ISLAMABAD: People with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation may find that yoga helps them enjoy a better quality of life and reduce their blood pressure and heart rate.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a condition where the heart pumps blood at an irregular and often abnormally fast rate. This disrupts the flow of blood in the chambers of the heart and increases the risk of blood clots, which can result in a stroke.
AF episodes are often accompanied by chest pain, dizziness and sudden and severe shortness of breath (dyspnoea). The symptoms are unpleasant and leave patients feeling anxious and stressed as they wonder when the episode will finish, or as they anticipate the next one.
At the end of the 12 weeks, the yoga group had higher mental health scores on the SF-36 survey, lower heart rate and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure than the control group.
Also, over the 12 weeks, the yoga group showed improvements in both the mental health scores on the SF-36 survey and the quality of life scores from the EQ-5D VAS survey, while the control group showed no change.
Wahlström suggests the yoga deep breathing exercises may have helped the AF patients balance the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system, leading to less variation in heart rate. Also, breathing and movement exercises may also have beneficial effects on blood pressure.
Wahlström says patients in the yoga group also reported that “it felt good to let go of their thoughts and just be inside themselves for a while.” She notes that perhaps the yoga instruction offered them a way to gain self-control over their symptoms and made them feel less helpless.
The researchers also want to examine the extent to which the social component may have an effect – when patients meet for sessions they may feel safe and secure in the company of others who have the same condition.
Wahlström said that “a lot of the patients I meet who have paroxysmal AF are very stressed. Yoga should be offered as a complementary therapy to help them relax. It may also reduce their visits to hospital by lowering their anxiety until an AF episode stops.”
Estimates suggest that over 2.6 million Americans have AF. There is also a view that this could be an underestimate, as often the condition is only spotted during routine health checks and many people do not realize they have it.