Alternate Breathing

Alternate Breathing 1

Alternate Breathing

Anthony Haskins

Psychology 101

Dr. Vannoy

3/13/2013

Alternate Breathing 2

I believe that the alternate breathing technique works as a natural sleep aid. The body relaxes; it clears ones thoughts, and allowed me to develop new rituals, to prepare for bed. Prior to researching alternate breathing, I always had trouble falling asleep. There would be many things running across my mind and I could never seem to relax. I had no idea the events prior to my bedtime played a role in why I couldn’t fall asleep.

The Alternate Berating research was conducted in two sets. Part A I documented how I normally fall asleep each night. I like to lay in bed and watch television until I fall asleep. During the time between watching TV and falling asleep, I would have many things running through my mind. The day’s events, bills, work, and my family would always be the last thing on my mind before drifting off to sleep. The average time it took for me to fall asleep normally would be between 1 ½ hours to 2 hours. Around 3am I would wake up and look at TV hoping to go back to sleep. So I would wake up the next morning feeling average. I wasn’t overall energized nor was I exhausted. I had trouble falling asleep and even woke in the middle of the night. I never woke up feeling refreshed and totally rested.

Part B’s breathing exercise was different. I still had my normal routine of the children, thinking about the day’s events, etc. but now before I went to bed, I tried the alternate breathing technique. By rotating breathing between my nostrils, I allowed my breathing to slow down. It relaxed me and I felt more at ease verses my regular sleep pattern. I didn’t wake up any during the night until 7am. I noticed I didn’t have as many thoughts running through my mind as normal. My breathing was relaxed.

Alternate Breathing 3

In my opinion, I think the study demonstrated alternate nostril breathing works...