Jennis Fitness

Are hot flushes keeping you up at night? Is the perimenopause irritation real? Then check out our new perimenopause breathwork sessions for practical support and rapid symptom relief…

During perimenopause, because your menstrual cycle hormones have started to behave erratically, you may start to experience a host of symptoms that you’ve not had to contend with before. 

Add to this the fact that your body is in a stressed state, and it’s no wonder that you may feel out of sorts. 

To help you tap into the power of your breath and take back control, we’ve teamed up with breathwork expert and new Jennis ambassador Georgie Lawlor to give you a series of symptom-related breathwork sessions to help with all your most logged perimenopausal symptoms - see below.

This sounds great. So, what exactly is breathwork?

In a nutshell, breathwork involves shifting your breathing pattern to positively affect both your physical and emotional state.

Is there any scientific proof that breathwork works?

Absolutely. A growing body of scientific evidence proves that breathwork is certainly no woo-woo wellness pursuit.

As an example, a recent study showed how stress-related symptoms can significantly decrease after as little as 4 weeks of implementing breathwork, with another showing improved attention levels after practising breathing exercises.

Then, there’s the ground-breaking American study on breathwork for hot flushes, which focused on women going through perimenopause. This showed that a simple breathwork tool, known as cadence breathing, can potentially half the number of hot flushes experienced by women when practised twice a day for 15 minutes.

Here, we’ve created some introductory breathwork sessions, but we’ll keep adding to them across the coming weeks.

Session 1: Breathwork for perimenopausal fatigue

What’s happening: As we venture through perimenopause, our ovaries produce less and less oestrogen and progesterone, which can have a knock-on effect on our energy levels. 

Add amped up cortisol from our busy lives and poor quality sleep, and it’s no wonder we feel in a permanent state of wired and tired when we’re perimenopausal.

The session: We can’t control our naturally shifting hormones, however, we can control our body’s stress levels, and this15-minute breathwork session is just the thing. We'll start by giving your nervous system a bit of a wake-up call using short, rapid, nasal breaths. Following this, we'll use some special breathing techniques to increase oxygen delivery to every cell in your body, leaving you feeling energised and refreshed.

Great for: This session is great if you fancy swapping that 2pm slump for a mid-afternoon boost. Rather than reaching for the caffeine, try this for a natural energy boost.

Session 2: Breathwork for perimenopausal irritation

What’s happening: During perimenopause, declining oestrogen levels can leave us feeling more wound up than usual, hence the sense of amped-up irritation. 

The session: Because the feeling of irritation is a state of stress in the body, this session will shift you from fight or flight mode, back into parasympathetic dominance (AKA cool, calm and collected) – and we’ll achieve that through a series of humming exercises.

Great for: Use this session whenever you start to feel frustrated (but possibly best to do in a room on your own).

Session 3: Breathwork for perimenopause anxiety 

What’s happening: Anxiety can be a common experience amongst perimenopausal women as we try to navigate the physical and mental changes that come with our hormone changes. 

The session: This session counteracts feelings of anxiousness by opening up our airways, accessing the autonomic nervous system, increasing levels of nitric oxide and CO2 which all contribute to returning you to a state of calm.

Great for: Anytime you need some support. Even better, you don’t need to be lying down and can use anytime, anywhere. It can also be used at the beginning of a panic attack, anxiety attack or asthma attack to help bring you back to balance.

Breathwork for perimenopausal sleep issues

What’s happening: Sleep issues are common for women going through perimenopause, with as many as 1 in 4 women reporting insomnia symptoms in a recent survey. 

The session: This simple breathing technique called the 4-7-8 method is the best-known breathwork tool for putting you into a restorative state of rest and digest. The session works by increasing levels of CO2 in both the lungs and blood, slowing the heart rate and calming the mind.

Great for: This session is designed to do when you’re lying in bed and ready to drift off to sleep. For best results, breathe through your nose throughout the entire exercise.

Find out about our breathwork ambassador Georgie here