleep, because your body does something similar without you noticing.
It’s breathing too much.
Why more air isn’t better
At rest, your blood is almost completely full of oxygen, somewhere between ninety-six and ninety-nine percent saturated. So there’s hardly any room for more, no matter how hard you breathe.
The feeling that you need air comes from something else. Your brain measures how much carbon dioxide is in your blood, and that is the signal it uses to control your breathing.
CO2 is more than waste. It’s the key that lets oxygen come loose from your blood and reach your muscles and your brain. Without enough CO2, the oxygen stays in your blood and reaches its destination less easily.
If you breathe faster than your body needs, you blow off CO2 that you could still have used. That’s why you feel light-headed when you hyperventilate even though your blood is full of oxygen. There’s enough supply, and the delivery stalls.
What happens at night
In your sleep, your breathing is supposed to become slow and regular, especially during the deep stages in the first half of the night. That’s the sign that your body is in recovery mode.
As soon as your mouth opens, that changes. There’s no resistance anymore, so the air rushes in in big gulps and you start breathing faster and more shallowly without anything stopping you.
Your body notices that. Your heart rate ticks up, your nervous system becomes more alert, and you wake up briefly more often without remembering it. That keeps you stuck in the lighter stages and means you get to the stages that help you less often.
The signs left behind are small. A dry mouth, a sticky throat, a heavy head, and sometimes a partner who says you’re breathing audibly.
Where the advice goes wrong
Everyone says you should take deep breaths, and that is almost always explained as taking in lots of air.
Slow is what you’re aiming for. The volume can stay small, and your exhale may gently last longer than your inhale. Six seconds out feels like doing nothing, and that is exactly right.
Stress is often part of it too. A tense day puts your breathing into a higher gear and you carry that gear into bed.
What you can do about it
Measure it first. Sit quietly, set a timer for one minute, and count your breaths. At rest, you should come out at twelve to sixteen per minute. If you’re at twenty or higher while sitting still, there’s room for improvement.
Breathe low instead of high. Place one hand on your belly and one on your chest and see which one moves. If your chest moves most and your shoulders rise too, you’re breathing like someone who has just been startled.
Lengthen your exhale. Four counts in through your nose and six counts out, for a few minutes. That brings your heart rate down, and that’s the direction you want to go in at night.
Keep it in your nose. The resistance of your nose is exactly what keeps your breathing slow, and that resistance disappears as soon as your mouth joins in.
And manage the night, because that’s when no one is paying attention. Nasal strips pull your nostrils outward and keep your nasal passage open with a splint, so your nose can deliver enough air. Mouth tape keeps your mouth closed, which helps your breathing stay slow and regular during the hours when you can’t do anything about it yourself.
The habit for this week
Once a day, count your breaths for one minute. Do it at a fixed time, for example before going to sleep.
Then do two minutes of four counts in and six counts out. That’s all; nothing else changes.
After a week, pay attention to your number. For most people it drops on its own, just because they stop to notice it for a moment :)
Every Night 1% Better.
Guy Veeke
PS: Do you breathe calmly during the day and still wake up out of breath?
Then it’s happening in your sleep. The combination of nasal strips and mouth tape keeps your nose open and your mouth closed, so your breathing stays low and slow all night long.
