Today we are going to cover breathing while you are sleeping. I'm currently learning more and more about sleep, breathing, and recovery via The Online Sleep Coach certification course. If I've learned one thing over the years it is that breathing properly all day and all night is the single most important thing you can do for your health. Everything takes a back seat to breathing and oxygen. Water, food, movement, all of it is secondary to breathing.
Are you waking up with a dry mouth?
In the headline I mentioned dry mouth and waking up to use the bathroom. Those are just two simple screens to see if you might not be breathing properly at night. Others might be snoring, waking up with a headache, and many many more.
Well what does it mean and what can I do about it???
It most likely means you are sleeping with your mouth open at night and/or your tongue is falling back into your throat. Which can lead to sleep apnea if not taken care of.
Recently we did a quick video on Tongue position, and as you can see this person's tongue or the weight of their face and neck is closing their airway. Once this happens you will open your mouth to breathe better. Then dry mouth, then snoring, then headaches in the morning and so on.
Couple simple and easy tips to add in if this is you-
Get that tongue position down and make sure it stays up all day and night.
Try using some breathe right strips while you sleep.
The other tool that some people love and some people are scared shitless of is myotape. It covers your mouth while you sleep to help you stay focused on breathing in your nose.
Snoring and sleep apnea is very very hard on your heart and deprives your brain of oxygen. 80% of people don't realize they have sleep apnea or they snore. Look for these other symptoms and take care of it. You'll feel better, have more energy, and breathe easier during the day.
Goal for this week is try to fix this up.
Journal Prompt-
Take note of how you feel when you wake up each morning. Use this to keep track if you want but if you aren't feeling good in the morning, something should change.
If you snore or your spouse snores feel free to send me a message here venting about your lack of good sleep :)
Blog post written by James Fryer, NMT