Sudarshan Kriya Yoga improves cardiac autonomic control in patients with anxiety-depression disorders.
Author: Toschi-Dias E1, Tobaldini E2, Solbiati M2, Costantino G2, Sanlorenzo R3, Doria S3, Irtelli F3, Mencacci C3, Montano N4
Affiliation:
1 Heart Institute (InCor) do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Department of Internal Medicine, Fondazione IRCSS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlínico, Milan, Italy; Department of Clinical Sciences and Community for Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
2 Department of Internal Medicine, Fondazione IRCSS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlínico, Milan, Italy; Department of Clinical Sciences and Community for Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
3 Department of Neuroscience, "Fatebenefratelli e Oftalmico" Hospital, Milan, Italy.
4 Department of Internal Medicine, Fondazione IRCSS Ca' Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlínico, Milan, Italy; Department of Clinical Sciences and Community for Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: nicola.montano@unimi.it.
Conference/Journal: J Affect Disord.
Date published: 2017 Mar 7
Other:
Volume ID: 214 , Pages: 74-80 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.03.017. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 236
BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated that adjuvant therapies as exercise and breathing training are effective in improving cardiac autonomic control (CAC) in patients with affective spectrum disorders. However, the effects of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) on autonomic function in this population is unknown. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that SKY training improves CAC and cardiorespiratory coupling in patients with anxiety and/or depression disorders.
METHODS: Forty-six patients with a diagnosis of anxiety and/or depression disorders (DSM-IV) were consecutively enrolled and divided in two groups: 1) conventional therapy (Control) and 2) conventional therapy associated with SKY (Treatment) for 15 days. Anxiety and depression levels were determined using quantitative questionnaires. For the assessment of CAC and cardiorespiratory coupling, cardiorespiratory traces were analyzed using monovariate and bivariate autoregressive spectral analysis, respectively.
RESULTS: After 15-days, we observed a reduction of anxiety and depression levels only in Treatment group. Moreover, sympathetic modulation and CAC were significantly lower while parasympathetic modulation and cardiorespiratory coupling were significantly higher in the Treatment compared to Control group.
CONCLUSIONS: Intensive breathing training using SKY approach improves anxiety and/or depressive disorders as well as CAC and cardiorespiratory coupling. These finding suggest that the SKY training may be a useful non-pharmacological intervention to improve symptoms and reduce cardiovascular risk in patients with anxiety/depression disorders.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS: Affective disorders; Cardiac autonomic control; Cardiorespiratory coupling; Sudarshan Kriya Yoga
PMID: 28285240 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.03.017
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