Immediate Effects of Yoga Breathing with Intermittent Breath Retention on the Autonomic and Cardiovascular Variables Amongst Healthy Volunteers

摘要

Background: Though breath retention is an important part of Yoga, not much is known about the physiological changes occurring following yogic breath retention. We examined the effects of 20 minutes regulated yogic breathing with intermittent breath retention (experimental session) at a frequency of 3 breaths per minute on the cardiovascular and autonomic functions.Methods: Thirty-nine volunteers (22 females) with age-range 18 to 30 years (group mean±SD, 20.6±1.82 years) were recruited. Heart rate variability and cardiovascular variables were assessed through non-invasive blood pressure monitoring system before and after the experimental session or breath awareness (control session). The subjects were randomly assigned to either experimental or control session.Results: There were significant reductions observed in the heart rate, stroke volume and cardiac output following the intervention. The Baroreflex Sensitivity (BRS) increased significantly following the experimental session, whereas no changes were observed following the control session. The time domain components of HRV indicated an enhanced heart rate variability following experimental session. Similar trends were observed following the control session. An increase in low frequency and decrease in high frequency components of HRV were observed following the experimental session. There was no significant change in frequency domain components following the control session.Conclusion: The current study indicates differential autonomic modulation with enhanced BRS amongst healthy practitioners of yoga. Such yoga breathing may be useful for prevention of various metabolic disorders. The time domain components of heart rate variability suggest improvement following yoga breathing with intermittent breath retention.