PracticingAcceptance
Senior Member
- Messages
- 1,863
I've been prone to a stuffy blocked nose my whole life whenever I get the slightest cold.
Since I've had ME, it seems that I have a near-constant cold.
When my nose is blocked, I don't sleep well at night. Breathing through my mouth at night makes me wake up - maybe it's because my mouth starts to get dry so I start to get thirsty. I learnt as a teen the only way to get sleep when I have a cold is to clear my nose as best as I can before I sleep.
But this hasn't been enough. Since I've had ME, the nights where I wake up from a blocked nose are much more frequent. Disrupting my sleep has a knock on effect to other symptoms.
Things I tried:
The nasal spray I was on wasn't helping in the short term. (But I think discontinuing using it may have made things worse in the long term.)
I tried a saline nasal spray which did clear me out but only for an hour.
I found that if I wake up in the night, sitting up or standing up clears my nose so I can breathe almost instantly, but it means that I properly wake up and can't get back to sleep for an hour.
I drink loads of water anyway, and this doesn't make things better.
Downward dog in yoga before bed makes things worse.
What has been a revolutionary technique for me:
Breathing slowly and shallowly through my nose.
I found it on a forum in the middle of a night of desperation but I can't remember where it was.
As a long-term asthma sufferer I find this technique scary to do because it involves not taking in very much air. But it's only for a few breaths. Somehow, it opens me up. I don't know why it works, but it does. (If you know why, please tell me!)
Now when I wake up, I breathe slowly and shallowly through the tiny gap in one nostril for maybe 10 breaths, and gradually, quickly, in just under a minute, my airways open and I can breath almost fully through my nose. It means I can get back to sleep quickly.
This has been a game-changer for me. So I really want to share it with anyone else that struggles with this. It's pretty torturous to not be able to breathe through one's nose and lose sleep regularly because of it. I really hope this technique works for other people too.
I only discovered it a few days ago and my sleep is already better.
All my life I've relied on medicines and products to solve my problems. It didn't occur to me that a breathing technique could possibly make THE difference.
(Incidentally this week I've also discovered that a silk pillowcase makes a bigger difference to how frizzy my hair gets than any hair product has done, ever. Time for me to start exploring techniques that help beyond lotions and potions!)
Please let me know if you also have struggled with this, and if it works for you
Since I've had ME, it seems that I have a near-constant cold.
When my nose is blocked, I don't sleep well at night. Breathing through my mouth at night makes me wake up - maybe it's because my mouth starts to get dry so I start to get thirsty. I learnt as a teen the only way to get sleep when I have a cold is to clear my nose as best as I can before I sleep.
But this hasn't been enough. Since I've had ME, the nights where I wake up from a blocked nose are much more frequent. Disrupting my sleep has a knock on effect to other symptoms.
Things I tried:
The nasal spray I was on wasn't helping in the short term. (But I think discontinuing using it may have made things worse in the long term.)
I tried a saline nasal spray which did clear me out but only for an hour.
I found that if I wake up in the night, sitting up or standing up clears my nose so I can breathe almost instantly, but it means that I properly wake up and can't get back to sleep for an hour.
I drink loads of water anyway, and this doesn't make things better.
Downward dog in yoga before bed makes things worse.
What has been a revolutionary technique for me:
Breathing slowly and shallowly through my nose.
I found it on a forum in the middle of a night of desperation but I can't remember where it was.
As a long-term asthma sufferer I find this technique scary to do because it involves not taking in very much air. But it's only for a few breaths. Somehow, it opens me up. I don't know why it works, but it does. (If you know why, please tell me!)
Now when I wake up, I breathe slowly and shallowly through the tiny gap in one nostril for maybe 10 breaths, and gradually, quickly, in just under a minute, my airways open and I can breath almost fully through my nose. It means I can get back to sleep quickly.
This has been a game-changer for me. So I really want to share it with anyone else that struggles with this. It's pretty torturous to not be able to breathe through one's nose and lose sleep regularly because of it. I really hope this technique works for other people too.
I only discovered it a few days ago and my sleep is already better.
All my life I've relied on medicines and products to solve my problems. It didn't occur to me that a breathing technique could possibly make THE difference.
(Incidentally this week I've also discovered that a silk pillowcase makes a bigger difference to how frizzy my hair gets than any hair product has done, ever. Time for me to start exploring techniques that help beyond lotions and potions!)
Please let me know if you also have struggled with this, and if it works for you