EFFECT OF YOGIC PRACTICES ON SELECTED PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES AMONG MIDDLEAGED STRESSED HYPERTENSIVE WOMEN

 

*M.Subha, **Dr.S.Murugesan *Ph.D Scholar (Full Time), Faculty of Yoga Sciences and Therapy, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research (Deemed to be University), West K.K.Nagar, Chennai – 600078. subhamyogam@gmail.com **Associate Professor, Faculty of Yoga Sciences and Therapy, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, West K.K.Nagar, Chennai – 600078. murugeshyoga@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the random group experimental study was to find out the effect of yogic practices on Systolic Blood Pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure among middle aged stressed hypertensive women. For the purpose of the study, 30 middle aged stressed hypertensive women were selected randomly by using random group sampling method from Chennai and their age was ranged between 35 and 45 years. They were divided into two groups i.e. experimental group I and control group II of 15 subjects each. It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences among the middle aged stressed hypertensive women on selected Physiological variables such as Systolic Blood Pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure due to yogic practices than the control group. Preliminary test was taken for two Groups on selected dependent variables before the start of the training program. Group I (Experimental group) were given Yogic Practices for 60 minutes, six days a week for a total period of 12 weeks. Group II (Control Group) did not undergo any treatment but in active rest. After the experimental period, the two groups were retested again on the same selected dependent variables. The collected data was analyzed with Analysis of Co-Variance (ANCOVA). The level of significance was fixed at 0.05. The results of the study showed that there was a significant difference on Systolic Blood Pressure (reduced) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (reduced) due to 12 weeks of yogic practices among middle aged stressed hypertensive women. The hypothesis was accepted at 0.05 level of confidence. Hence it is concluded that Yogic practices are beneficial for middle aged stressed hypertensive women to maintain healthy Systolic Blood Pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure.

           

KEY WORDS: Yogic Practices, Stress, Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure.

INTRODUCTION

Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the force of the blood against the artery walls gets to be so high. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high blood pressure, however, is a major risk factor for coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, vision loss, and chronic kidney disease. Hypertension becomes more common with age, affecting middle-aged women especially. Most people with hypertension do not show signs or symptoms. Occasionally, people with early-stage hypertension get dull headaches or dizzy spells. In many cases, there is no discernible cause of hypertension, but rather, it develops over the years.

 

 

Hypertensive women were facing many challenges and obstacles in life. Frequently reported symptoms fall into numerous categories, including physiological turbulences such as severe headache, fatigue or confusion, vision problems, chest pain, difficulty breathing, irregular heartbeat, blood in the urine, pounding in chest, neck or ears and many other impacts that may weaken their personal, social connections and reduce the overall quality of life.

Globally, the overall prevalence of raised blood pressure in adults aged 25 and over was around 40% in 2008.  About 75 million American adults (29%) have high blood pressure, that’s 1 in every 3 adults.

Stress can be described as the degree to which you feel astounded or unable to survive because of demands that are out of control. Stress is our body’s reaction to burdens from a condition or life outcome. Stress can vary enormously from person to person and varies according to our social and economic environments, natural environment we live in and our genetic composition. Some common features of things that can make us feel stress include experiencing something new or unexpected, something that threatens feeling of self, or feeling you have little control over a situation.

Upon Stress body is stimulated to produce stress hormones that activate a ‘flight or fight’ response and make immune system active. This helps us to respond quickly to risky situations. The stress response can be an appropriate or even beneficial reaction. The resulting feeling of ‘pressure’ can help us to push through situations that are intense. We can quickly return to a resting state it does not have any negative effects on health and is referred as short-lived.

The researchers say their discoveries add to testimony that stress hormones play an unequal gender role in brain health and align with well-recorded higher rates of Alzheimer's disease in women than men.

Yoga is a science and art of pure lifestyle.  Yoga helps the women to evoke the hidden potentialities to solve her problems.  Yoga not only upkeeps the body and mind, but it is also a science a health.  It acts as a both preventive and curative aspect through asana, pranayama, meditation, mudra and kriyas etc.  Yoga plays a significant role in enhancing one’s mental health.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of the study was to find out whether there would be any significant difference on selected Physiological variables such as Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure due to yogic practices among Middle aged stressed hypertensive women

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study was to find out the effect of Yogic Practices on selected Physiological Variables among Middle aged stressed hypertensive women.

HYPOTHESIS

It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences due to the Yogic practices on selected Physiological variables among Middle aged stressed hypertensive women than the Control group.

DELIMITATIONS

• The study was confined to middle aged stressed hypertensive women only.
• Subjects were selected from Chennai city only.
• The age of the subjects was ranged from 35 to 45 years only.
• The study was confined to Yogic Practices as Independent variable only
• The study was delimited to Systolic Blood Pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure as dependent variables only.

LIMITATIONS

• The Factors like Socio-Economical status were not taken into consideration.
• The climatic conditions were not considered.
• Factors like Life style habits were not taken into consideration.
• Subject’s day today activities were not taken into account.
• Diet and Medication followed by subjects was not controlled.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

 

Nejati, S. et.al., (2015) studied the effect of Group Mindfulness-Based Stress-Reduction Program and Conscious Yoga on Lifestyle, Coping Strategies, and Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressures in Patients with Hypertension. This study was a randomized clinical trial. The study sample, consisting of 30 patients referring to the Hypertension Clinic of Imam Hossein Hospital in 2013, was assigned either to the intervention (recipient of the MBSRP and conscious yoga) or to the control group (recipient of yoga training). The intervention group had 8 training sessions over 8 weeks. Lifestyle and coping strategies as well as blood pressure were measured in the intervention group before intervention and then immediately thereafter and at 2 months' follow-up and were compared to those in the control group at the same time points. The mean age of the patients in the intervention (40% women) and control (53% women) groups was 43.66 ± 5.14 and 43.13 ± 5.04 years, respectively. The results showed that the mean scores of lifestyle (p value < 0.05), emotion-focused coping strategies (p value < 0.001), problem-focused coping strategies (p value < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (p value < 0.001), and systolic blood pressure (p value < 0.001) were significantly different between the intervention and control groups after the intervention.

Pascoe, M. C. et.al., (2015) underwent a systematic review of randomized control trials on the effects of yoga on stress measures and mood a Stress related disorders such as depression and anxiety are leading sources of disability worldwide, and current treatment methods such as conventional antidepressant medications are not beneficial for all individuals. There is evidence that yoga has mood-enhancing properties possibly related to its inhibitory effects on physiological stress and inflammation, which are frequently associated with affective disorders. However, the biological mechanisms via which yoga exerts its therapeutic mood-modulating effects are largely unknown. This systematic review investigates the effects of yoga on sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis regulation measures. It focuses on studies collecting physiological parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate, Cortisol, peripheral cytokine expression and/or structural and functional brain measures in regions involved in stress and mood regulation. Overall, the 25 randomized control studies discussed provide preliminary evidence to suggest that yoga practice leads to better regulation of the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system, as well as a decrease in depressive and anxious symptoms in a range of populations. Further research is warranted to confirm these preliminary findings and facilitate implementation in clinical settings.

METHODOLOGY

To achieve the purpose of the study, 70 subjects who came forward out of them 45 were screened and to accomplish the purpose of the analysis. 30 middle aged stressed hypertensive women were selected randomly by random group sampling method from Chennai and their age was ranged between 35 and 45 years. They were divided into two groups i.e., experimental group I and control group II of 15 subjects each. Initial test was taken for the two groups (I and II) on the selected dependent variables before the start of the training program. Experimental Group I subjects were given Yogic practice for 60 minutes, 6 days a week for a total period of 12 weeks.

Yogic practices such as Loosening the Joints, Surya Namaskar followed by Asanas such as Tadasana, Vrkshasana, Shasangasana,Setubandasana, Gomukasana, Chandranamaskar, Parvatanasana, ViparitaKarani, Shavasan and Pranayama practices such as Nadishodana Pranayama, Bastrika Pranayama, Brahmari Pranayama followed by Yoga Nidra were given to group I subjects.

Group II (Control Group) subjects were permitted to undergo their routine and normal lifestyle during the course of experiment without any specific training.

After 12 weeks, the two groups were retested again on the same selected dependent variables such as Systolic Blood Pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure. Analysis of Co-Variance (ANCOVA) was used to find out the significant differences between experimental group and the control group. The test of significance was fixed at 0.05 level of confidence.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

• The data pertaining to the variable collected from the two groups before and after the training period were statistically analyzed by using Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA) to determine the significant difference and the hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of confidence.
• These are shown in the Tables below.

 

Table I

ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF THE MEANS OF EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AND THE CONTROL GROUP ON SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE (SCORES IN mmHg)

Tests/ Groups	EX. GR-I		CG - II		SV		Sum of Squares		Df	Mean Squares	“F” Ratio
Pre Test		130.47		130.47		B		0.00	1	0.00	0.00
						W		723.47	28	25.84
Post Test		120.93		130.47		B		681.63	1	681.63	49.62*
						W		384.67	28	13.74
Adjusted Post Test		120.93		130.47		B		681.63	1	681.63	90.07*
						W		204.33	27	7.57

* Significant at 0.05 level of confidence(Table F ratio at 0.05 level, of confidence for df 1 and 28= 4.2, 1and 27= 4.21).

This proved that the differences between the post test means of the subjects were significant. Taking into consideration the pre test and post test scores among the groups, adjusted mean scores were calculated and subjected to statistical treatment. The obtained F value 49.62 was greater than the required F value of 4.21. This proved that there was a significant difference among the means due to 12 weeks of yogic practices on Systolic Blood Pressure in line with the study conducted by Nejati, S. et.al, (2015).

The ordered adjusted means on Systolic Blood Pressure was presented through bar diagram for better understanding of the results of this study in Figure - 1.

Figure – 1

BAR DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MEAN DIFFERENCES AMONG THE GROUPS ON DIASTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE (Scores in mmHg)

* Significant at 0.05 level of confidence (Table F ratio at 0.05 level of confidence for df 1 and 28= 4.2, 1and 27= 4.21)

 

Table II

ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE OF THE MEANS OF EXPERIMENTAL GROUPAND THE CONTROL GROUP ON DIASTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE

(SCORES IN mmHg)

Tests/ Groups	EX. GR-I		CG – II		SV		Sum of Squares		Df	Mean Squares	“F” Ratio
Pre Test		88.27		88.67		B		1.20	1	1.20	0.07
						W		448.27	28	16.01
Post Test		80.80		88.27		B		418.13	1	418.13	45.85*
						W		255.33	28	9.12
Adjusted Post Test		80.88		88.18		B		398.28	1	398.28	61.56*
						W		174.69	27	6.47

* Significant at 0.05 level of confidence.(Table F ratio at 0.05 level, of confidence for df 1 and 28= 4.2, 1and  27= 4.21)

The obtained F value 33.25 was greater than the required F value of 4.21. This proved that there was a significant difference among the means due to 12 weeks of yogic practices on Diastolic Blood pressure in line with the study conducted by Nejati, S. et.al, (2015).

The ordered adjusted means on Diastolic Blood pressure was presented through bar diagram for better understanding of the results of this study in Figure - 2.

 

Figure – 2

BAR DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MEAN DIFFERENCES AMONG THE GROUPS ON DIASTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE (Scores in mmHg)

     * Significant at 0.05 level of confidence (Table F ratio at 0.05 level of confidence for df 1 and 28= 4.2, 1and 27= 4.21).

The results of the study showed that Systolic blood pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure decreased significantly due to Yogic practices for Group-I than Group II. Hence the hypothesis was accepted at 0.05 level of confidence.

The above findings were also substantiated by the observations made by experts such as Nejati, S. et.al, (2015).

DISCUSSION ON HYPOTHESIS

It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences on selected Physiological variable such as Systolic Blood Pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure due to yogic practices among middle aged stressed hypertensive women than the control group. The results proved that there were significant differences on Systolic Blood Pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure (Decreased) due to yogic practices than the control group among middle aged stressed hypertensive women. Hence, the hypothesis was accepted at 0.05 level of confidence.

CONCLUSIONS

It was concluded that yogic practices decreased Systolic Blood Pressure and Diastolic Blood Pressure significantly decreased among middle aged stressed hypertensive women. Hence it is concluded that yogic practice is beneficial to the middle aged stressed hypertensive women to decrease Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure.

 

REFERENCES

1. Nejati, S., Zahiroddin, A., Afrookhteh, G., Rahmani, S., &Hoveida, S. (2015). Effect of Group Mindfulness-Based Stress-Reduction Program and Conscious Yoga on Lifestyle, Coping Strategies, and Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressures in Patients with Hypertension. The journal of Tehran Heart Center, 10(3), 140–148.
2. Pascoe, M. C., & Bauer, I. E. (2015). A systematic review of randomised control trials on the effects of yoga on stress measures and mood. Journal of psychiatric research, 68, 270–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.07.013