Yoga will help increase flexibility and balance, but the traditional practice can have one other profit: helping to lower hypertension.
Researchers recruited 60 people diagnosed with hypertension and metabolic syndrome, which increase the danger of heart problems and stroke. Participants were randomly divided into two groups. For three months, each did half-hour of aerobic exercise five days per week, followed by either quarter-hour of yoga or quarter-hour of standard muscle stretching.
During the study, people in each groups improved their resting blood pressure and resting heart rate (variety of heartbeats in a single minute), although the yoga practitioners did higher. Those within the yoga group lowered their systolic blood pressure (the highest number within the reading) by 10 points, in comparison with just 4 points for the stretching group. And they significantly reduced their 10-year risk of heart attack or stroke in comparison with the stretching group.
The researchers hypothesized that yoga's calming effect is perhaps its profit. He noted that other research shows that yoga helps reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The results were published in December 2022. Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
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