Influence of Regular Breathing Exercises on Blood Pressure: A Cross-Sectional Study on Young Male Indian Population

Abstract

Introduction Non-communicable diseases are the major contributors to deaths in our country, while deaths due to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) play a major role in this. Hypertension (HTN) is associated with almost all cardiovascular morbidities and mortalities. Various studies that were done focusing on middle-aged and older individuals have already proven the beneficial effect of breathing exercises in normalizing blood pressure (BP), but similar studies focusing on young individuals are very few. Our study aimed to establish a relationship between regular breathing exercises and BP phenotypes in young individuals. Materials and methods Our cross-sectional study was performed with age and gender-matched young male individuals, where we considered group 1 as the participants who did not do any form of breathing exercises and group 2 as the participants who did regular breathing exercises. The comprehensive convenience sampling method was followed in the study where we measured the body mass index (BMI), BP phenotypes (systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and pulse rate (PR)) of all the individuals after obtaining informed voluntary written consent post-obtaining approval from the institutional committees. We continued including participants in our study till at least one group reached a total of 137 participants. Results We found significantly (p < 0.05) higher values of BMI and BP phenotypes in group 1 as compared to group 2. We also found a positive correlation between BMI and BP phenotypes. Conclusion Our study concludes that there is an association between regular breathing exercises and lowering of BP in young individuals.

Keywords: ageing; blood pressure; body mass index; breathing exercise; hypertension.