People who practiced hot yoga nd stress relaxation, during which hearts rate higher than normal and respiration slows down, showed a reduced risk of heart rhythm disorders, including abnormal heart rhythm and blood pressure, compared to people who practiced staying calm and relaxing during usual exercise.
The study, published today in JAMA Internal Medicine, was led by researchers at NyCen, a Copenhagen-based research centre, and is the largest meta-analysis to date concerning the possible safety and effectiveness of yoga as a method for decreasing the heart-throb factor and maintaining healthy blood pressure.
According to Li Zhao from NyCen, who conducted the deep-brain stimulation study, “the findings add to dozens of previous studies demonstrating the positive effects on health and cardiovascular disease”.The meta-analysis included 44 randomized controlled trials designed to assess the safety, feasibility and performance of hot yoga and holding breath tests for diastolic dysfunction and systolic heart rate, and diastolic function. The protocols were approved by the Danish Food Safety Authority.
The researchers concluded that hot yoga did not show a significant statistically significant difference compared to usual exercise. There was no meaningful difference, either, in risk for any other cardiac disease or for all-cause death. The meta-analysis also noted no significant difference in risk reduction for any outcome: CRRR, which is the composite effect of stopping or stopping with hot yoga.
The authors stated that as yoga is “an ancient therapeutic method for improving cardiovascular health worldwide” in large-scale clinical trials the study findings provide weak but promising promising results for their health practitioners and patients.
“The results are reassuring and warrant immediate publication in end-of-life medicine and guidelines,” said Dr. Radolf Wolle, head of clinical research at NyCen and senior author of the paper.
“However, measurement of diastolic function is of anecdotal evidence and misinterpretation and heated yoga should be avoided even though the technique has been developed as a tool for long-term mental well-being,” said Professor Jaap Singh, physician and co-author of the paper.
Violation of the Art of StressTest.
“We strongly denounce individual or group phobia and stress tests, especially low-pulses,” continued Li Zhao, pushing back against a U-turn earlier made by Christa Costigan, Ph.D. and Dr. Natalie Sanders, Ph.D., on phobia testing.
Dr. Sanders had stated that phobic anxiety was a serious problem that needed focused attention for patients, adding, “given the evidence for the effect of stress on diastolic function as well as other factors, such as blood pressure, we believe that more research is required in this area.”
It’s not surprising that ChiGi, which was familiar with this meta-analysis and had already been conflicted about whether to publish the study publicly, chose not to publish it due to the sensitivity of the subject matter: stress tests are usually used to test for heart vasoconstriction, an irregular heartbeat, collapse or other harm resulting from the shortness of breath.
Mathieu Lajoie, Katja Momcil, Eden Leigh and Joann Youngel from Copenhagen are the main authors of the paper, which is also surprising given the strong results for hot yoga, compared to usual exercise and traditional meditation or self-hypnosis at other trials.