Impact of Regular Breathing Exercises on Blood Pressure Phenotypes and BMI in Young Male Individuals: A Narrative Review

Pranayama is the practice of manipulating breathing, which serves as a dynamic link between the mind and body, and is well known in traditional Indian medicine. When combined with breath control, pranayama alters the heart's output and the blood flow to the kidneys and liver, which in turn controls blood pressure (BP). Vascular abnormalities change the total peripheral resistance, which makes the arteries more rigid and contributes to the development of hypertension. Autonomic modulation is altered by yoga breathing patterns, which results in modifications to cardiovascular functioning that are sustained and continuous, as well as central and autonomic processes, i.e., mechanical and hemodynamic. This narrative review was conducted using sources from PubMed, Scopus, MEDLINE, and Web of Science, in which we included published literature starting from 1990. We reviewed the existing literature on regular breathing exercises and their effect on blood pressure and body mass index (BMI). In this review, we narrated the influence of regular breathing exercises on blood pressure and BMI with possible mechanistic pathways, such as the roles of hemodynamic fluctuation, endothelial dysfunction modulation, vascular stiffness, and cardiac remodelling, to provide conclusive and comprehensive understanding regarding their intricacy among young individuals.