User:SamanthaMRamos/sandbox

Cardiac Yoga
Cardiac yoga is a type of yoga that addresses stress management and health promotion designed specifically to focus on the needs of a heart patient. It focuses mainly on breathing practices, stress reduction, stretching, relaxation, and body awareness techniques. Cardiac yoga is designed to support the special needs of individuals who have various cardiac conditions and or diseases through low impact exercises that target heart and vascular health.

According to John’s Hopkins Medicine, yoga can be used as a stress manager. The ability to manage stress comes from relaxing the mind and body through deep breathing exercises and meditation which in turn can reduce stress. Stress is a common link factor to heart disease because it releases hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones increase blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood cholesterol all factors leading to heart disease. However, yoga can help decrease those risk factor levels, serve as a treatment plan, and contribute to a healthy lifestyle intervention.

The practice and philosophy of yoga date back to the pre-Vedic times in the Hindu culture (300-1900 BCE). In the late-19th and early 20th centuries yoga was introduced to the West and used as alternative medicine until the 21st century. Over the past decade and a half, yoga has been acknowledged as a natural form of healing in the medical scientific community, as they have worked to understand the mind-body connections in many medical disorders, and the role and benefits yoga offers. About 36.7 million individuals in the U.S. practice a form of yoga as recorded in 2016.

M. Mala Cunningham, Ph.D is a leading speaker, educator, and trainer in the field of Lifestyle Medicine, Health Psychology, Neuroscience, and Medical Yoga. Dr. Cunningham is the Founder and Director of the well known training programs Cardiac Medical Yoga; Hospital Bed Yoga; and Limited Mobility Yoga.

Dr. Cunningham’s passion is creating a bridge between medicine, psychology, neuroscience, yoga, and mindfulness. She is a certified yoga therapist and has been teaching and practicing yoga for over 35 years. She is trained to work with a variety of health challenges such as: chronic pain, back and spinal problems, anxiety, depression and mood disorders, grief issues, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and more.

Among the cardiovascular problems that cardiac yoga is aimed to relieve are coronary artery disease, hypertension, myocardial infarction, bypass surgery, and many others. Cardiac yoga is recommended to the medically stabilize patients. Practicing cardiac yoga offers many health benefits which include but are not limited to lowering blood pressure, increasing lung capacity, boosts blood circulation, lowers bad cholesterol levels, improves heart rate, and aids in weight loss. In cardiac patients’ yoga has shown a positive effect on systemic inflammation, stress, the cardiac autonomic nervous system, and cardiovascular risk factors.

In the past decade, many research studies have examined the positive impact that yoga has on moderating the effects of various cardiac disease states including autonomic dysfunction, arrhythmias, coronary artery disease, and heart failure. Yoga increases heart rate variability in autonomic dysfunction. Yoga reduces arterial fibrillation episodes, decreases arterial fibrillation-related symptoms and anxiety in arrhythmias. Yoga reduces angina episodes in coronary artery disease and improves physical function like strength and balance in heart failure. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world, about 17.9 million people die each year.

Types of Yoga
Yoga is a combination of physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditation. Yoga has been acknowledged as a form of gentle mind-body exercise and a booster for heart health. Yoga’s goal is to attain harmony with one’s mind, body, and soul. Cardiac yoga allows for individuals during exercising to use mats, pillows, chairs and other accessories to ensure general comfort and correct positioning. The aim is to improve lung capacity, reduce stress, strengthen tired muscles and inspire healing. It also assists with emotional adjustment. A Yale University of Medicine study done in 2004 showed that patients who did yoga three times a week could lower their blood pressure and resting heart rate, which in turn can help to lower the risk of heart conditions.

The type of yoga that cardiac yoga could be best connected too is Hatha Yoga. It aims to achieve balance between the body and the mind, incorporating breathing exercises as well as meditation. It is often used for healing the body in a natural way, rather than using modern medicine. Hatha yoga uses physical poses called asanas, which could be modified to meet the low impact needs of a cardiac patient performing cardiac yoga. The word asana is Sanskrit for “seat” which is a focus of cardiac yoga, in breathing techniques as well as flexibility and concentration on specific areas of the body.

An example of cardiac yoga would be doing the sun salutation pose while sitting on a chair. After improving strength, the individual may stop using the back of the chair to support themselves and eventually, by gaining confidence and strength can be able to complete the exercise standing without support.

Yoga exercises for a healthy heart:

There are specific gentle postures designed to support individuals with heart conditions. In the attached hyperlink you will find yoga poses which can be followed as a sequence and done as recommended by your healthcare provider or as tolerated. These postures begin with simple poses and will gradually build your stamina. These cardiac yoga exercises are gentle yet affective for cardiac patients to use.

Research Studies
In the Czech Republic, Dr Wolfgang Mayer-Berger conducted a study on male cardiac-rehab patients that had been previously diagnosed with hypertension. The participants took part in the three-week program, which consisted of half an hour of “cardiac yoga”, for five days per week. The results showed declines in systolic blood pressure. The patients who participated in the “cardiac yoga” continued on with the exercises after the study was complete.

According to John Hopkins Medicine a study conducted showed that middle-aged adults with metabolic syndrome that took part in performing yoga over three months demonstrated an improvement in blood measurements and waist circumference, which are indicators for heart disease. In another study that was conducted, it showed that patients who suffered from arterial fibrillations that attended yoga twice a week had a reduction in the occurrences of atrial fibrillation episodes. In a similar study conducted by John Hopkins Medicine, they demonstrated that patients who suffer from heart failure who participated in an eight-week yoga program, resulted in improved exercise capacity and overall health quality. The participants presented lower blood levels, indicators of heart disease.

A study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, that showed yoga had significant benefits on cardiovascular health by reducing arterial fibrillations (AF), depression, anxiety, and improved the overall health quality of patients that suffer from symptomatic paroxysmal AF. The results were recorded based on patients attending yoga for sixty minutes twice a week for three months.

According to a Harvard Health Publishing article from the Harvard Medical School, studies have found that yoga helps enhance cardiac rehabilitation and has been acknowledge by many physicians who are now recommending that patients who are recovering from heart attacks or cardiac surgery incorporate yoga into their recovery plans.

Cardiac yoga is aimed at helping cardiovascular patients to develop an exercise routine that can be done at home to further promote a healthy lifestyle. Patients learn deep relaxation, stretching and breathing techniques, work with their imagination, and observe a healthy diet. Cardiac yoga concentrates on positive attitude and aims to support the mind, spirit and body of cardiovascular patients.