Breathwork and Peri-Post Menopause — What’s the Link?
If you’ve ever felt like your body hit “shuffle mode” during midlife, you’re not alone. One minute you’re basking in calm, the next, rage, tears, or a racing heart out of nowhere. Welcome to the hormonal rollercoaster of peri- to post-menopause. And here’s the empowering part: your breath holds more influence than you might think.
Hormones, Cortisol & That Invisible Tug-of-War
Most women enter perimenopause around age 40, but I was 35. And at that age, I had no idea what was happening. I felt anxious, tired, moody, disconnected from myself. My body felt foreign, and I didn’t have a name for what I was experiencing. No one was talking about it.
I later discovered, as estrogen and progesterone decline, they can throw off the body's stress regulation system, namely the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This leads to increased cortisol, our primary stress hormone, which can cause a heightened, persistent stress response that feels relentless, even when nothing obvious is going wrong.
Add in work, sleep disturbances, family responsibilities, and social expectations, and that stress doesn’t just simmer... it boils over.
Breathing Is Biochemistry
Breathwork became my lifeline. I discovered I was “reverse breathing”, making my breathing shallow and hurried, which was keeping my nervous system on high alert. Learning how to breathe in a functional way was a game changer for me it helped me soothe my body from the inside out and reduce cortisol levels significantly.
Breathwork isn’t about forcing peace. It’s about offering your body a steady rhythm in times of upheaval. It supports:
Better sleep and deeper rest
Stabilised moods and clearer thinking
Emotional resilience and nervous system balance
Reduced hot flushes and anxiety spikes
A renewed relationship with your body
It’s self-care that’s both practical and profound.
From Coping to Thriving
At first, I felt like I was falling apart. Now I see perimenopause as a rite of passage—one that invited me to listen more deeply, breathe more gently, and reclaim ownership of my wellbeing.
References
Zaccaro, A., et al. (2018). How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353. Access the full article
Russo, M.A., Santarelli, D.M., & O’Rourke, D. (2017). The Physiological Effects of Slow Breathing in the Healthy Human. Breathe, 13(4), 298–309. Read on the European Respiratory Society site
Malesu, V.K., et al. (2024). Effect of Breathwork on Stress and Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Read on International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications
Ma, X., et al. (2017). The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 874. Read the full text
