Key result
Long-term yoga in females is linked to lower resting HR, respiration rate, and diastolic BP versus sedentary individuals.
Why the study?
Yoga optimizes psychophysiological health, but its underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
Does long-term yoga practice improve psychophysiological profile and cardiac autonomic reactivity compared to running or a sedentary lifestyle in females?
Cross-Sectional
Does long-term yoga practice improve psychophysiological profile and cardiac autonomic reactivity compared to running or a sedentary lifestyle in females?
p-value: p=<0.05
Long-term yoga practice in females is associated with lower resting respiration rate, heart rate, and diastolic blood pressure, as well as better autonomic resilience following mental stress compared to a sedentary lifestyle.
May support lower resting cardiorespiratory parameters in women; leaves open whether yoga improves autonomic reactivity over running.
Yoga practice, a means of stress management, has been reported to optimize psychophysiological health; however, its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychophysiological profile and cardiac autonomic reactivity in long-term yoga practitioners and compare them to runners and sedentary individuals. Psychological health and aerobic fitness level were evaluated using self-reported questionnaires and a 3-min step test. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), respiration rate (RR), and heart rate variability (HRV) parameters were recorded at rest, as well as during and following psychological stress, which was elicited by the Stroop color and word test and the mental arithmetic task. The yoga group demonstrated a lower RR (10.35 ± 2.13 bpm) as compared to the other two groups, and a lower HR (66.60 ± 7.55 bpm) and diastolic BP (67.75 ± 8.38 mmHg) at rest when compared to the sedentary group (all p < 0.05). HRV parameters following mental stress returned to the baseline in yoga and running groups, but not in the sedentary group. The anxiety level in the running group was significantly lower than that in the sedentary group (p < 0.05). These findings suggested that yoga practitioners may have a greater homeostatic capacity and autonomic resilience than do sedentary individuals.
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Lin et al. (2022) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy individuals. Long-term yoga practice vs. Runners and sedentary individuals was evaluated on Psychophysiological profile and cardiac autonomic reactivity (BP, HR, RR, HRV at rest and during/following psychological stress) (p=<0.05). Long-term female yoga practitioners demonstrated lower resting respiration rate (10.35 ± 2.13 bpm), heart rate (66.60 ± 7.55 bpm), and diastolic BP compared to sedentary individuals (all p < 0.05).
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