Yoga as an Alternative and Complimentary Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease

“…Studies have also demonstrated that yoga practice reduces cardiovascular risk, such as total cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure (BP), waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), and fasting glucose level, and these findings were consistent in both the population without [12] or with existing cardiovascular risk factors [12][13][14][15][16]. However, among these published studies, the dosage (from three times weekly to 3 to 4 h daily) and duration (from 8 days to 1.5 years) of intervention greatly varied.…”

“…Yoga-based lifestyle intervention is an important treatment modality in the reduction of BP, as is found to be beneficial in various other cardiovascular risk factors like obesity, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus[ 32 , 33 ].…”

“…14 Yoga, meditation, mindfulness therapy, progressive muscle relaxation and guided imagery, tai chi, qigong, breathing exercises, and visual imagery are all considered mind-body therapies. These various mind-body therapies have been found to decrease anxiety, [16][17][18][19][20] depression, 16,[18][19][20] fatigue, 16,18,20 heart rate, and blood pressure, 21 as well as improve emotional well-being 22 and sleep quality, 18,19 all of which can potentially have a positive effect on caregiver stress. See Table A (Supplemental Digital Content, available at: http://links.lww.com/REHABONC/A55) for definitions of the various types of mind-body therapies along with an overview of the related research.…”