Additive Effects of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Galvanic Skin Response, Blood Pressure, Pulmonary Function Test in Persons with Essential Hypertension

Abstract

Introduction: Hypertension known as a raised arterial pressure. It is a major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Stress is one of the factors that is responsible for hypertension which is measured by galvanic skin response (GSR). Findings from the previous studies were showed that the breathing exercise can help in the reduction of the blood pressure by acting on autonomic nervous system. Several studies have shown the effects of aerobic exercise in reduction of the blood pressure but there was scarcity of the studies done on additive effects of diaphragmatic breathing on essential hypertension. Materials and Method: After taking informed written consent subjects were randomly divided into two groups by simple random sampling method. Group A received Aerobic exercise and Group-B received Diaphragmatic breathing + Aerobic exercise. The duration of the treatment was of the 4 weeks. Pre and post intervention BP, GSR, FVC, FEV1 and DASS 21 were measured. Results: Paired t test and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used for within group analysis which shows the significant improvement was found in both groups in all outcome measure. There was significant difference was found in between groups in FVC and FEV1 (p < 0.05). However there was no statistical significant difference was found in between groups in SBP, DBP, GSR and DASS-21(p > 0.05). Conclusion: Diaphragmatic breathing along with the aerobic exercise has significant effects on FVC and FEV1 however there were no additional significant effects found on BP, GSR and DASS-21. Keywords: Hypertension, Diaphragmatic breathing, Aerobic exercise, Blood pressure, Galvanic skin response, pulmonary function test