Yoga, Meditation and Antihypertensive Medication - Essay Example

Yoga, Meditation and Antihypertensive Medication Yoga, Meditation and Antihypertensive Medication Yoga and meditation are usually considered useful for human mind and body. A look into the related discussions bombards one with a large number of benefits, ranging from decreased anxiety, emotional stability, increased creativity, higher degree of happiness, developed intuition, and clarity. Yoga is a wide subject, covering various physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation. However, there is a degree of uncertainty in incorporating yoga and meditation in dealing with hypertension because while some studies prove they are effective, an equal number of studies show either no or negative effect of yoga on hypertension (Miles et al., 2013). In the present study, it is hypothesized that yoga and meditation can be used to reduce blood pressure and can help reduce the dosage of antihypertensive medication in patients with hypertension. This work intends to look into a few research articles to demonstrate and support this hypothesis. Literature Review An article by Miles, Chou, Lin, Hunter, Dhindsa, Nualnim, and Tanaka (2013) studied the effect of hatha yoga practice on blood pressure and other cardiovascular responses. There were a total of 36 participants in the study, who were apparently healthy, nonobese, sedentary, and recreationally active. The 36 participants in the study were recruited from Austin, Texas. Out of them, 19 subjects had no experience in yoga and 18 were experienced in yoga. In the study, the arterial blood pressure of the subjects was measured throughout the yoga session and in 23 different yoga postures. It included systolic, mean, and diastolic blood pressure. Blood pressure was measured using beat-by-beat, finger plethysmography. What is found in the study was a significant increase in blood pressure, especially in standing postures as a direct result of the increase in cardiac output and heart rate. In the case of standing yoga postures, the mean blood pressure increased by 30 mm Hg. In addition, it was found that there was no significant difference between both novice and experienced yoga practitioners in the effect of yoga session on blood pressure. Thus, the study advised medical practitioners to be cautious while prescribing yoga postures to patients with uncontrolled hypertension (Miles et al., 2013, p. 44). However, it is found that in floor postures like Cobra, blood pressure and cardiac output do not increase significantly (Miles et al., 2013, p. 42), and there is a fall in stroke volume but it is uncertain as to what causes this decline in stroke volume. Thus, the study is significant in showing that both flexion and contraction of body, two essential elements of various yoga postures, seem to have a negative impact on blood pressure. However, there is a shortfall in the study because it fails to analyze the effect of certain yoga postures like Savasana (Corpse Pose- the person relaxes both body and mind in supine position). This posture does not involve exertion of any muscle like other postures. Instead, it involves relaxing the whole body onto the floor. The study failed in the fact that it could not effectively assess the effect of Savasana (Corpse Pose) on blood pressure. Though it is evident from the study that the high blood pressure created by other standing postures are brought down instantly by Savasana, the study has not explored the possibility of practicing Savasana alone to reduce high blood pressure. Anyway, the study is successful in showing that when there is high blood pressure caused by exertion of muscles, relaxing body on to the floor and meditating (Savasana) can bring the blood pressure down to normal. Posadzki, Cramer, Kuzdzal, Lee, and Ernst (2014) conducted their study to critically evaluate the effectiveness of yoga as a treatment for hypertension. They searched seventeen databases and included seventeen randomized clinical trials in the study, though it was found that only two randomized clinical trials exhibited acceptable methodological quality. The post-treatment differences in systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were assessed descriptively and the data was meta-analyzed when methodological. Eleven trials indicated that yoga leads to reduction in systolic blood pressure and eight trials suggested that yoga reduces diastolic blood pressure Posadzki et al., 2014, p. 520). However, the scholars admit the fact that all the selected trials had methodological limitations and hence it is not possible to combine them together. To illustrate, the subjects in each of the studies were different in their age and nature, and the yoga postures and duration of study were different for different studies. Moreover, none of the studies focused exclusively on any particular yoga posture other than using a set of postures, making it highly impossible to identify the effect of any particular yoga posture on blood pressure. Anyway, there is encouraging evidence for the effectiveness of yoga on hypertension but is inconclusive. Yet another study by Nayak, Sonia, Kapoor, Gadhavi, Solanki, Vyas, and Tiwari (2011) looked into the prevalence of stress relaxation practices in the Indian city of Ahmedabad. A cross-section of the society was selected for the study. Out of the six zones of the city, the sample population was stratified proportionately in each zone according to the population of each zone. As a part of the study, 1157 people were interviewed and all the participants were above 20 years of age. The survey involved visiting house-to-house and collecting information in a predesigned and pretested proforma. The collected information includes socio-demographic parameters, history of diabetes and hypertension, and frequency and pattern of stress relaxing practices. The data was analyzed in Excel sheet. For the analysis of categorical variables, Chi-square was used and qualitative data was analyzed with Z test. Out of the subjects, it was found that 34% had been doing stress relaxation practices and 66% were not doing any stress relaxation practices. The first finding in the study was that most of the relaxation practices were similar to transcendental meditation, including meditation, mantra chanting, dhayana, prayer, spiritual book reading, listening to music, and so on (Nayak et al., 2011, p. 89). In addition, the study revealed that the prevalence of hypertension among those who practiced relaxation techniques was less than among the people who did not practice (Nayak et al., 2011, p. 91). Admittedly, this study is not an analysis of clinical studies and it has not done a comparison between various stress relaxation practices to identify and rate the efficacy of each. What is identifiable form the study is that stress relaxation practices generally have a positive effect on hypertension. Discussion An analysis of the articles produces a rather complicated picture. The first study, that is, Miles et al. (2013), shows that a session of hatha yoga including 23 different yoga postures causes an immediate rise in blood pressure. However, it has not identified how long-term yoga practice affects blood pressure. In addition, it has tested a mixture of various standing, floor and inverted yoga postures in immediate succession, making it impossible to identify the effect of each posture. For example, it is found from the study that though standing postures increase blood pressure significantly, doing Savasana (floor posture) brings the blood pressure down immediately. This necessitates further study into the effect of Savasana (relaxing body onto the floor) when performed separately and in the long-term. Similarly, the systematic review of randomized clinical trials by Posadzki et al. (2014) is affected by the fact that all of the clinical trials had methodological limitations. To illustrate, each study had a set of yoga postures and duration that were different from other studies. Though the review identified a general consensus that yoga and meditation reduce blood pressure, it is not possible to identify how various yoga postures work because of the heterogeneity. This limitation is seen in Nayak et al. (2011). They again prove that all relaxation techniques, ranging from listening to music, prayer, yoga, and meditation generally have the ability to reduce and prevent hypertension (Nayak et al., 2011, p. 91) but the study is unable to do a comparison between different relaxation techniques. Conclusion Thus, the analysis reveals that all activities allowing mental and physical relaxation have a positive impact on hypertension. Though there are a number of clinical trials showing the efficacy of yoga and meditation to reduce hypertension, it is still unclear as to what yoga postures have this effect and how they work. This is so because different yoga postures have significantly different effects. While some cause flexion, some cause contraction, and some are fully relaxing. While some are done in standing position, some are inverted, and some are floor postures. Therefore, it is necessary to look into each of the yoga postures independently to identify how they affect blood pressure. Anyway, it is highly likely that all the relaxing floor positions, including Savasana (Corpse Pose), and transcendental meditation have a positive impact on blood pressure as it is evident from the fact that all the studies showing a positive effect have either Savasana or transcendental meditation. This indicates that such relaxation practices can help reduce the dosage of medication in patients with hypertension. References Miles, S.C., Chou, C., Lin, H., Hunter, S. D., Dhindsa, M., Nualnim, N., & Tanaka, H. (2013). Arterial blood pressure and cardiovascular responses to yoga practice. Alternative Therapies, 19(1), 38-45. Nayak, H. K., Sonia, B., Kapoor, R., Gadhavi, R., Solanki, A., Vyas, S., & Tiwari, H. (2011). Prevalence and pattern of stress relaxation practices in Ahmedabad city: A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Yoga, 4, 87-92. Posadzki, P., Cramer, H., Kuzdzal, A., Lee, Myeong, M. S., & Ernst, E. (2014). Yoga for hypertension: A systematic review of randomized clinical trials. Complementary Therapies in Medicine 22, 511-522. Read More