Most people think better sleep starts with what they do at night.
They focus on limiting screen time, avoiding caffeine late in the day, or trying to dial in the perfect bedtime routine. And while those things can help, there’s one powerful factor that often gets overlooked and that is how you’re breathing, both during the day and before you go to sleep.
Your breathing patterns are constantly sending signals to your nervous system. Slow, controlled breathing tells your body it’s safe to relax. Shallow, fast breathing does the opposite. It keeps your system alert, tense, and on edge. If your body never fully gets the signal to calm down, falling asleep and staying asleep becomes much harder than it needs to be.
In my coaching experience, breathing is one of the fastest and most effective ways to shift the body into a relaxed state. And the best part is, it doesn’t require any special equipment or complicated routines. When used intentionally, simple breathwork can help prepare your body for deeper, more restorative sleep.
In this article, I’m going to break down how breathing patterns affect sleep quality, why shallow breathing can keep you wired at night, and how you can use simple breathing techniques (like the ones I’ll walk you through in the video below) to help your body wind down and get the rest it needs.
Why Breathing Has Such a Powerful Effect on Sleep
Breathing isn’t just about getting oxygen in and carbon dioxide out.
It’s one of the main ways your nervous system decides whether you’re safe or under threat. Every breath you take sends feedback to your brain. When breathing is slow, quiet, and controlled, your body shifts toward a relaxed, recovery-focused state. When breathing is fast, shallow, or forced, your body stays on high alert.
If you’ve ever felt “tired but wired” at night or exhausted but unable to shut your brain off then there’s a good chance your nervous system never fully powered down. And breathing plays a major role in that.
This is why breathing matters so much for sleep. You can have the perfect bedroom setup and still struggle to rest if your body feels like it needs to stay vigilant.
Shallow Breathing: The Hidden Reason You Can’t Fully Relax
One of the most common issues I see is shallow breathing.
Many people breathe through their mouth, breathe high up into their chest, or take quick, noisy breaths without even realizing it. Over time, this pattern becomes automatic. And once it’s automatic, it follows you into the evening and right into bed.
Shallow breathing tends to:
- Keep the chest and neck muscles working overtime
- Increase tension in the upper body
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Send a constant “stay alert” signal to the brain
When this happens, the body struggles to fully relax, even when you’re lying down in a dark, quiet room.
The first step isn’t fixing it. The first step is noticing it.
Becoming aware of how you breathe is incredibly important. You don’t need to judge it or force change right away. Simply noticing whether you’re breathing through your nose or mouth, whether your breath is quiet or loud, and whether your belly or chest moves first can tell you a lot about what your nervous system is doing.
Two Simple Breathing Options to Help Your Body Relax
Once you start noticing shallow breathing patterns, the next step is giving your body a better option.
The goal isn’t to “fix” your breathing overnight or practice complicated techniques. The goal is to slow things down and give your nervous system a clear signal that it’s safe to relax.
Below are two simple breathing options we often recommend at Critical Bench. You don’t need to do both, just pick one to start and see how it feels. And perhaps over time you can incorporate both into your life.
Option 1: Deep Belly Breathing
One of the simplest and most effective places to start is deep belly breathing, something my friend Coach Chris Wilson teaches often because it’s easy to learn and works for almost everyone.
Most people breathe high into their chest without realizing it. Deep belly breathing helps reverse that by encouraging the breath to move lower into the body, where it naturally promotes relaxation.
To try it, sit or lie down comfortably and place your hands on your belly. Take a slow breath in through your nose and focus on gently expanding your abdomen. Hold the breath briefly, then slowly let it all the way out. Even a few slow breaths like this can help quiet the mind and release tension.
You can start with just one minute of belly breathing and gradually build from there. It’s simple, calming, and a great option if you’re feeling stressed, tense, or mentally overloaded, especially before bed.
How to Practice Deep Belly Breathing (3-Chamber Breathing)
As I mentioned, Coach Chris teaches a really simple progression that’s perfect if you’re new to breathwork or you feel like you’re always breathing “up here” in your chest.
The Setup
- Sit somewhere comfortable (or lie down).
- Get tall through your posture (don’t slump).
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Place both hands on your belly so you can feel it move. Or place one hand on your belly and one on your chest so you can feel the difference.
Minute 1: Belly-only breathing
- Inhale slowly through your nose and let your belly gently expand into your hands.
- Hold that breath for a couple seconds (about a 3–5 count).
- Exhale slowly and fully much like you’re emptying the tank.
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Repeat for about 5 slow breaths (roughly one minute).
Minute 2: Belly + mid-chest
- Inhale through your nose and expand the belly first.
- Keep inhaling gently and allow the mid-chest/ribs to widen a bit.
- Hold briefly.
- Exhale slowly and fully.
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Repeat for about 5 slow breaths.
Minute 3: Full “trunk” breath
- Inhale through your nose: belly expands first…
- Then the ribs/mid-chest expand…
- Then top off the breath with a little more air toward the upper chest (without shrugging your shoulders).
- Hold briefly.
- Exhale completely and push all the air out.
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Repeat for about 5 slow breaths.
How to use it:
This is a great “reset” any time of day but it’s especially useful before bed because it naturally slows you down. If three minutes feels like too much at first, just do one minute of belly breathing and call it a win.
Option 2: Humming Bee Breath (Brahmari Pranayama)
Another powerful option, especially if you struggle with an overactive mind at night, is humming bee breath, also known as Brahmari Pranayama. This is one of my personal favorites.
This technique combines slow breathing with a gentle humming sound, which helps calm the nervous system and reduce mental chatter. The vibration from the hum creates a soothing effect that many people find deeply relaxing.
Humming bee breath can be especially helpful when your mind won’t shut off and you keep replaying the events of the day. Just a few rounds can help shift your focus away from racing thoughts and into the sensations of the breath.
It’s one of my favorite techniques to use right before bed when I need to quiet my mind and prepare for sleep.
How to Practice Humming Bee Breath (Brahmari Pranayama)
If your biggest problem is an overactive mind (you lay down and your brain starts running laps) this is one of my favorite tools. The humming vibration plus the hand position helps block out distractions and settles the nervous system fast.
Step 1: Start by anchoring your attention
Before you do anything fancy, take a few slow breaths and put your attention on the sensation of breathing:
- Air moving through your nostrils
- Belly/ribs expanding
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Breath getting slower and smoother
That alone starts to quiet the mental noise.
Step 2: Hand position
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Use your thumbs to gently close off your ears (press the little flap area back).
- Place your middle and ring fingers lightly over your closed eyelids.
- Let your index fingers rest above the eyebrows/forehead.
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Place your pinky fingers near the corners of your mouth (resting gently).
(You’re basically creating a little “sensory off switch.”)
Step 3: The breath
- Inhale through your nose.
- On your slow exhale, keep your eyes and ears closed and hum steadily (like a soft “mmmmmm”).
- At the end of the exhale, pause for a moment.
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Inhale again through the nose and repeat.
Start with 3 rounds, work up to 5 rounds, and do more if you want.
Step 4: Finish
When you’re done:
- Keep your eyes closed
- Remove your hands slowly
- Take a few normal breaths
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Then open your eyes
Most people feel noticeably calmer after just a few rounds, which is exactly what we want before sleep.
Keep It Simple
You don’t need to do both. Pick one:
- If you feel tense and “stuck in your chest,” start with 3-chamber belly breathing.
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If your mind won’t shut off at night, try humming bee breath.
Do it consistently for a week and you’ll start teaching your body a new pattern:
“This is how we wind down.”
How Poor Breathing Disrupts Sleep Quality
When breathing patterns stay shallow and fast into the evening, sleep tends to suffer in a few common ways.
First, it can make it harder to fall asleep. Your body may feel physically tired, but your nervous system hasn’t fully relaxed yet.
Second, it can lead to lighter sleep. Even if you do fall asleep, you may not spend as much time in the deeper, more restorative stages of sleep.
Third, it can increase nighttime awakenings. If your system stays on edge, you’re more likely to wake up throughout the night and have trouble falling back asleep.
This is why breathwork before bed can be so effective. It gives your body a clear signal that the day is done and it’s time to shift into recovery mode.
Using Breathwork to Calm the Nervous System Before Bed
Breathwork is one of the simplest and most direct ways to calm the nervous system.
The goal isn’t to breathe perfectly or memorize complicated techniques. The goal is to slow things down, create rhythm, and allow your body to feel safe enough to relax.
Some breathing techniques emphasize longer exhales, others focus on gentle breath holds, and some combine breathing with visualization. Different techniques work better for different people, which is why it’s important to experiment and find what feels best for you.
In the video below, I walk you through several more breathing techniques you can use before bed to help your body relax and prepare for sleep. You don’t need to do all of them. Pick one, practice it consistently, and let your nervous system learn the pattern.
Consistency Beats Complexity
When it comes to breathwork and sleep, more isn’t always better.
You don’t need a new technique every night. In fact, consistency is far more important than variety. When you practice the same breathing pattern regularly, your body starts to associate it with relaxation and rest.
Think of it as teaching your nervous system a familiar signal:
“This is how we wind down.”
Over time, that signal becomes easier and faster to recognize, making it simpler to fall asleep and stay asleep.
Supporting Sleep From Multiple Angles
When it comes to better sleep, I always encourage people to keep things simple.
You don’t need a perfect routine or complicated strategies to start seeing improvements. Often, the biggest changes come from paying attention to the basics and breathing is one of the most important basics there is.
How you breathe sends powerful signals to your nervous system, and those signals play a major role in how easily you fall asleep and how well you stay asleep through the night.
Using breathwork before bed is one of my favorite ways to help the body relax and wind down. It’s free, it’s effective, and when done consistently, it can make a noticeable difference in sleep quality over time.
That said, sleep is rarely about just one thing.
The best results usually come from supporting your body from multiple angles, calming the nervous system, building healthy nighttime habits, and giving your body the nutrients it needs to fully relax and recover while you sleep. That’s exactly why I recommend Sleep Revive.
Sleep Revive is designed to support relaxation, reduce nighttime restlessness, and help your body stay in a deeper, more restorative sleep state once you’ve already done the work of winding down. It’s not meant to replace healthy habits like breathwork, it’s meant to work alongside them.
When you combine intentional breathing with the right support, you give your body the best chance to do what it’s meant to do at night: rest, repair, and wake up ready for the day ahead.
Sleep Revive – Natural Sleep Support Supplement
