Self healing techniques of yoga may help abnormal heartbeat.
According to the American Heart Association, 2.7 million Americans are living with atrial fibrillation (AF), a form of irregular heartbeat that causes episodes of chest pain, faintness and other symptoms while increasing people's risk of stroke. While there are medications that may help correct this problem, researchers are looking into how the self healing techniques of yoga may complement traditional therapy, as reported in heartwire.
"Yoga doesn't really cure atrial fibrillation, but it definitely improves the symptoms and the arrhythmia burden," researcher Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy said at the Boston Atrial Fibrillation Symposium 2012, as quoted by the news source.
In a phase I study of 49 AF patients trained in a form of yoga, 22 percent of subjects had no new episodes. Results also showed improvements in anxiety/depression scores, blood pressure, resting heart rate and other factors.
The researchers speculated that yoga may help improve the health of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates the unconscious control of different parts of the body. Larger studies are currently underway to further investigate the influence of the mind-body connection on AF, according to the news source.
If any cardiac patients are interested in yoga classes, there are two things they should do: visit their local Dahn Yoga centers to find out more, and consult their doctors.
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Tags: Dahn Yoga, dahn yoga centers, self healing, self healing techniques
