Anxiety over another sleepless night can flood the brain with thoughts and adrenaline, keeping you awake until morning; a few simple techniques involving breathing, muscle relaxation and eye movement may help break the cycleZohar Fishman-Schwartz|We all know the moment: You wake up in the middle of the night and, instead of falling back asleep, your mind switches on. One thought leads to another, worries grow louder, and the harder you try to stop thinking, the stronger the thoughts become and the farther sleep drifts away.According to neuroscience research, awakenings like these are often linked to heightened physiological arousal. In this state, the body and brain remain alert, as if they still need to solve a problem or respond to a threat, even when there is no real reason to do so. The result is that the brain is simply too “awake” to return to sleep.GalleryTrying to force yourself to sleep actually activates the brain’s alertness systems (Photo: Shutterstock)That is also why trying to fight the thoughts or force yourself to fall asleep usually does not help. On the contrary, it may increase the feeling of alertness. But instead of trying to silence the mind by force, you can work through the body: through breathing, muscle relaxation and eye movements.When we sink into thoughts, memories or planning for the future, a brain network known as the Default Mode Network comes into play. This is a system of brain regions that is most active when our attention turns inward rather than toward the outside world.Usually, this network plays an important role. It helps process experiences, plan, create and understand ourselves. But when we wake up at night, it can become overactive precisely when we would like the brain to calm down. One thought triggers an emotion, the emotion increases alertness, and the alertness leads to more thoughts. That creates a cycle that makes it harder to fall back asleep.To break that cycle, two processes need to happen at the same time: reducing the body’s physiological arousal and gently shifting attention away from the internal thought loop.Sleep is not a voluntary action. You cannot “decide” to fall asleep, just as you cannot decide to fall asleep faster through effort. In fact, trying to force sleep activates the brain’s alertness systems. So instead of trying to stop the thoughts, you can try to recreate the conditions that naturally characterize the beginning of sleep.The idea behind this approach is simple: Instead of battling your thoughts, you encourage the body to gradually enter a state that resembles the onset of sleep. When the body begins to behave as if it is about to fall asleep, the brain often tends to follow. Sometimes, when you stop fighting the thoughts and begin working with the body, sleep returns on its own. In simple terms: fake it till you make it.Sleep studies show that several consistent changes occur during the transition from wakefulness to sleep: muscle tone decreases, breathing becomes slower and deeper, and eye movements change. One of the earliest signs of this transition is the appearance of slow eye movements, which occur just before sleep begins.Sleep researchers describe these slow eye movements as one of the most consistent markers of sleep onset, and some believe they are not only a sign that the brain is falling asleep, but part of the process itself.The goal: make the thoughts feel less 'sticky' (Photo: Shutterstock)One hypothesis is that eye movements engage parts of the attention and memory systems. When the brain is occupied with a simple, rhythmic and repetitive task, it becomes harder for it to continue feeding the same chain of troubling thoughts with the same intensity. The thoughts do not disappear, but they may become less “sticky” and less emotionally charged.In recent years, a connection has also been found between eye movements and emotional processing. In EMDR therapy, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, for example, patients are asked to follow side-to-side movement with their eyes while bringing up disturbing memories or thoughts, because studies have found that eye movements may reduce the vividness and emotional intensity of certain memories.Interestingly, this idea is not new. Yoga traditions include gaze practices, known as drishti, and gentle eye movements meant to stabilize attention and calm mental activity. Although traditional explanations differ from those of neuroscience, both approaches point to the possibility that eye movement can affect consciousness, promote calm and help the process of falling asleep.Alongside eye movements, breathing is also a powerful tool for regulating the nervous system. When we are tense or alert, breathing tends to become fast and shallow. By contrast, slow, quiet and steady breathing signals to the brain that the danger has passed and increases the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system, the part responsible for rest, recovery and sleep.A summary of dozens of studies showed that breathing at a pace of about five to six breaths per minute reduces physiological arousal and contributes to a greater sense of calm. A study published in Scientific Reports found that slow breathing reduced subjective anxiety, was accompanied by lower physiological arousal measures and was also linked to changes in brain activity involved in emotional processing.Breathing exercises before bed may help reduce nighttime awakenings (Photo: shutterstock)Encouraging findings have also emerged in the context of sleep. Studies indicate that practicing slow breathing before bedtime may shorten the time it takes to fall asleep, reduce nighttime awakenings and improve sleep continuity.Each of these techniques works through a slightly different mechanism. Breathing helps calm the nervous system and reduce physical arousal, while eye movements may shift attention away from the thought loop and reduce the emotional intensity of those thoughts.When the two are combined, the result is a simple practice meant to encourage the body and brain to gradually return to the state that characterizes the beginning of sleep. The goal is not to “force” the brain to stop thinking, but to create conditions that allow the nervous system to move gradually from alertness into rest.If you wake up in the middle of the night and your thoughts begin racing, try the following steps:Relax your jaw as you exhale for three slow breaths.Relax your neck and shoulders for three more breaths.Move to quiet breathing through the nose only.Do not try to “breathe slowly.” Instead, allow muscle relaxation to slow the breathing naturally.Close your eyes and gently move your gaze from side to side, at a slow and effortless pace, while maintaining calm, steady breathing.The writer is a yoga therapy teacher and lecturer in the “Breathing as a Therapeutic Tool” course at Levinsky-Wingate Academic Center.