🎯 Today’s Mission:

To successfully complete today’s mission:

✅ Do 5 minutes of deep breathing before going to sleep.

✅ [OPTIONAL] Share with us, in the Sleekgeek Sleep Challenge Support Group, how it went and whether you felt any different before versus after the breathing exercise.

✅ Complete the form at the bottom of the page when done.

💡 More Info:

Breathing happens automatically.

Thankfully!

But intentionally focusing on our breathing is also an incredibly powerful tool to help us feel more calm and relaxed.

Breathing deeply and mindfully has a number of health benefits such as:

Increased circulation.

Reduced anxiety.

Increased flow of oxygen to heart, brain and other organs.

Improved respiratory system function.

For the purpose of this sleep challenge, we’ll be focusing on the benefits of reduced anxiety and increased oxygen levels (which also help to relax the body).

🧘 A basic breathing exercise to try:

Before you start, set a timer for 5 minutes so that you can focus on the exercise rather than worrying about the time.

1) Sit (or lie down) in a quiet spot with no distractions – no phone, no tv, no people.

2) Concentrate on drawing in slow deep breaths and releasing them slowly.

3) Try to lengthen your breaths a little bit more each time.

4) When ready for the next step, exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.

5) Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.

6) Hold your breath to a count of six.

7) Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.

8) Continue to breathe slowly and mindfully like this for the full 5 minutes.

If you’re not used to breathing slowly and deeply, your “mental count” can be quick at first and then slowly lengthen as you get used to it so that each count is eventually as long as or even longer than a second.

If you want to explore further, Healthline also have a list of 9 different breathing exercises that you can try for better sleep.