A former economy minister advised Ukrainians to prepare for blackouts using breathing exercises, although they don’t help him himself

Former Ukrainian Minister of Economy and current adviser to the President’s Office, Tymofiy Mylovanov, has predicted large-scale power outages this year and advised Ukrainians to prepare for them by practicing breathing exercises.

He wrote about this in a Facebook post.

“Blackouts will happen this year. They’re already happening. How to prepare? First and foremost — mentally, psychologically. You need to prepare your nervous system. Of course, generators, batteries, flashlights, food, water, heating, communication, plan A, plan B, etc. — all of that is critically important. But we’ve been through this before and we know what to do… So we should start not with equipment, but with stress control. The simplest way is breathing exercises: inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4, exhale for 4, and pause for another 4 seconds. A few such cycles — and the brain receives a signal that everything is under control,” the former minister wrote.

He immediately added, however, that this technique doesn’t work for him personally.

“For me, what works is having my wife next to me and getting some sleep after shelling — or sometimes just going for a walk. Everyone will find what works for them. But it’s possible to manage your mental state and even train it,” he assured.

Mylovanov also suggested coping with power outages by reading books and exercising.

Last year, Mylovanov proposed distributing military draft notices through a lottery or by drawing lots based on birth dates.