Yoga practice may help people get their blood pressure under control. A meta-analysis evaluated the results of seven studies that included a total of 452 participants with elevated blood pressure.
Random allocation was used to determine which volunteers would practice yoga regularly for eight weeks and which would be in the control groups of usual care or education. Compared to usual care, practicing yoga brought blood pressure down by about 10 points for systolic pressure (ther first number in a blood pressure reading) and 7 points for diastolic pressure (the second number in the reading). In other words, a blood pressure of 140/90 would drop, on average, to about 130/83. Deep breathing, relaxation and physical activity may all contribute to the benefits seen with yoga.
[American Journal of Hypertension, online, May 2. 2014]
When we interviewed physiatrist Loren Fishman, MD, he offered advice on many ways to use yoga poses to treat joint pain and stiffness. If you would like to learn more about this, listen here.
