Impact of Yoga on Blood Pressure and Quality of Life in Patients with Hypertension

Background: Medical treatment of hypertension is not always sufficient to achieve blood pressure control. Despite this, previous studies on supplementary therapies, such as yoga, are relatively few. The investigator evaluated the effects of yoga intervention on blood pressure and quality of life in patients in selected hospital diagnosed with hypertension. Methods: Adult patients (age 20–80 years) with diagnosed hypertension were identified at OPD of Meenakshi Medical College and Hospital. In total, 83 subjects with blood pressure values of 120–179/≤109 mmHg at baseline were enrolled. At baseline, the patients underwent standardized blood pressure measurement at the health care center and they completed a questionnaire on self-rated quality of life (WHOQOL). There were three groups: 1) Yoga class with investigator (n = 28); 2) Yoga at home (n = 28); and 3) a control group (n = 27). The participants were matched at the group level for systolic blood pressure. After 12 weeks of intervention, the assessments were performed again. At baseline a majority of the patients (92%) were on antihypertensive medication, and the patients were requested not to change their medication during the study. Results: The yoga class group showed improvement in blood pressure or self-rated quality of life, while in the yoga at home group there was a decline in diastolic blood pressure of 4.4 mmHg (p less tha 0.05) compared to the control group. Moreover, the yoga at home group showed significant improvement in self-rated quality of life compared to the control group (p less than 0.05). Conclusions: A short yoga program for the patient to practice at hospital seems to have an antihypertensive effect, as well as a positive effect on self-rated quality of life compared to controls. This implies that simple yoga exercises may be useful as a supplementary blood pressure therapy in addition to medical treatment.