Does slow pace bhastrika pranayama reduce blood pressure and heart rate?
Slow pace bhastrika pranayama immediately reduces heart rate and blood pressure, likely through enhanced parasympathetic activation.
Vagal cardiac and pulmonary mechanisms are linked, and improvement in one vagal limb might spill over into the other. Baroreceptor sensitivity can be enhanced significantly by slow breathing (supported by a small reduction in the heart rate observed during slow breathing and by reduction in both systolic and diastolic pressure). Slow pace bhastrika pranayama (respiratory rate 6/min) exercise thus shows a strong tendency to improving the autonomic nervous system through enhanced activation of the parasympathetic system.
Pramanik et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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