Down regulating is a breathing technique to fall asleep faster where you inhale gently through your nose for about five seconds and then stretch your exhale to at least seven seconds, with no hold, repeating about ten times to slow your heart rate and quiet a racing mind. In this How 2 Tuesday, part four of my breath series, I share the exact protocol I learned in an XPT breathing course and use in bed to shut down the mental noise and actually go to sleep. Press play above and follow along.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Down regulating is a breathing technique designed to calm you down and help you fall asleep. The core idea is to make your exhale longer than your inhale. You breathe in gently through your nose for about five seconds, then slow your exhale to at least seven seconds, with no pause between breaths. A longer exhale signals your body to shift from the sympathetic nervous system, fight or flight, into the parasympathetic, rest and recovery, which is exactly the state you need to drift off.
Lie down in bed and breathe in gently through your nose for about five seconds. Then exhale slowly for at least seven seconds, seven being the magic number. Do not hold at the top or the bottom, just flow right from the exhale back into the next inhale. Repeat that cycle about ten times. By the end your heart rate has dropped and you can actually start to fall asleep. What works even better for me is a longer pattern of about a seven-second inhale and a fourteen-to-fifteen-second exhale.
Lengthening the exhale activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is your body's rest-and-recovery mode. When you cannot sleep because your mind is racing and adrenaline is ramping up, you are stuck in the sympathetic state. Slowing the exhale down, longer than the inhale, tells your body there is no threat. Your heart rate comes down and the mental noise quiets, which clears the path to sleep. The exhale being longer than the inhale is the whole key.
Start with about ten breaths. For most people, by the end of ten slow cycles the heart rate has dropped enough that sleep starts to come. If you are still wound up, keep going. There is no penalty for doing more rounds. The goal is not a fixed number, it is reaching the calm, drowsy state, so use ten as a starting point and continue as needed.
Through your nose. Nose breathing is what shifts you from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic nervous system and lowers your heart rate. Breathing through your mouth, especially fast and shallow, tends to keep you alert and wound up. Keeping both the inhale and the long exhale routed through your nose is part of why this technique is so effective for winding down at the end of the day.
I learned it in an XPT breathing course. I have practiced the Wim Hof method since October 2015 and had such good results that I went deeper into breathwork and even took the online class to become a breathing coach, mostly so I could learn the protocols myself. Down regulating was one of the techniques taught for shifting into the parasympathetic state, and falling asleep faster is one of its best everyday uses.
I get a lot of questions about breathwork because I have practiced the Wim Hof method since October 2015 and felt real benefits from it. That led me to learn more, including XPT, and even take an online course to become a breathing coach. I did not necessarily want the title. I wanted the protocols, so I could perform better, make better decisions, and in this case fall asleep faster. I tell that story in the episode, so press play in the player above.
A lot of people have a hard time falling asleep, especially if your job has you thinking about a dozen things at once. You lay your head down and your mind takes off, adrenaline ramps up, and sleep will not come. Down regulating is the tool that breaks that loop. It is one of the most useful things I took out of that XPT course, and it works really well right there in bed. I explain how it feels to use it in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Here is the exact protocol I use in bed. I demonstrate the timing in the audio.
I walk through each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above and follow along.
The first night you try this, focus on one thing, making the exhale clearly longer than the inhale. That single adjustment does most of the work.
I have shared this with friends who struggle to fall asleep and it has helped them too. Practice it for a few nights and it becomes the routine your body recognizes as the signal to shut down. Press play in the player above.
down regulating · XPT · Wim Hof method · parasympathetic nervous system · sympathetic nervous system · breathwork · nose breathing · sleep · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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