The immediate effect of Sheethali and Sheethkari Pranayama on blood pressure and cardiovascular changes among hypertensive patients

Abstract

The modern sedentary lifestyle is prone to produce various physiological and psychological stress resulting in hypertension and cardiovascular diseases causing high mortality rate in India. Sheethali and Sheethkari Pranayama are known to cool down and relax the body by improving the autonomic function and reducing the overactivity of sympathetic outflow. Therefore, an attempt has been made to determine the immediate effect of these pranayamas on hypertensive patients. The objective of the present study is to compare the blood pressure of hypertensive patients before the practice of the Sheetali & Sheetkari Pranayama immediately after practice. The study was conducted on 20 hypertensive patients on regular medical management who visits Saveetha hospital OPD (study group) and 20 healthy subjects of the same age group (control group). The recording of blood pressure was done before and after the practice of Sheethali and Sheethkari Pranayama for both the group. The results were statistically analyzed using students t-test. The pre-and post-intervention comparison showed significant (P<0.05) reduction in cardiovascular parameters such as BP, HR, PP, MAP, RPP and DoP after the immediate practice of Sheethali and Sheethkari Pranayama in both hypertensive patients and control group. The improvement in Hypertension group was significantly higher than the control group. The findings suggest that the immediate effect of Sheethali and Sheethkari Pranayama have reduced the SBP, DBP and HR on hypertensive patients by decreasing the sympathetic activity. These pranayamas can be included in regular management protocol of hypertensive patients.