The Effect of Breathing Exercise on Stress Hormones

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim is to determine the acute effects of breathing exercise on stress hormones in young women. MATERIALS and METHODS: The study was conducted with the voluntary participation of 15 healthy young women who were working as coaches in the fitness and swimming branches. At the beginning of the study, the body compositions of the participants were determined, and 45-minute natural and connected breathing exercise was applied under the supervision of a breathing coach after having a standard breakfast. Cortisol and epinephrine hormone analyses from the serums was obtained from the blood samples taken before and after the breathing exercise were determined through a Chemiluminescence measurement method. Whether the data showed a normal distribution was analyzed through Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and paired t-test, since parametric test conditions were fulfilled. The relationship between the variables were determined with a Pearson correlation analysis. RESULTS: At the end of an acute breathing exercise, a significant decrease was determined in the mean cortisol hormone levels of the participants (p 0.05). In addition, it was determined that there was a positive and considerably weak insignificant relationship between the mean cortisol and epinephrine of the participants following the breathing exercise (r=0.039; p >0.05). CONCLUSION: It could be stated that natural and connected breathing exercise has a reducing effect on stress hormones, and accordingly, breathing exercises could be used as a relaxation technique.