Guest Post by: Patrick McKeown BA, MA

When a person is asleep, they don't have control over the way they breathe. Also, the body of a sleeping person is physically inactive, and their metabolism is much slower than it is during awake time. Being slow, it produces much less carbon dioxide. 

Hyperventilation often happens during sleep, and especially in the mornings. It generates breathing problems that result in feeling tired and numb upon waking up instead of feeling recharged and refreshed. 

It's important to stop hyperventilation during sleep if we want to improve our health. You can't wake up feeling refreshed without a night of good sleep, and the only way to rest during sleep is to stop hyperventilating. It can be done in two stages:

1. Learn Buteyko breathing to switch from mouth to nasal breathing during sleep.
2. Use the Buteyko method to reduce air consumption while you're asleep.

We also suggest using crystals for sleep to help your body and mind relax and achieve a more peaceful state.

How Lack of Sleep Affects Your Body 

Lack of sleep triggers a wide palette of health problems. It contributes to the development of many conditions and diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. It ruins your memory, your concentration, and your youthful looks. 

Many people who don't get enough sleep have snoring issues, and many of them suffer from sleep apnea. Studies link sleep apnea and snoring to increased risk of heart attack, cancer, stroke, and cognitive decline conditions such as Alzheimer's. 

If you are a snorer or you suffer from sleep apnea, insomnia or restless legs, then you're probably sleep deprived. Getting a good night's sleep is a small but essential act for our good health. If you have a problem getting sleep, you may be over-breathing due to sleep apnea, and the Buteyko breathing method may be a solution to your problem. 

What Is Sleep Apnea? 

While it’s common for people to treat snoring as a joke, loud snoring accompanied by fatigue upon waking up may be a sign of a condition called sleep apnea. It's a common but very serious sleeping disorder that makes you stop or pause breathing multiple times during sleep. 

People who have sleep apnea aren’t aware of those short pauses in breathing, although they may happen hundreds of times in one night. All they know is that they feel tired during daytime, less energetic than normal, and less mentally sharp and productive.

The most common type of sleep apnea is called obstructive sleep apnea, and it occurs when your airway gets blocked and causes you to snore and pause breathing. Since the condition only happens when you sleep, you may not know you have a problem until your partner tells you or complains about the snoring. 

Sleep apnea can damage your physical and mental health so it's very important to start with breathing exercises for sleep apnea as soon as the doctor confirms the condition. 

The Buteyko breathing technique helps you gain control over your breathing so you can control the symptoms of sleep apnea, including snoring. Once you get your sleep back on track, you will start waking up feeling refreshed, and you will have more energy during the day. 

With the right treatment, you can help your body recharge during sleep, instead of going through stress all night long and never getting enough rest. 

Tips For Better Sleep 

The Buteyko breathing technique teaches you how to switch from mouth breathing to nasal breathing. Here are several tips to help you reach a sound night's sleep in a fast and comfortable way: 

1. Always breathe through your nose. Start by focusing on it while you're walking, standing, sitting, and then progress to breathing through your nose while doing more complex actions. The end goal is for nasal breathing to become the way you always breathe, including during sleep. 
2. Don’t exhaust yourself during physical exercise. Good advice is to maintain a pace where nasal breathing feels comfortable, and you don’t have to breathe through your mouth. You should also avoid overly energetic and demanding exercise close to bedtime. 
3. Don't eat large meals before bedtime. Sugar, caffeine, and alcohol will have a big effect on your sleep. 
4. Try to turn off all technology screens an hour before going to bed. In the ideal world, you should turn off all tech gadgets and screens after dinner and two hours before sleep, and this includes your phone, tablet, PC, and TV. 
5. Avoid any exciting or stimulating activities close to bedtime. Bedtime is not a time to play hide and seek with your kids or to have an intense workout. Those activities are toxic to your sleep. 
6. You should sleep in a ventilated, dark bedroom that's not too warm. Shutting down all night lights is a good idea – and this includes covering the LED light on your alarm clock display.
7. Make sure to get some natural light every day. Go outside, regardless of the season. 
8. Place crystals under your pillow or bed. Certain crystals like Amethyst and Lepidolite emit a frequency that helps us relax and enjoy a better night of sleep.

Waking up refreshed and feeling energized during the daytime will change your life. If you have problems with snoring or possibly suffer from sleep apnea, you may be in critical need of a good night's sleep. 

Buteyko clinic will help you relieve the symptoms and grab your energy and vitality back. 

Cosmic Cuts will provide you with the healing stones and crystals that can help improve your sleep.

About the Author

Ireland based international breathing expert and author, Patrick McKeown, was educated at Trinity College Dublin, and completed his clinical training in Russia in 2002. Patrick is breathing adviser to Laird Hamilton’s XPT, Fellow of The Royal Society of Biology and published by international medical journals and leading book publishers.

His latest book, The Oxygen Advantage (published in fourteen languages), combines specially formulated techniques to reduce breathlessness during physical exercise, increase oxygen delivery to the brain, improve sleep, concentration and to remain focused under stress.

With 125 trained instructors across 30 countries, Oxygen Advantage is recognized as a foremost authority in breathing for exercise performance and sleep. To date, Patrick has worked with elite military Special Forces, SWAT, as well as Olympic coaches and athletes.