---
title: Do breathing exercises help with symptoms of PMS? | Niyora
description: Yes. Women who practiced breathing exercises for 3 months showed clear improvements in heart rate, blood pressure, and their nervous system's stress response.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/effect-of-pranayama-on-blood-pressure-and-heart-rate-in-premenstrual-syndrome-2016/
---

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- Do breathing exercises help with symptoms of PMS?

Study, 2016

# Do breathing exercises help with symptoms of PMS?

Yes. Women who practiced breathing exercises for 3 months showed clear improvements in heart rate, blood pressure, and their nervous system's stress response.

 Moderate study design

50 women aged 18-45 with PMS and regular menstrual cycles

## What they did

A study divided 50 women aged 18-45 with PMS into two groups. One group did 3 months of breathing exercise training called pranayama. The other group did no training. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured before and after the 3 months.

## What they found

Women who did pranayama had clear reductions in heart rate and blood pressure compared to their own baseline and compared to the control group. Women in the breathing exercise group showed significant reduction in their nervous system's stress activity and reported better control over their PMS symptoms.

## What it means for you

Breathing exercises may help reduce physical stress responses in women with PMS. The main limit is the study does not report specific numbers for how much heart rate or blood pressure decreased, and doesn't clearly describe whether PMS symptoms themselves improved.

50

women studied

3

months of training

18-45

age range in years

## About the study

Original title EFFECT OF PRANAYAMA ON BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART RATE IN PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME Authors Rajni Goyal, Puneet Raj Goyal, Rajveer Garg Journal Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences Year 2016 Study design Study Participants 50 What was tested 3 months of pranayama (breathing exercise) training Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.14260/jemds/2016/1210](https://doi.org/10.14260/jemds/2016/1210)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)

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