Why ‘Functional Breathing’ during the Perimenopause?

The perimenopause and menopause phases of a female’s life can be a turbulent time. Our female hormones can be erratic (and ultimately much lower), and cause us symptoms in the process.

Possibly, a lack of knowledge and research in this area, plus many other factors too, we seem to be under the impression our hormones are like runaway trains, completely out of our control! However, we understand factors; like our blood sugar regulation and stress hormones that are under our influence do interplay with our sex hormones.

Some of the primary complaints reported during perimenopause and menopause are hot flushes, night sweats, cognitive issues (brain fog, inability to focus, struggle with short-term memory), mood (especially anxiety and depression), lack of resilience (feeling stressed and overwhelmed by things that we have coped with previously), fatigue and poor sleep. Understandably, experiencing these symptoms can have such significant knock-on effects to our lives; our relationships, our ability to work and function.

Whilst the ‘wind-down’ of our ovaries and the subsequent reduction in our sex hormone production is a natural process at some point in our lives, our potential suffering during this time may not have to be so inevitable.

Exercise is shown to have some of the strongest evidence supporting its potential to reduce many symptoms but finding this out when your sleep is suffering and your mood and energy is so low can feel like a kick in the teeth. Just to note here - movement options can be walking, gardening dancing, yoga – and be 20 minutes – So many people I speak to falsely perceive exercise has to be an hour in a gym to gain any benefit.

Nevertheless, this is where I believe breath can come in to be a strong contender to help us during our journey. Not only can ‘functional breathing’ be a way to manage those symptoms named above, but as a by-product, also help promote our long-term fitness and health otherwise. I love this quote from one of my teachers, Patrick McKeown from his book, The Breathing Cure:

“Breathing impacts every aspect of your health - sleep, digestion, movement, mental wellbeing, disease, and recovery. It’s an extraordinary resource with life-changing potential. It’s simple, free, and available to everyone.”

So, in essence, I think working on our functional, day to day breathing as Patrick McKeown advocates, as well as being aware of a few simple breathwork practices is something for everyone to take note of, but especially could be such a useful tool during the perimenopause.

Some explanations of how the breath is a good solution for us are suggested below:

Breathing and Stress

Our breathing has the capacity to add to our overall stress load, or move us away from ‘fight/flight’ into calm ‘rest and digest state’. I often think of it as our ‘backing track’. If you watch a scary film without background music, it has such a minimal effect on us. The ‘backing track’ is so powerful in subconsciously impacting our state. The breath is exactly the same – it goes unnoticed for the most part but is affecting our physiological state; our energy, mood, and our thinking all of the time. So, if we set our backing track as a calm, classical piece, we are much more likely to be calm, clearer in our thoughts and less likely to scream out expletives with a minor upset to our day.

Typically, when we are experiencing oestrogen ups and downs, our body is experiencing a 'stressor' - not only because our body's like 'homeostasis' - a place of balance. But also because oestrogen is a good stress 'buffer'. So without the help of oestrogen, breathing can be our ally.

Additionally, because the system that deals with stress is also involved in temperature regulation, doing some calm breathing each day (even just 10 minutes) has also been shown to help reduce the frequency/intensity of hot flushes.

Breathing and Sleep

Nasal breathing increases deep sleep, studies show more slow wave sleep, more oxygenation of tissues (critical for cell repair and the brain clean-up process, which happens at night) and less sleep fragmentation. Improve sleep and we improve everything!

Breathing and Blood Sugar Regulation

There are studies showing our blood sugar regulation is improved by improving our breathing and taking time to perform breathwork practices. This is critical, as blood sugar ups and downs are more likely during the perimenopause and menopause, even though we may not have changed our habits; Our oestrogen (which is initially rollercoasting and then declines through perimenopause) is very helpful for blood sugar regulation but as we lose this hormone, blood sugar regulation becomes disrupted. These peaks and troughs can contribute to anxiety, poor energy, appetite for sweet foods/ caffeine as ‘pick me ups’ and contributes to increased fat storage – especially around our midriff, as well as poor sleep and poor brain function. Yikes! That’s a lot, so definitely a helpful focus for us during the perimenopause and menopause!

Breathing and Oxygen Delivery

Oxygen is required for the body’s cells to produce energy; this includes our brain and our muscle cells, which without oxygen become tired quickly. Ironically, when we ‘over-breathe’ (breathe more than our body requires), we actually see less oxygen reaching our body’s cells. So, when we take big breaths and/or breathe quickly (unnecessarily, ie. at rest), we may well be contributing to over-breathing and thus a less-than-optimal oxygen delivery to our cells. When we coach breathing, we therefore focus on the quality of our breath, so we don’t actually breathe as much. This keeps more carbon dioxide in the body, which actually promotes blood flow and is the catalyst for oxygen to get into the body’s cells. This fuels energy production in our muscles when they are in demand – ie. during exercise and can help us with brain endurance – being able to focus on a task for longer, be creative, problem solve, etc.

We teach the principles of optimal breathing, as well as practices to increase carbon dioxide in the system. This has led to some amazing stories from clients, who have:

·        Better managed their anxiety

·        Found themselves sleeping through the night after years of disrupted nights

·        Better energy levels

·        Better exercise performance, and most importantly, experience more enjoyment of moving.

·        Improved digestive symptoms

·        Improved hot flushes

If you would like to learn more, I coach individuals 1 to 1 online. If you are interested to learn more, email me direct: catherine@rootedlife.co.uk 

Our Monday nights FREE offering; Breathing Space is also great place to start – I lead 15-20 minutes of a simple breathing exercise to help promote calm in the body. To find out more and to join (you can do this simply as and when you are able) click here.

Catherine Jackson MRSPH

(Health Coach) - Find out more about health coaching