Very simple to make and within everyone’s reach.
Almost 1 in 5 French people have insomnia problems, resulting in irritability, difficulty concentrating, fatigue and/or drowsiness during the day. “For those times when you can’t sleep, I’m going to share with you a short breathing exercise that helps me when it’s 3 a.m. and my mind is filled with absurd thoughts“, says Sarah Harvey in her book “Kaizen: The Japanese method of small steps to change all your habits” (ed. Hugo New Life). Straight from Japan, this technique called “Moon Breathing” seems to have shown its effectiveness in relaxing, falling asleep and waking up at night.
This is a breathing exercise widely used in yoga practice for centuries (called “chandra bhedana” in Sanskrit) to calm and promote sleep. It’s very simple to do and within everyone’s reach. Lying on your bed, simply close your eyes and press your right nostril with your right thumb. You must then inhale and exhale forcefully through your left nostril for 2 to 3 minutes, a little longer if you are particularly stressed.
“It is the left part of the nervous system which is responsible for difficulty falling asleep. Thus, using the left nostril amounts to “contacting” the left part of the nervous system and “controlling” it remotely in order to accelerate the process of falling asleep.continues the expert. It really helps to focus the mind and hit the reset button on your nervous system.“Naturally, breathing and heart rate will slow down, emotions will regulate, you will begin to clear your mind, you will feel more relaxed and you will quickly fall asleep.
This exercise would be particularly effective for people with sleep debt. A 2022 study of medical students showed that this left nostril breathing exercise effectively improved their sleep quality in just 4 weeks. All that’s left to do is test?
