Key result
Long-term practice of yogic slow breathing did not augment cardiac vagal control compared to matched controls during paced breathing.
Why the study?
Does long-term practice of slow yogic breathing improve cardiac vagal outflow in healthy adults?
Cross-Sectional (n=52)
No
Does long-term practice of slow yogic breathing improve cardiac vagal outflow in healthy adults?
Long-term practice of slow yogic breathing does not appear to cause sustained alterations in cardiac vagal efferent outflow when controlling for respiratory rate.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Long-term yogic breathing shows no sustained vagal benefit when respiratory rate is controlled; leaves open acute effects or benefits in clinical populations.
Objectives: To examine whether long-term practice of yogic breathing alters cardiac autonomic control. Design: Age–sex matched, cross-sectional, physiologic pilot study. Settings/Location: Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Cardiovascular Laboratory, Cambridge, MA. Participants: Twenty-six (26) long-term yoga practitioners and 26 age- and sex-matched controls, free of cardiovascular disease. Outcome: Cardiac vagal outflow as assessed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Results: During unpaced (spontaneous) breathing, yoga practitioners exhibited augmented RSA compared to controls (yoga 364.8 ± 75.3 vs. 194.7 ± 46.0 ms2Hz−1, p = 0.03). However, during paced breathing at 0.25 Hz (15 breaths/min), which accounts for inter- and intravariability in breath rate, RSA did not differ between groups (yoga 224.8 ± 48.4 vs. 271.3 ± 59.7 ms2Hz−1, p = 0.98). Furthermore, the relationship between age and RSA, such that RSA declines with age, did not qualitatively differ between groups. Conclusions: Long-term practice of yogic slow breathing does not appear to augment cardiac vagal control nor prevent known age-related declines.
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Bertisch et al. (2017) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy (n=52). Long-term practice of yogic slow breathing vs. Age- and sex-matched nonpractitioners was evaluated on Cardiac vagal outflow assessed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) during paced breathing at 0.25 Hz (ms2Hz-1) (p=0.98). Long-term practice of yogic slow breathing did not augment cardiac vagal control compared to matched controls during paced breathing.
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