Abstract
Background Yoganidra is a systematic method of promoting a state of complete physical, mental, and emotional relaxation. It is a safe, inexpensive, and very effective method of management of hypertension when used along with standard pharmacological therapy. This study aims to assess the effect of yoganidra on blood pressure (both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP)), Hs-CRP, and lipid profile of hypertensive subjects at the time of enrollment (subjects that are hypertensive at the time of enrollment). Methods Both treated and untreated subjects (n = 74) with hypertension (blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg) and age between 35 and 70 years were included in this study after obtaining ICMR-NIN-IEC approval and written informed consent from all subjects. Subjects with critical illness and/or psychological disturbances were excluded from this study. The subjects in the experimental group (n = 31) practiced yoganidra for 45 minutes daily for 12 weeks under strict supervision. There was no intervention in the control group (n = 43). Weekly blood pressure was recorded in the experimental group, whereas it was performed at baseline and at endpoint for control groups. Hs-CRP and lipid profile were estimated at baseline and endpoint for both the groups. Results A significant reduction in mean SBP from 142.9 mm Hg (SD ± 16.46) to 118.68 mm Hg (SD ± 9.21; p value 0.0001) and DBP from 89.84 mm Hg (SD ± 10.42) to 77.03 mm Hg (SD ± 6.47: p value 0.0001) was observed among the experimental group after 12 weeks of yoganidra practice when compared with the control group. A significant reduction in mean Hs-CRP (2.21 ± 1.49 to 1.06 ± 0.82 mg/L, p < 0.001∗∗∗) was observed among the experimental group. There were no significant differences between triglycerides and total cholesterol levels, whereas LDL-C and HDL-C showed a trend of improvement in the experimental group after intervention. Conclusions In this pilot study, we observed a significant reduction in blood pressure and Hs-CRP in the yoganidra group compared with the control group. There were no significant side effects observed in the intervention group during the study period.
Highlights
Hypertension (HTN) is a significant public health problem, which affects the cardiovascular health of most of the people in India
Longterm high blood pressure leads to coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, peripheral vascular disease, vision loss, chronic kidney disease, and dementia [5, 6]. us, the burden of hypertension can be genuinely considered as a pandemic
Several studies have shown that serum Hs-CRP can be an excellent diagnostic and a prognostic marker in diagnosing prehypertensive subjects, and elevated levels have shown a greater risk of stroke and cardiovascular disorders [9,10,11]
Summary
Hypertension (HTN) is a significant public health problem, which affects the cardiovascular health of most of the people in India. One among the three adults is reported to be hypertensive in a recently shown national-level survey It was conducted with a fixed one-day blood pressure measurement of 180,335 participants through camps across more than 20 states of India. Several studies have been conducted on diet and physical activity to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive subjects [21, 22] These have been mainly beneficial, they tend to be effective as long as a given regimen is followed. Previous studies have separately reported the effect of yoganidra on hypertension, Hs-CRP, and lipid profile [23,24,25,26]. In this pilot study, we observed a significant reduction in blood pressure and Hs-CRP in the yoganidra group compared with the control group. We observed a significant reduction in blood pressure and Hs-CRP in the yoganidra group compared with the control group. ere were no significant side effects observed in the intervention group during the study period
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