The effects of postmenopausal hot flashes can be reduced using a simple breathing exercise developed by Soviet physiologist Konstantin Buteyko, MD, PhD. He trained about 200 Soviet MDs how to apply this breathing exercise on hundreds of women.
Lack of control or a sense of helplessness, together with those nasty effects of hot flashes, all can be addressed using a simple breathing exercise. The exercise is to be done when the woman experiences the very first signs of approaching suffering. The exercise was developed by the leading Soviet physiologist Konstantin Buteyko, MD, PhD. He trained about 200 Soviet medical professionals how to apply this breathing exercise on hundreds of women.
Contraindications and restrictions: if you suffer from heart disease and high blood pressure, panic attacks or migraine headaches (due to unidentified causes), you should exercise caution in relation to the instructions suggested below since it can trigger your specific symptoms. If this is the case, find a gentleer version of this exercise that does not involve breath holding.
Steps to follow
1. Exhale normally (or just relax) and pinch the nose. (The mouth should be closed all the time. If your nose is blocked, find the instruction or an article “The breathing exercise to unblock the nose” using internet.) Hold your breath, while nodding your head, for as long as you can. Count how many seconds is your maximum breath hold (after your usual exhalation) for future references. [This number reflects your health state and intensity of hot flashes.]
2. When you get a strong desire to breathe (it will take you between 10 and 60 s), resume your breathing, but only through the nose. Make a small inhalation using your belly (tummy or diaphragm) and then just relax for an exhalation. Then again take a smaller inhale and relax for an exhalation. Maintain air hunger (shortage of air) for about 2-3 minutes by having this reduced breathing:
- small inhalations using the diaphragm (about 30-40% less than your usual inhalations);
- relaxed exhalations.
3. In 2-3 minutes repeat the procedure: breath hold; reduced breathing with air hunger for another 2 minutes.
During first trials, check that your body positively responds to sudden CO2 increase during this breathing exercise: you should get warmer hands and/or feet during reduced breathing. (CO2 is the most potent vasodilator that greatly improves perfusion or blood flow and oxygenation of all vital organs and tissues of the human body). Later, with experience, you can try a more efficient version of the same exercise: breath hold and reduced breathing with very strong air hunger.
Permanent solution
Intensity of hot flashes, as Soviet and Russian MDs observed, correlate with results of the breath holding time test. However, these doctors, who use the Buteyko breathing self-oxygenation therapy, apply a stress-free version of the breath holding test. It is called the CP (control pause) and is done after usual exhalation and only until first stress or discomfort. The maximum breath holding time is about twice longer than the CP. Hence, if you divide your numbers by 2, you will get your current CP value.
The CP test, as research revealed, reflects body oxygenation and intensity of breathing. The faster and/or deeper we breathe (hyperventilation), the less oxygenation of the human body due to CO2-related effects (vasodilation and the Bohr effect). The exact relationship between breathing frequency, the CP, the maximum pause, alveolar CO2, are reflected in the patented Buteyko Table of Health Zones (the link between health states and breathing parameters), while symptoms of hot flashes disappear, when the woman has over 40 s CP 24/7.
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