A yoga session in progress in New York on September 9, 2012.

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The health benefits of yoga are said to be legion, everything from stress busting to lowering fat and stimulating the immune system. Now it may also help people with a common heart rhythm problem - at least, according to a US study.

The American Heart Association says that about 2.7 million people in the United states have atrial fibrillation, in which the heart's upper chambers quiver chaotically instead of contracting normally. It increases the risk of stroke. Though people with atrial fibrillation are often prescribed drugs such as beta blockers to help control their heart rate and rhythm, the medicines don't work for everybody, said researchers whose findings appeared in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

That's where yoga could come in, said researchers led by Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, from the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. "In patients with ... atrial fibrillation, yoga improves symptoms, arrhythmia burden, heart rate, blood pressure, anxiety and depression scores, and several domains of quality of life," they wrote.

The study included 49 people who'd had AF for an average of five years. For three months, the researchers tracked their heart symptoms, blood pressure and heart rate, as well as their anxiety, depression and general quality of life.

For the second phase of the study, the same participants went to group yoga classes at least twice a week for an additional three months, again reporting on their symptoms and quality of life. All of the patients were on stable medications throughout the study.

Nonetheless, the number of times they reported heart quivering - confirmed by a heart monitor - dropped from almost four times during the first three months to twice during the yoga intervention phase. Their average heart rate also fell from 67 beats per minute at the start to between 61 and 62 beats per minute post-yoga. Participants' anxiety scores fell from an average of 34, on a scale of 20 to 80, to 25 after three months of yoga. Depression and general mental health improved as well.

"People feel more empowered, they feel better, they feel stronger," said W. Todd Cade, a physical therapy researcher from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who was not involved in the study. Lakkireddy said, for real help, yoga has to be incorporated into daily life, not just picked up for a few months at a time. Patients should also not expect a cure, but their arrhythmia may become "more tolerable," and emergency room visits due to symptom flareups may be reduced. "A lot of people ask, 'Can I just do yoga and nothing else?'" Lakkireddy said. "I think that's the wrong approach to take. Yoga is not a cure in itself... it is a good adjunct to what else these patients should be doing." Cade said future studies are needed to look at, among other things, whether yoga might help AF patients cut back on medication. Any possible benefits will also need to be confirmed - and better explained - in future research. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/P8Btq1 (Reporting from New York by Genevra Pittman at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)

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Yoga may comfort people with irregular heart rhythms: US study

The same kind of exercise that can bring peace to your mind may bring peace to your heart as well.

Research at the University of Kansas Hospital is finding that regular time spent doing yoga breathing and stretching exercises may help keep potentially dangerous heart rhythm disorders in check.

A KU Hospital study published this week in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that as little as two one-hour yoga sessions per week can help significantly reduce the number of episodes of rapid, out-of-control heartbeats experienced by patients with atrial fibrillation. These patients also cut their blood pressure and lowered their levels of anxiety and depression.

The results of this preliminary study are so promising, two similar yoga studies at KU Hospital are enrolling patients with other disorders that cause faulty heart rhythms.

Yoga is not a solution in itself, but it provides very profound effects, said KU heart specialist Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy. Its not a drug, its not a (medical procedure). Its something you can do in your living room for not very much money.

Lakkireddy wants to see if yoga training can work for other patients. He has started recruiting people with tachycardia, another rhythm disorder with accelerated heart rates, and syncope, a disorder that causes fainting when the heart stops beating temporarily.

Lakkireddys studies are too small to prove definitively that yoga is effective. He hopes to persuade the National Institutes of Health to fund large-scale research to determine with more certainty what yoga may do.

Yoga, with its meditation, breathing exercises and sometimes-difficult poses, has been practiced for more than 5,000 years. Because its known for its ability to bring inner peace, yoga often is recommended to heart and cancer patients as a way to relieve stress.

Research suggests that yoga can lower blood pressure and slow the heart rate. But there has been little study aimed at using yoga as a medical treatment.

Lakkireddy was born and raised in India. His grandfather was a yoga instructor. But Lakkireddy gave up yoga when he was a teenager and started practicing again only in the past few years.

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Relax! Yoga helps the heart, research at KU Hospital says

Yoga can help people with irregular heart rhythms

(Reuters) / 31 January 2013

The health benefits of yoga are said to be legion, everything from stress busting to lowering fat and stimulating the immune system. Now it may also help people with a common heart rhythm problem - at least, according to a US study.

The American Heart Association says that about 2.7 million people in the United states have atrial fibrillation (AF), in which the hearts upper chambers quiver chaotically instead of contracting normally. It increases the risk of stroke.

Though people with AF are often prescribed drugs such as beta blockers to help control their heart rate and rhythm, the medicines dont work for everybody, said researchers whose findings appeared in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Thats where yoga could come in, said researchers led by Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, from the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City.

In patients with ... AF, yoga improves symptoms, arrhythmia burden, heart rate, blood pressure, anxiety and depression scores, and several domains of quality of life, they wrote.

The study included 49 people whod had AF for an average of five years. For three months, the researchers tracked their heart symptoms, blood pressure and heart rate, as well as their anxiety, depression and general quality of life.

For the second phase of the study, the same participants went to group yoga classes at least twice a week for an additional three months, again reporting on their symptoms and quality of life. All of the patients were on stable medications throughout the study.

Nonetheless, the number of times they reported heart quivering - confirmed by a heart monitor - dropped from almost four times during the first three months to twice during the yoga intervention phase. Their average heart rate also fell from 67 beats per minute at the start to between 61 and 62 beats per minute post-yoga.

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Yoga can help people with irregular heart rhythms

KANSAS CITY, Kan., Jan. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Yoga training has always been thought of as a healthy activity, but now a study has the scientific findings to prove it. In a first-of-its-kind study, doctors at The University of Kansas Hospital evaluated the role of yoga in the management of atrial fibrillation a common heart rhythm disorder that is a leading cause of stroke. The study, published in this week's Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that rigorous practice of yoga can help reduce episodes of irregular heartbeat and improve the symptoms of anxiety and depression often associated with atrial fibrillation. On average, yoga was found to cut patients' episodes of atrial fibrillation in half and significantly improve quality of life.

"The practice of yoga is known to improve many risk factors for heart disease including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, hardening of the arteries, and stress and inflammation in the body," said Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, M.D. at The University of Kansas Hospital, and lead investigator of the study. "There are currently no proven complementary therapies that are known to help decrease the symptoms of atrial fibrillation in a noninvasive fashion with minimal side effects and reasonable safety and efficacy."

Researchers followed 49 patients with atrial fibrillation who had no physical limitations. During the first three-month control phase, participants were permitted to engage in any type of physical activity they were previously accustomed to doing. This was followed by a three-month study phase where patients participated in a supervised yoga program consisting of breathing exercises, yoga postures, meditation and relaxation.

Forty-five minute yoga sessions were administered by a certified professional three times a week over the course of the study phase. Participants were also given an educational DVD and encouraged to practice the exercises at home on a daily basis depending on their comfort levels. All participants were new to the practice of yoga, and the program was designed to allow beginners to progress safely from basic movements to more advanced practice over the course of the study.

Data showed the yoga intervention significantly reduced the number of episodes of irregular heart beat among atrial fibrillation patients during the study phase compared to the control phase where subjects were participating in the physical activity of their choice. Yoga also reduced depression and anxiety scores and improved quality of life scores in the areas of physical functioning, general health, vitality, social functioning, and mental health.

"These findings are important because many of the current conventional treatment strategies for atrial fibrillation include invasive procedures or medications with undesirable side effects. Success with these therapies varies widely, and they are often only modestly effective in controlling heart rhythm," Lakkireddy said. "It appears yoga has a significant impact on helping to regulate patients' heart beat and improves their overall quality of life. Any intervention that helps in reducing or controlling the arrhythmia burden in atrial fibrillation can have a huge impact on public health."

Given the low cost, safety and effectiveness of yoga, the authors recommend that it be considered in the overall treatment strategy for atrial fibrillation and other complex heart rhythm disorders.

The University of Kansas Hospital is the region's premier academic medical center, providing a full range of care. The hospital is affiliated with the University of Kansas Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions, and their various leading edge research projects. The constantly growing facility contains 665 staffed beds (plus 24 bassinets) and serves more than 28,000 inpatients annually. A total of ten of its specialty areas are ranked nationally by the U.S. News & World Report "Best Hospital" lists, including Cancer (#37), Cardiology & Heart Surgery (#24), Diabetes & Endocrinology (#38), Ear, Nose & Throat (#20), Gastroenterology (#20), Geriatrics (#17), Nephrology (#15), Neurology & Neurosurgery (#22), Pulmonology (#15) and Urology (#45). The cancer program is part of The University of Kansas Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute designated program. The hospital has received Magnet nursing designation, reflecting the quality of care throughout the hospital, an honor awarded to only 6.6 percent of the hospitals nationwide. The hospital also houses the region's only burn center, the area's only nationally accredited Level I Trauma Center and the area's only Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center recognized by the Joint Commission. For more information, visit http://www.kumed.com.

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First-Ever Yoga Study Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology Finds Yoga to be a Safe ...