Acute effects of slow, controlled breathing exercises on arterial pressure and autonomic cardiac modulation in hypertensive patients

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of slow, controlled breathing exercises (SCBE) on arterial pressure and autonomic cardiac modulation in hypertensive patients. 29 hypertensive patients were evaluation in two data collections (period between 1 to 3 days). In each evaluation, data were collected after 10 min of spontaneous breathing (between 12 and 20 breaths per minute – bpm) and 10 min of SCBE (12 bpm, in the rhythm of standardized verbal stimulus). The arterial pressure was evaluated by a multi-parameter monitor and the autonomic cardiac modulation by the rate variability technique. The SCBE reduced systolic arterial pressure (1st evaluation: -4.8 mmHg and 2nd evaluation: -4.3 mmHg), decreased sympathetic activity by 18% and modified autonomic modulation by about 50%. SCBE reduced both systolic arterial pressure and sympathetic activity and can be used in control arterial pressure of hypertensive patients.