YOGIC PREVENTION OF HYPERTENSION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

With worldwide high prevalence andas a serious health problem, Hypertensionmeans that due to some reason like unbalanced dietary habits, irregular routine etc. the heart has to work harder to maintain a constant flow of blood through the arteries.Apart from affecting the health of the person suffering from this problem, it also has harmful effects on other systems and organs of the body.Mainly the problem of persistent high blood pressure is a risk factor for heart related diseases as well as for heart attack.The World Health Organization has identified Hypertensionas a major risk factor for cardiovascular death and premature death. Thus, in the present times, Yogic therapy is gaining immense popularity for effective and natural treatment of this Hypertension problem without any side effects.Therefore, the main objective of the present research work is to comprehensively review the scientific research works related to the efficacy of yogic therapy in the management of hypertension and its risk factors.Therefore, under the presented research work, the researcher conducted a ambient literature search related to the research topic through electronic databases such as PubMed, BMC Public Health, Biomedcentral, Springnature, National Library of Medicine, ScienceDirect, Elsevier, EBSCO’s, ProQuest etc. A total of 403 latest articles published since 2013 were screened and 18 applicable articles were reported which met the inclusion and exclusion criteria using PICO method. Also the articles were selected on the basis of PRISMA flow diagram.Thus, this review study concludes that yoga intervention may be the best adjunctive approach to get natural relief from the problem of hypertension by managing the risk factors of hypertension.However, these review studies lacked standard sample size, heterogeneity, and short experimental duration of yoga interventions, as well as a clear elucidation of the mechanisms underlying the efficacy of different types of yoga on hypertension prevention. Therefore, future studies need to be conducted to explore the efficacy of yoga in the management of hypertension.