Effect of breathing exercises on depression, sexual function, and exercise capacity in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial

TL;DR

Breathing exercises significantly improved depression and sexual function in postmenopausal women, but had no significant effect on exercise capacity.

Contribution

This study demonstrates that supervised breathing exercises can be an effective intervention for depression and sexual dysfunction in postmenopausal women.

Findings

Breathing exercises led to significant reductions in depression scores compared to the control group.

Participants in the breathing exercises group showed significant improvements in sexual function.

No significant improvement in exercise capacity was observed in the breathing exercises group.

Abstract

This trial aimed to explore the effect of supervised breathing exercises (BEs) on depression, sexual function, and exercise capacity in postmenopausal women. Sixty-four depressed postmenopausal women with associated sexual dysfunction were equally assigned to either a BEs group, which received diaphragmatic BEs, or a non-exercising control group. Both groups received individualized antidepressants and vaginal lubricants. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), sexual function using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), and exercise capacity using the six-minute walk test (6MWT) at baseline and after 12 weeks. At the end of the study, the BEs group showed significantly greater reductions in BDI-II scores (mean difference = − 4.22; 95% CI, − 6.19 to − 2.24; p = 0.001) and significantly greater increases in FSFI scores (mean difference = 5.01; 95% CI, 3.21 to 6.79; p = 0.001) compared with the control group with clinically significant differences for both measures. However, the between-group difference in 6MWT distance was not significant (mean difference = 28.28 m; 95% CI, − 2 to 58.57; p = 0.06). BEs could be an effective therapeutic intervention for managing depression and sexual dysfunction in this population of postmenopausal women, while no significant effect was observed on exercise capacity.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-026-41198-8.

Figures