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.
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