Try This Proven Breathing Exercise to Improve The Quality of Your Sleep

Can Paced Breathing Really Help You Sleep Better?

Stress is one of the main causes of poor sleep. Relaxation techniques can help you fight stress, but can they also help you sleep? Check out this study showing how paced breathing enhances vagal activity and improves sleep quality.

Key Takeaways

• Paced breathing exercises can improve sleep quality
• Breathing exercises modulate autonomic function and promote relaxation
• Breathing exercises at 6 bpm were more successful than breathing exercises at 12 bpm

How Slow, Paced Breathing Improves Sleep Quality

Poor sleep is an increasingly common consequence of modern lifestyle patterns. Stress, work schedules, poor sleep hygiene, and dietary habits are among the many factors that contribute to inadequate sleep. In the US, about 1 in 3 adults do not regularly get the recommended amount of uninterrupted sleep [1,2]. This is a serious concern because persistent sleep loss can have a significant detrimental impact on health and physical and mental performance. 

Some of the physiological changes associated with sleep involve the autonomic nervous system (ANS), a branch of the nervous system that regulates physiological homeostasis and controls involuntary processes such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, or digestion. The ANS is divided into two subsystems, the sympathetic nervous system, which controls fight-or-flight responses, and the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for rest-or-digest responses and restorative processes. Central to the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system is the Vagus nerve [3]. 

Lower parasympathetic activity and higher sympathetic activation during daytime rest, sleep-wake transitions, and overnight sleep, indicative of poorer relaxation, have been observed in poor sleepers [4–6]. Several studies have shown that breathing exercises can modulate autonomic function and promote relaxation, being useful techniques for improving sleep [7–9].  

Paced breathing at slow rates of 6 breaths per minute (bpm), corresponding to 10-second cycles, has been found to increase vagal tone (i.e., Vagus nerve activity) and heart rate variability.

Paced breathing at slow rates of 6 breaths per minute (bpm), corresponding to 10-second cycles, has been found to increase vagal tone (i.e., Vagus nerve activity) and heart rate variability (HRV, the variation in time between heartbeats) and to generate respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), which is a synchronization of HRV and respiration that increases cardiac-vagal activity and promotes relaxation, stress reduction, and sleep quality [8–14]. For reference, the normal resting breathing rate in healthy adults is typically around 12 bpm, corresponding to 5-second cycles [3]. 

Therefore, this study aimed to compare the autonomic function of poor sleepers and good sleepers and to determine if slow, paced breathing may improve autonomic function and sleep in individuals with sleep dysfunction. 

How The Study Worked

The autonomic function of participants was assessed by measuring their HRV and respiration during slow, paced breathing at 6 bpm (3 in 7 out), paced breathing at 12 bpm, and spontaneous breathing. At baseline, poor sleepers showed measures of autonomic function indicative of poorer parasympathetic function relative to good sleepers, while no differences were found in measures of sympathetic activity. 

Paced breathing at both rates induced changes in autonomic function not observed in spontaneous breathing. Changes were more marked with slow, paced breathing at 6 bpm, during which synchronization of HRV and respiration cycles (i.e., RSA) was observed. Differences in parasympathetic function between poor and good sleepers diminished, indicating increased cardiac-vagal tone and relaxation. These findings indicated that autonomic function can be modulated by paced breathing at a slow frequency rate of 6 bpm.

To test the effects of paced breathing on sleep, participants were asked to perform a paced breathing exercise before going to sleep. The exercise consisted of continuous paced breathing at 6 bpm (i.e., 10-sec cycles) or 12 bpm (i.e., 5-sec cycles) for 20 minutes. Participants’ sleep quality was evaluated by polysomnography and a questionnaire. 

Paced breathing exercises at 6 bpm (3 in 7 out) before going to sleep improved sleep quality and sleep efficiency of poor sleepers, shortened their sleep onset latency, and reduced the time needed to enter slow wave sleep and REM sleep.

At baseline, poor sleepers showed longer sleep onset latency (i.e., time required to fall asleep) and poorer sleep quality than good sleepers. Slow, paced breathing exercises at 6 bpm before going to sleep improved sleep quality and sleep efficiency of poor sleepers, shortened their sleep onset latency, reduced the time needed to enter slow wave sleep and REM sleep, and reduced the number and duration of awakenings after sleep onset, thereby helping to maintain a stable sleep period. Paced breathing exercises at 12 bpm did not have the same sleep-promoting effects and only reduced the number of awakenings.

This study thus showed that a continuous paced breathing exercise at 6 breaths per minute, i.e., 10-second cycles, with an inhale-to-exhale time ratio of 3:7 seconds, for 20 minutes before going to sleep may be a simple method to improve relaxation and promote better sleep. 

Referenced study:

Tsai HJ, et al. Efficacy of paced breathing for insomnia: enhances vagal activity and improves sleep quality. Psychophysiology 2015, 52(3):388-96. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12333

References

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