The Effect of Breathing Exercises on Comfort Level in Primiparous Pregnant Women

Plain-language summary

Pregnancy is a special period in which some changes occur in bio-psycho-social areas and adaptation to these changes is achieved (Üzar and Erkan; 2019). While this special period creates happiness and peace in some women, it can cause emotional and relational changes in some women, create anxiety and anxiety, and negatively affect their comfort level (Al-Mutawtah et al., 2023; Yar and Yılmaz, 2021). In order to reduce the effects of complaints experienced during pregnancy and ensure adaptation, nurses who provide holistic, innovative, effective and supportive care, determine the comfort needs of the individual and the family, and improve their comfort levels by planning and applying interventions specific to the areas needed. It increases. (Arslankılıç and Göl, 2020; Kolcaba1991). In this context, breathing exercises, which are defined as an invisible spirit that provides the connection between body, mind and soul, gives life to its owner, has an important place in order to increase the comfort level and ensure adaptation to the pregnancy process (Kartal, 2018). Because breathing exercises stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, increase blood oxygenation and, as a result, trigger the secretion of endorphins. The increased release of endorphins reduces the heart rate, resulting in a feeling of calm. In addition, endorphin suppresses the sympathetic nervous system and reduces the release of cortisol, the stress hormone, thus keeping psychotic emotions under control (Issac, et al., 2023).Thus, the complaints that occur during pregnancy can be minimized with correct and effective breathing techniques and the comfort level can be increased. As a result of literature reviews; Regular breathing exercises increase lung volume, increase the endurance and efficiency of the diaphragm muscle, reduce dyspnea, provide easier breathing, and help eliminate bronchial secretions (Özulus, 2018; Tucker and Jenkins 1996). It has been found that it is effective in reducing hypertension, fatigue and anxiety, and that a 30-session intervention lasting 5 minutes per day for women who have given birth prematurely significantly reduces anxiety (Ölçer and Oskay; 2015; Chang et al., 2009). For this reason, the concept of comfort should be evaluated multidimensionally during pregnancy and holistic nursing interventions should be implemented to increase the comfort level. In this study, it is envisaged that breathing exercise practices will increase the general comfort level of primiparous women, such as adaptation to pregnancy, increase in sleep quality, decrease in pain, decrease in anxiety levels, improvement in vital signs and conscious management of third trimester changes. At the same time, these research findings will constitute an important data source in research on the general comfort level effectiveness of breathing exercises to be performed on primiparous pregnant women from the 2nd trimester onwards in the 3rd trimester. Because, no randomized controlled study has been conducted in Turkey regarding the effect of breathing exercise on the general comfort level of last trimester pregnant women.

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