Do fast and slow yoga breathing protocols alter cerebral and central hemodynamic responses compared to breathing awareness in healthy participants?
Fast yoga breathing (~120 breaths/min) may effectively increase cerebral brain oxygenation in healthy individuals.
BACKGROUND: Yoga breathing has shown to impose significant cardiovascular and psychological health benefits. OBJECTIVE: The mechanism (s) responsible for these health benefits remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to assess the differences in cerebral and central hemodynamic responses following fast breathing (FB) and slow breathing (SB) protocols compared to breathing awareness (BA) as a control. METHODS: Twenty healthy participants (10 males and 10 females) volunteered to take part in the study. Participants were between ages 18-55 years (group mean: 24 ± 5 years), with a height of 168.7 ± 9.8 cm and a weight of 70.16 ± 10.9 kg. A familiarization trial including FB and SB protocols were performed by each participant at least 24 h before the testing day. The breathing protocols were designed to achieve 6 breath/min for SB and ~ 120 breaths/min for FB. RESULTS: < 0.05). CONCLUSION: FB may be an effective yoga breathing technique for eliciting cerebral brain oxygenation indicated by increased Hbdiff. These results may be applicable to both healthy and clinical populations.
Bellissimo et al. (2020) studied this question.