If you are like the majority of my clients, then the thought of a relaxing, restorative and uninterrupted 7-9 hours of sleep is most definitely a distant memory. The thought of waking feeling energised, refreshed and ready to take on the day is laughable….. So what is really behind our lack of quality sleep?

Vivid Dreams

There are good dreams and there are bad dreams….. Cycling through all the stages of sleep in a consistent pattern will result in gentle, calm dreams. Diving in and out of the sleep stages in an erratic manner, usually results in the emotionally charged, desperate, frantic dreams from which you jolt awake with your heart racing. The dreams that leave you feeling more exhausted than you were when you went to bed. The dreams that make it very hard to fall back to sleep. Your breathing profile is directly linked to the way your body moves through the sleep stages. Breathe well (gently, quietly, slowly and through the nose) and there is a gentle and smooth transition through ALL of the sleep stages. This allows for restorative, healing sleep to occur, leaving you energised, refreshed and ready to face the day. Breathe poorly (heavily, irregularly, deeply and quickly) and you will spend inconsistent periods of time in the different sleep stages, miss some altogether, and find yourself actually winding up your nervous system and experiencing vivid, frightening and exhausting dreams.

Overnight toilet visits

Did you realise that needing to get up to use the toilet overnight IS NOT NORMAL?? It is not a normal part of ageing, is definitely not an inescapable part of menopause and is an absolute red flag that your breathing is really interrupting the quality of your sleep. But how could the way you breathe affect your bladder? Read more about this HERE.

In a nutshell, when we breathe poorly (overbreathe), the level of Carbon Dioxide in our bloodstream is too low - this affects the amount of stretch, and therefore volume that our bladder (and other smooth muscle) can handle. If our bladder can’t stretch to accommodate more urine, then we wake to use the loo during the night. When we breathe well, our Carbon Dioxide levels are higher, allowing our bladder to stretch and fill overnight without interrupting our sleep.

Insomnia

How is it possible that you can spend almost ALL day feeling sluggish, yawning and literally daydreaming about getting into bed only to find that when you finally DO get into bed, sleep is completely elusive? Finally horizontal, in your bed and you feel WIDE AWAKE. In fact, more awake than you have felt all day….. 

For others, getting to sleep is ok, however STAYING asleep is impossible. We all know that 2-3 hours of sleep is nowhere near enough to have us firing on all cylinders. But that doesn’t help, when your mind is racing, your heart rate is up and you find yourself tossing and turning, getting frustrated as the numbers on the clock slowly creep towards the time of your alarm. 

There is no question that our digital, busy lives have a massive impact on our ability to fall asleep. Sleep hygiene is critical to give your body the best chance to embrace the evening in a way that serves your body and your mind. Breathing is a HUGE part of sleep hygiene….. Breathing well in the hours before you get into bed sets up your body to maximise your own natural sedatives and calming hormones. Breathing well allows you to wind down your nervous system so that it operates predominantly away from the “fight or flight” state that so many people are permanently in. With your nervous system calm and regulated, specific breathing tools that you can learn in The BreatheWell Program will have you drifting off to sleep in minutes and staying asleep - EVERY, SINGLE NIGHT.

Snoring

Too many of us are Ignoring Snoring and failing to recognise that snoring is actually a red flag, being waved furiously, trying to warn us that the way that we are breathing is having a major affect on our airways, on our sleep and on our quality of life. In fact, 60% of Australians aged over 40 snore more than occasionally. The chances are that your sleep is being affected by either your own snoring, or your partner’s….. It doesn’t have to be this way - snoring is a reversible condition that responds fabulously to Breathing Retraining. 

A full night of restful, restorative sleep allows you to live your very best life. If your sleep is being interrupted by vivid dreams, toilet interruptions, snoring or insomnia then do yourself a favour, and make some changes so that you can enjoy a life fuelled by sleep. 

Breathing well allows your body to run efficiently and to thrive.  Breathing well is a pleasure and will allow you to achieve so much more with your life.  Breathing well will affect how you sleep, how you focus, how you enjoy life and how you turn up for those who are important to you. 

If you don’t sleep well, let’s talk about how we can turn it around.  If you are ready to take control of your breathing, take control of your sleep and take control of your life, let’s get started!