One of the things I love about working in women’s health is that women are dynamic and cyclical, we are not static systems. Our physiology moves through rhythms and phases.
Over the course of a single month, our brain chemistry shifts, immune signalling shifts, metabolism shifts, and nervous system tone shifts, all in response to hormonal rhythms. Then if we zoom out a little further, those rhythms evolve again across a lifetime. From premenstrual years to menstrual years, into potential motherhood, and later through perimenopause and menopause.
So the female body is constantly adapting. Constantly recalibrating. And that recalibration requires energy.
Therapies like mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or mHBOT, is working at a very foundational level in the body, at the cellular level. It increases oxygen availability to tissues, supports mitochondrial function, and helps modulate inflammatory signalling. All of which sit underneath a surprising number of the symptoms women experience. Rather than targeting a single symptom, mHBOT influences some of the underlying systems that determine how resilient our physiology is.
Hormonal Dysregulation
To start with something many women are familiar with, hormonal dysregulation. This can show up as irregular cycles, missing cycles, strong premenstrual symptoms, heavy bleeding, or cycles that just feel unpredictable and difficult.
Many women are taught to believe that pain, exhaustion, mood swings, and anxiety are just ‘part of being female’, but what may surprise you is that a healthy menstrual cycle is mostly symptom-free, regular, and predictable. So when those symptoms arise, it’s a signal from our body that something is under strain and needs support.
The menstrual cycle depends on a remarkably coordinated conversation between multiple systems in the body: the brain, the ovaries, the thyroid, the adrenal system, the immune system, and overall energy availability.
I like to think of it like an orchestra where every section matters. When all the instruments are communicating well, the music flows beautifully. But if one section becomes exhausted, inflamed, or out of rhythm, the whole performance starts to feel chaotic.
At the centre of this communication are the hypothalamus and pituitary gland in the brain, which act as the master conductors of hormonal signalling. They send messages to the ovaries, which then regulate ovulation and produce key hormones like progesterone that help maintain a rhythmic, healthy cycle.
But these systems are highly sensitive to stress, inflammation, nutrient availability, and overall energy status. When those factors are out of balance, the communication between these systems can start to falter.
This is where oxygen and mitochondrial support may play a role. Both the brain and the ovaries are highly energy-demanding tissues, relying on adequate oxygen and efficient mitochondrial function to maintain hormonal signalling. Mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy may support this by improving oxygen delivery to tissues, enhancing cellular energy production, supporting blood flow, and helping to reduce inflammation.
When this is combined with foundational work on stress regulation, nutrient stores, detoxification pathways, and sleep quality, we begin supporting hormonal rhythm from both a cellular level and a whole-body perspective.
Fertility
Another area where oxygen therapy becomes particularly interesting is fertility. Because when we talk about fertility, we’re talking about the overall environment of our bodies, the environment of our womb and specifically cellular health.
Our eggs are cells, and they are some of the most mitochondria-dense cells in the entire human body. They rely heavily on mitochondrial energy production to mature properly and support early embryonic development. Your ovaries and uterine lining (lining of your womb) also requires strong blood flow and oxygenation to support implantation.
Egg quality can be influenced over time by inflammation, oxidative stress, nutrient status, blood sugar stability, and circulation to the ovaries. As mHBOT supports reducing cellular inflammation and oxidative stress and improving circulation and oxygenation to the ovaries and our uterine lining, this can support both egg development and uterine health.
When this is used within a holistic framework that focuses on foundational elements like nutrient repletion, gut health, nervous system balance, protein intake, blood sugar regulation, this supports the overall physiological conditions that make a healthy conception and pregnancy more likely.
Perimenopause
Menopause is defined as the permanent end of menstruation and fertility, after 12 consecutive months without a period. Perimenopause is the transition from reproductive years to menopause, and this can last anywhere between 4 - 15 years.
Alongside the fluctuating cycles and hot flushes, many women experience sleep disruption, mood changes, declined concentration and brain fog, changes to body composition and their ability to handle stress.
This makes so much sense when we look at the physiological changes underneath. It’s a significant hormonal, metabolic and neurological transition. Progesterone typically begins declining first, followed by fluctuations and gradual decline in oestrogen, these hormonal shifts ripple outward into multiple body systems. For decades, the body has relied on the cyclical rhythm of hormones throughout life, so to now adjust to life without those signals is a multi-system recalibration.
Going back to that orchestra metaphor. If the orchestra has played the same score for decades with our hormones as the conductor keeping everything in time (brain, bones, immune system, stress, metabolism). During perimenopause the conductor is gradually stepping back and the musicians have to learn a new rhythm together without guidance, and this can sound clunky and out of time until they learn to recalibrate.
In naturopathy, when supporting women through perimenopause, we’re really looking at supporting that recalibration and adaptation to as smooth and as easeful as we can. Where I see mHBOT as a potential supportive pillar, is for those neurological symptoms, brain fog, concentration, sleep disruption and stress resilience.
Oestrogen plays an important role in supporting brain cells to use fuel efficiently and protecting them from inflammation and oxidative stress. During perimenopause, as oestrogen declines, the brain can temporarily become less efficient at this process. mHBOT can help to increase oxygen availability to brain tissue so brain cells are better able to generate energy with less oestrogen to support it. Increased oxygenation can also support cerebral blood flow, reduce neuroinflammation, and promote neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to repair and adapt. Which can translate clinically into clearer thinking, better energy, and improved resilience to stress. When this is paired with nutritional and lifestyle support, it can make this transition much smoother and improve the quality of life of women going through this transition.
Chronic Stress and Fatigue
Chronic stress and fatigue are something that I see woven throughout most people’s health journeys. I think most of us understand that stress is no longer just losing your job or running from a bear, it’s the juggle of motherhood, business, finance, health, and all the information we’re bombarded with online daily. We’re often so good at adapting that we become used to it and don’t realise the silent toll it’s taking on our body. It’s this state of chronic nervous system activation but our cellular batteries are low, often seen in the classic picture of afternoon energy crash, but unable to sleep at night time.
When our nervous system stays activated for too long, it keeps us in a state of fight-or-flight. This can then have a flow on effect to drive system-wide dysregulation, impacting energy, mood,
stress tolerance, and overall health. Something that I think is needed for everyone in this current time of constant productivity and momentum is a stress protocol. Specific practices that you lean on every day to bring your nervous system back into a place of felt safety and a rest/digest state.
mHBOT can be an important part of your stress protocol. Think of it as refuelling the body’s batteries while easing tension in the nervous system. By increasing oxygen delivery to brain areas that regulate stress and autonomic balance, mHBOT helps brain cells make energy more efficiently, lowers neuroinflammation, and allows the nervous system to shift out of constant fight-or-flight mode. This can translate into clearer thinking, steadier energy, and improved stress resilience.
Endometriosis
Endometriosis is a chronic condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, most commonly on the pelvic organs. It involves multiple systems: the immune system becomes dysregulated, leading to chronic inflammation; the nervous system can become sensitised, contributing to heightened pain perception; and fibrotic tissue or adhesions can form, sometimes reducing local circulation.
mHBOT can support increasing oxygen delivery to tissues, improving cellular efficiency, and reducing local inflammation. Improved oxygenation may also support tissue repair and create a more favourable environment for healing, while helping the nervous system shift out of a heightened pain-response state.
It’s just one part of a larger picture of support, but even small reductions in inflammation can make an incredible difference to pain, recovery, and overall quality of life.
Understanding the common thread that runs through many of these conditions helps us see where mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy may offer support. By working at a cellular level, improved oxygen availability can influence fundamental processes like energy production, inflammation, and tissue repair, effects that then ripple across multiple systems in the body.
When used within a person-centred, holistic approach, the aim is to support the underlying function of the body’s cells so that broader systems can begin operating more efficiently.
And when the body is given the right inputs and environment, adequate oxygen, nutrients, rest, and nervous system support, it often has a remarkable ability to move back toward balance. Ultimately, that’s what we’re trying to facilitate: creating the conditions in which the body can restore and regulate itself.
Ebany Holloway