Stress, Sleep, and your Breath
Stress is a funny (but mostly annoying and sometimes debilitating) thing. It’s felt when an individual perceives a challenge or threat to their well-being and our bodies naturally defend against the real or imagined danger. It’s an evolutionary response that has been around as long as humans have existed. When the first humans were running from Sabre tooth tigers we needed our stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, to activate and keep us alert. Today, we’ve come a long way from running from the carnivores, but from an evolutionary standpoint, we’re still experiencing the same response to stress - instead, it’s coming from stressors like work deadlines, family duties, social media, and our busy, fast-paced lives.
During stress, hormones activated by the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system flood our bloodstreams to signal a state of readiness against potential threats to well-being (think fight or flight). Our body reacts the same way whether the threat is real or not. Stress may get a bad rap, but we do need a little bit of it to get us out of bed and tackle the tasks of the day. Those butterflies in your stomach, from a big presentation or job interview, are actually just your body keeping you focused and on your toes.
Our bodies can handle short bursts of stress. But when we’re in a chronic state of stress, this results in excess release of stress hormones, which can lead to insomnia, immune system malfunction, gastro issues, blood vessel deterioration, degenerative diseases (diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular), or worse.
The relationship between stress and sleep:
For us to fall asleep, stay asleep and feel like we’ve actually had good quality sleep, our body temp, blood pressure and heart rate needs to be lowered, our breathing needs to be deeper and our mind needs to be cleared of stressors at that moment. We need to activate our “rest and digest” branch of our nervous system - the parasympathetic system.
Typically, in a healthy person, cortisol levels are highest within the first hour of waking and are lowest in the late evening hours; this enables us to feel alert in the morning and calm and relaxed at night. When cortisol levels are low in the evenings, our bodies know it’s safe to sleep and will release sufficient levels of melatonin, which is a sleep-promoting hormone. But when we’re stressed, elevated cortisol will keep us active and alert and inhibit the production of melatonin. So, we’re hit with a double-whammy of insomnia-inducing effects.
The secret to sounder sleep:
I have a secret for you.
Ok it’s not a secret. It’s a fully publicly available fact but I wish more people knew about it, including myself when I was falling into my own stress spiral.
Did you know that the way we breathe can affect how we respond to stress? More specifically, that our breath has the power to turn off that fight or flight stress response in our body?
I’m not going to lie, I used to be a cynic. I used to roll my eyes at hippies preaching deep breaths. I like data. I like results. I like evidence-based approaches. It wasn’t until I completely fell into sleeplessness and burnout due to work stress, new baby, illness and severe chronic insomnia that I learned and appreciated how unbelievably powerful and USEFUL constructive breathing was.
Activating your breath:
The way we breathe affects our autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is outside our conscious control and responsible for managing our heart rate, body temp, digestion, breathing and other basic processes necessary for survival. The ANS is divided into the parasympathetic branch (responsible for the relaxation response - rest and digest) and the sympathetic branch (stress response - fight or flight). Depending on what branch is activated, it signals automatic physiological reactions in the body. These branches are influenced by our emotional responses to environmental stimuli – think vicious animals, first dates, arguments, lost keys, sick kids, etc.
We can help preserve and enhance our health by learning to effectively manage our physiological reaction to stressors by teaching the body to induce a relaxation response through our breath and activate the parasympathetic branch of our ANS. So, while you can’t control your stress around sleeplessness or deadlines, through manipulation of our breath, we can affect which ANS branch remains active, especially during moments of stress.
Most people are in the habit of shallow breathing (chest), but a few slow, purposeful truly deep breaths can stop a stress attack in its tracks and engaging in diaphragmatic breathing at different points during the day (and making it a habit) can chronically change our bodies for the better. Every time we practice deep belly breathing (either inhaling and out through the nose or inhaling through the nose and out from the mouth), we’re dampening that stress response and inducing the relaxation response.
In fight or flight or anxiety-provoking situations, we want to respond not react.
Connecting your breath and sleep:
To help induce the relaxation response for sleep, there is a technique called the 4-7-8 breath. Also known as Conscious Breathing, this is a breathing pattern developed by Dr. Andrew Weil, an integrated medicine specialist (with a pretty kick-ass beard). It’s based on an ancient yogic technique called pranayama, which helps practitioners gain control over their breathing. Dr. Weil himself has described the practice as “a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system” and the idea is that the mind and body are forced to focus on regulating the breath as opposed to ruminating over your worries when you lie down at night.
While this breathing technique can be practiced any time throughout the day, I often encourage my clients to integrate breathwork into their pre-bedtime wind down routine to help induce a relaxation response for their mind and body.
Below you’ll see the instructions, or you can watch Dr. Weil demonstrate the technique.
4-7-8 Breathing Instructions
Sit with your back straight while learning this exercise. Once comfortable, it can be completed while sitting or lying flat on your back. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth and keep it there the whole time (you will be exhaling through your mouth around your tongue). For this exercise, you will always inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
1) Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whooshing sound.
2) Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of 4.
3) Hold your breath for a count of 7.
4) Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of 8.
This is one breath
5) Inhale again and repeat the cycle 3 more times for a total of 4 breaths. Can extend to 8 cycles of breath once you’re comfortable with the technique.
*If you get dizzy or lightheaded holding your breath, stop the exercise.
I do want to reiterate that breathing alone is not going to solve all your problems or get you to sleep. Having a proper wind down routine that integrates relaxing activities as well as finding time during the day to address and reduce anxiety and stress is equally important. And while sleep is an activity done at night, staying on a stable wake schedule, eating at the same time each day, making sure you’re getting the proper nutrients you need, along with movement and having an environment conducive for sleep, are all important factors to consider when you’re trying to achieve the best sleep you can.
Looking to learn more about how breath can impact your sleep? Reach out to me with any questions you have or to book a free 20-minute discovery call.
