Sometimes when falling asleep i feel like my breathing slows too much & i panic. once i am asleep its fine. i had the feeling last night & according to my fitness watch my breath rate dropped to 8 at start of sleep then went normal, is this normal?

The amount you breathe with each breath, called the tidal volume, factors into how many times per minute you need to breathe. If you take deeper breaths, then the number of breaths you need would be less than if you take more shallow breaths. Your brain determines this based on the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen you have in your system. This is done automatically while you sleep. Good luck!

Dr Colantino agreed