Erica Sharpe1, Alison Lacombe2, Adam Sadowski3, John Phipps4, Ryan Heer5, Savita Rajurkar6, Douglas Hanes7, Ripu D Jindal8, Ryan Bradley9. 1. National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR, United States of America; State University of New York at Canton, Canton, NY, United States of America. Electronic address: esharpe@nunm.edu. 2. National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR, United States of America; United States Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety Microbiology Research Unit, Albany, CA, United States of America. 3. National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR, United States of America. Electronic address: adam.sadowski@nunm.edu. 4. National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR, United States of America. Electronic address: jphipps@nunm.edu. 5. National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR, United States of America. 6. National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR, United States of America. Electronic address: srajurkar@nunm.edu. 7. National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR, United States of America. Electronic address: dhanes@nunm.edu. 8. Birmingham VA Medical Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States of America. Electronic address: ripu.jindal@va.gov. 9. National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR, United States of America; University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States of America; Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: rbradley@nunm.edu.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Traditional Indian breath control practices of Pranayama have been shown to increase indices of heart rate variability (HRV) that are generally held to reflect parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) tone. To our knowledge, individual components of pranayama have not been separately evaluated for impact on HRV. The objective of this study was to isolate five components of a pranayama practice and evaluate their impact on HRV. METHODS: In a crossover clinical trial, 46 healthy adults were allocated to complete five activities in random order, over five separate visits: 1) sitting quietly; 2) self-paced deep breathing; 3) externally-paced deep breathing; 4) self-paced Sheetali/Sheetkari pranayama; and 5) externally paced Sheetali/Sheetkari pranayama RESULTS: Our final sample included 25 participants. There was a significant increase in a time-domain index of HRV, the root mean square successive differences between RR intervals (RMSSD), during the five interventions. The change in logRMSSD ranged from 0.2 to 0.5 (p < .01 in all conditions by paired t-test). Greater increases were evident during externally-paced breathing than during self-paced breathing (mean pre-during logRMSSD change of 0.50 vs. 0.36, p = .02) or sitting quietly (mean, 0.17 ms; p = .005 and 0.02 when comparing Activities 3 and 5 to Activity 1 by random intercept model with Tukey correction for multiple comparisons). Lastly, pre-during increase in RMSSD was greater for Sheetali/Sheetkari vs. deep breathing, when controlling for respiration rate, though not significantly different (p = .07 in random intercept model) CONCLUSIONS: RMSSD increased with paced breathing, deep breathing, and Sheetali/Sheetkari pranayama, reinforcing evidence of a physiologic mechanism of pranayama. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT03280589 https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03280589?term=sheetali&draw=2&rank=1.
OBJECTIVE: Traditional Indian breath control practices of Pranayama have been shown to increase indices of heart rate variability (HRV) that are generally held to reflect parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) tone. To our knowledge, individual components of pranayama have not been separately evaluated for impact on HRV. The objective of this study was to isolate five components of a pranayama practice and evaluate their impact on HRV. METHODS: In a crossover clinical trial, 46 healthy adults were allocated to complete five activities in random order, over five separate visits: 1) sitting quietly; 2) self-paced deep breathing; 3) externally-paced deep breathing; 4) self-paced Sheetali/Sheetkari pranayama; and 5) externally paced Sheetali/Sheetkari pranayama RESULTS: Our final sample included 25 participants. There was a significant increase in a time-domain index of HRV, the root mean square successive differences between RR intervals (RMSSD), during the five interventions. The change in logRMSSD ranged from 0.2 to 0.5 (p < .01 in all conditions by paired t-test). Greater increases were evident during externally-paced breathing than during self-paced breathing (mean pre-during logRMSSD change of 0.50 vs. 0.36, p = .02) or sitting quietly (mean, 0.17 ms; p = .005 and 0.02 when comparing Activities 3 and 5 to Activity 1 by random intercept model with Tukey correction for multiple comparisons). Lastly, pre-during increase in RMSSD was greater for Sheetali/Sheetkari vs. deep breathing, when controlling for respiration rate, though not significantly different (p = .07 in random intercept model) CONCLUSIONS: RMSSD increased with paced breathing, deep breathing, and Sheetali/Sheetkari pranayama, reinforcing evidence of a physiologic mechanism of pranayama. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT03280589 https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03280589?term=sheetali&draw=2&rank=1.
Authors: Paul M Lehrer; Evgeny Vaschillo; Bronya Vaschillo; Shou-En Lu; Dwain L Eckberg; Robert Edelberg; Weichung Joe Shih; Yong Lin; Tom A Kuusela; Kari U O Tahvanainen; Robert M Hamer Journal: Psychosom Med Date: 2003 Sep-Oct Impact factor: 4.312
Authors: G G Berntson; J T Bigger; D L Eckberg; P Grossman; P G Kaufmann; M Malik; H N Nagaraja; S W Porges; J P Saul; P H Stone; M W van der Molen Journal: Psychophysiology Date: 1997-11 Impact factor: 4.016