Yoga makes muscles flexible for people with high blood pressure

A small pilot study showed that adding yoga to a regular exercise routine provided additional blood pressure (BP) lowering and other benefits.

In an exercise rehabilitation center, hypertensive patients randomized to an additional 15 minutes of yoga instead of extra stretching during a supervised training session showed improvement at 3 months in: .

• Blood pressure: 130/77 mm Hg to -11/8 mm Hg for yoga vs 126/76 mm Hg to -4/3 mm Hg for stretching (P.<0.001)

• Heart rate: -7 at 73 beats/min vs -3 at 74 beats/min (P.<0.001)

• Reynolds Risk Score: 8.2 to -1.2 vs 9.0 to -0.6 (P.<0.05)

Otherwise, yoga and stretching, in addition to a program of aerobic exercise training in the primary prevention cohort, produced similar reductions in lipid, glucose, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels and Framingham risk score, followed by Quebec Heart and Lung Institute Laval University, and colleagues.

As of now, “it is unclear whether the scientific community considers yoga a form of physical activity and whether it will include it as a recommended form of exercise to replace stretching for improving health-related outcomes. Exercise training plans.” It is considered an important element of the program, ”the author writes. Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

“As observed in several studies, we encourage patients to try exercise and stress relief in whatever form is most appealing to manage hypertension and cardiovascular disease,” Poirier said in a press release. “Our research shows that a structured yoga practice can be a healthier addition to aerobic exercise than just muscle stretching.

Guidelines currently do not recommend yoga for primary prevention.according to country recommendationsadults are recommended to get 150-300 minutes of moderate or 75-150 minutes of vigorous activity each week and muscle and strength training twice a week to achieve the maximum benefits of physical activity. increase.

In the United States, cardiac rehabilitation is a component of secondary prevention and is usually medically supervised exercise training, education, and intervention in myocardial infarction (MI) survivors, heart surgerypeople with heart failure.

large randomized trials, yoga careshowed that yoga-based cardiac rehabilitation is safe, improves quality of life, and is effective in returning to pre-infarction activity after acute myocardial infarction. However, this study was insufficient to prove the impact of yoga on mortality and other difficult outcomes, as event rates were lower than expected.

Other researchers are also experimenting with other alternatives to regular exercise. Tai Chi When high intensity interval trainingwith mixed success.

Unfortunately, the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation continue to be hampered. low participation nationwide by Cost and Other Barriers.

In the present study, Poirier and colleagues screened hypertensive patients presenting to community lifestyle and cardiovascular preventive exercise rehabilitation centers. People with coronary artery disease or heart failure, end-organ damage from hypertension, and people taking drugs or supplements that affect blood pressure, cholesterol, or inflammation were excluded.

The researchers recruited 60 patients (mean age 63 years, 70% male) and randomly assigned them 15 minutes of yoga or stretching followed by their usual exercise program (30 minutes, 5 times a week for 3 months). added to Baseline characteristics were well matched between the two groups.

Study results were potentially misclassified due to hypertension, which was diagnosed based on office blood pressure measurements and defined as ≥140/90 mm Hg on three measurements on different days.

More importantly, the medical literature as a whole is limited by inconsistencies and ambiguities in defining the practice of yoga for exercise and health, Poirier and colleagues said.

“There is a great deal of variability in existing yoga practices, especially modern postural yoga practices. because interventions are often poorly described and reported,” the researchers noted.