Arterial blood pressure and cardiovascular responses to yoga practice

Yoga is qualitatively different from any other mode of physical activity in that it consists of a unique combination of isometric muscular contractions, stretching exercises, relaxation techniques, and breathing exercises. In particular, yoga postures consist of systemic isometric contractions that are known to elicit marked increases in mean blood pressure that are not observed during dynamic exercise. Stretching can also induce increases in blood pressure and sympathetic nerve activity in the muscles. Currently, not much is known about changes in blood pressure and other cardiovascular responses to yoga practice.

The study intended to determine the acute effects of one session of hatha yoga practice on blood pressure and other cardiovascular responses. To gain insight into the long-term effects of yoga practice, both novice (n = 19) and advanced (n = 18) yoga practitioners were studied.

The two groups were matched for age, gender, BMI, and blood pressure.

The setting was a research laboratory at a university.

Thirty-six apparently healthy, nonobese, sedentary, or recreationally active individuals from the community participated in the study. Intervention The intervention comprised one session of yoga practice, in which participants followed a custom made instructional video providing a yoga routine that consisted of a series of 23 hatha-based yoga postures.

Prior to arriving at the laboratory, each participant completed a research health questionnaire, a training-status questionnaire, and a yoga-experience questionnaire. Prior to the yoga practice, each participant's height, body fat percentage, trunk or lumbar flexibility, and arterial stiffness as assessed by carotid femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) were measured. For each posture during the yoga practice, the study continuously measured systolic, mean, and diastolic blood pressures, heart rate, stroke volume, and cardiac output.

Systolic, mean, and diastolic blood pressures increased significantly during the yoga practice. The magnitude of these increases in blood pressure was greatest with standing postures. Heart rate and cardiac output increased significantly during yoga practice, especially with standing postures. Overall, no differences existed in cardiovascular responses between the novice and advanced practitioners throughout the yoga testing session; cfPWV velocity was significantly and inversely associated with lumbar flexion but not with sit-and-reach test scores.

The research team concluded that a variety of hatha yoga postures, especially standing postures, evoked significant increases in blood pressure. The elevation in blood pressure due to yoga practice was associated with increases in cardiac output and heart rate, which are responses similar to those observed in isometric exercise. The lack of obvious differences in blood pressure and other cardiovascular responses between novice and advanced yoga practitioners suggests that long-term yoga practice does not attenuate acute yoga responses.