Breathing exercises can be helpful to reduce stress and anxiety and help you to relax at bedtime. The following five breathing exercises can all be done easily on your own to help encourage your body and mind to relax and make sleep easier.

1. The 4-7-8 routine

Developed by Dr Andrew Weil, this technique relaxes and de-stresses. To try this yourself do the following: exhale through your mouth, making a ‘whoosh’ sound. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose as you count to four. Hold your breath for a count of seven and exhale through the mouth again in the same way for a count of eight. Repeat this four times.

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2. Lengthened breath

When your body is stressed, it breathes faster to take in more air. Trick it into a state of relaxation by breathing out longer than you breathe in.

Inhale for a count of three, then exhale for a count of six. Feel free to change up the numbers you count, but the idea is to have a prolonged exhale in comparison to your inhale. Slow, deep breathing like this, known as pranayamic breathing, resets your autonomic nervous system.

3. Meditative breathing

The very first step in mindfulness meditation is learning to regulate your breathing. It requires some concentration, but it’s worth it once the relaxing effect takes hold. Connect with the rise and fall of your breath within your body, where you feel movement as you breathe and how the sensation of breathing feels. You should feel your muscles relax and loosen as you practise this for 8 to 10 minutes.

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4. Visualizing breath

As you inhale, envision the air traveling into your nose, through your entire body, and back out again. Imagine it traveling through all your muscles, all the way to your toes and fingers, before it comes back out again during your exhale.

Focusing on your breathing activates your parasympathetic system, encouraging it to calm down, relax, and lower your heart rate in preparation for sleep.

5. Deep breathing

This routine is ideal as you get to lie down while doing it, putting you in the perfect position to fall right to sleep. Lie on your back, legs hip distance apart, arms relaxing at the side of your body. Take a few deep inhales through the nose and exhale through your mouth. Each time you inhale aim to fill your lungs and rid them entirely of air when you exhale.

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After you have done this three times, take a deep nose inhalation for four counts, constricting the back of the throat, so it feels like you are breathing through a straw. It should sound a little bit like snoring. Hold the breath for a count of four before exhaling through the nose in the same way for a count of four again. Each time you repeat the breath try to breathe and hold the breath for an excess of two more counts until you reach the maximum you can manage. Then begin holding less until you are back to 4 counts at which point you should be ready for sleep.