Does YOGA and meditation reduce Hypertension and is there a Essay

Does YOGA and meditation reduce Hypertension and is there a possibility of reducing the dosage on meds in Patients - Essay Example In the present study, it is hypothesized that yoga and meditation can be used to reduce blood pressure and can help reduce the dosage of antihypertensive medication in patients with hypertension. This work intends to look into a few research articles to demonstrate and support this hypothesis. An article by Miles, Chou, Lin, Hunter, Dhindsa, Nualnim, and Tanaka (2013) studied the effect of hatha yoga practice on blood pressure and other cardiovascular responses. There were a total of 36 participants in the study, who were apparently healthy, nonobese, sedentary, and recreationally active. The 36 participants in the study were recruited from Austin, Texas. Out of them, 19 subjects had no experience in yoga and 18 were experienced in yoga. In the study, the arterial blood pressure of the subjects was measured throughout the yoga session and in 23 different yoga postures. It included systolic, mean, and diastolic blood pressure. Blood pressure was measured using beat-by-beat, finger plethysmography. What is found in the study was a significant increase in blood pressure, especially in standing postures as a direct result of the increase in cardiac output and heart rate. In the case of standing yoga postures, the mean blood pressure increased by 30 mm Hg. In addition, it was found that there was no significant difference between both novice and experienced yoga practitioners in the effect of yoga session on blood pressure. Thus, the study advised medical practitioners to be cautious while prescribing yoga postures to patients with uncontrolled hypertension (Miles et al., 2013, p. 44). However, it is found that in floor postures like Cobra, blood pressure and cardiac output do not increase significantly (Miles et al., 2013, p. 42), and there is a fall in stroke volume but it is uncertain as to what causes this decline in stroke volume. Thus, the study is significant in