Breathing exercise to help you sleep

Suggested by our advisor Dr Danuta Orlowska PhD, D.Clin. Psy., PG Dip. Cognitive Therapy (Clinical Psychologist, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust)

How easy is it to fall asleep when we are faced with danger or threat? Not very: as the priority in such circumstances is getting the body ready for “fight or flight” and not for sleep. When people are worried about their tinnitus and how it will affect their sleep, this can be seen as a situation of threat to their well-being. Their body is likely to enter a “fight or flight” state, which will only make the situation worse.

One of the things we can do to help our body unwind a bit from the “fight or flight” response is to try abdominal breathing. This involves taking slow steady breaths (not gulping or taking deep breaths quickly as that is hyperventilation and is linked with various unpleasant sensations including tingling and light-headedness).

The way I teach people about abdominal breathing is given below:

• Place your hands on your abdomen at around waist level with your middle fingers just touching.
• When you breathe IN, you should get slightly bigger as the air enters your lungs.
• You will notice your middle fingers moving apart a small amount (or feel your abdominal area move).
• When you breathe OUT, your fingers will touch again.
• One cycle of IN and OUT is one breath.

Once you know how it feels to breathe like this, try the following breathing and counting exercise. You do not need to hold the IN breath, just breathe steadily in and out.

You might find that your speed of breathing slows down a little after a few such breaths to a more relaxed rate

1. Breathe IN and OUT: count ONE
2. Breathe IN and OUT: count TWO
3. Breathe IN and OUT: count THREE
4. Breathe IN and OUT: count FOUR
5. Breathe IN and OUT: count FIVE
6. Breathe IN and OUT: count SIX
7. Breathe IN and OUT: count SEVEN
8. Breathe IN and OUT: count EIGHT
9. Breathe IN and OUT: count NINE
10. Breathe IN and OUT: count TEN

Then when you have got to TEN, go back to ONE again

1. Breathe IN and OUT: count NINE
2. Breathe IN and OUT: count EIGHT
3. Breathe IN and OUT: count SEVEN
4. Breathe IN and OUT: count SIX
5. Breathe IN and OUT: count FIVE
6. Breathe IN and OUT: count FOUR
7. Breathe IN and OUT: count THREE
8. Breathe IN and OUT: count TWO
9. Breathe IN and OUT: count ONE

If you like counting sheep – make sure you only have ten sheep! With ten sheep you can count them out and back again and more easily lose track of time. If you have a thousand sheep, you know how long you have been counting if you get to 974 and you are still not asleep! The exercise above takes about 2 minutes and you can repeat it more than once.

Try this during the day as well as in the evening and even in bed (you’ll find it easier to lie on your back if you are doing the breathing exercise in bed). It’s free, portable and you never run out of batteries. Some of my patients have gained considerable benefit from this exercise.