(#52) Better Sleep and Higher Vagal Tone

 

“Taken together, our results suggest that slow-paced breathing performed before sleeping may enhance restorative processes at the cardiovascular level during sleep.”

- Laborde et al. (2019), Journal of Clinical Medicine

This excellent study (see the Science 411 for more) found that 15 min of slow breathing (6 breaths/min) before sleep for 30 days led to:

  • Significantly better subjective sleep quality

  • Significantly higher nighttime vagal tone (via HF-HRV)

  • Higher (but not significant) morning vagal tone

 

That’s impressive for just 15 minutes a night 👏

 

P.S. To be honest, I’ve never been able to commit 15 minutes before bed to breathing. But I always do at least 5-10, and I find it more than enough to fall asleep faster.