Comparative Study on the Duration of Voluntary Apnea in the Follicular and Luteal Phase of the Menstrual Cycle

In the last decades, there has been a significant rise in the number of women participating in activities that require hold of breath for a long time both at a recreational and professional level. During a normal menstrual cycle, wide fluctuation in estrogen and progesterone levels is observed. In particular, it is known that estrogen and progesterone stimulate pulmonary ventilation. This study was aimed at determining the effect of menstrual cycle on the duration of voluntary apnea. 20 healthy young female subjects were used for this study. They were divided into 2 groups of 10 subjects each. Group A; those in follicular phase. Group B; those in luteal phase. Total of three maximal repeated BH efforts were performed and with a 1-min interval between efforts. All apneas were terminated at the maximum individual breaking point. Data was analyzed using graph pad prism version (8.1) and relevant statistical values were obtained. Data obtained from the analysis were presented as Mean ± SEM. Values of P<0.005 were considered significant. Values of apnea for follicular phase was 31.62 ± 2.026 and that of luteal phase was 47.08 ± 2.931.The duration of voluntary apnea intensified during the luteal phase which may be due to hormonal variations that occur at the phase of the menstrual cycle.