The increase in P300 amplitude further related with the neuronal pool functions and recruitment in the recording area of brain. 7 The increased P300 latency and amplitude also corroborated with the cerebral blood flow. As the name indicates Sheetali meaning cooling enhanced by mouth breathing technique, its cooling effects may also enhance the cerebral blood flow, oxygen delivery and overall enhancement of parasympathetics by modifying sympathovagal tone contribution to relaxation feeling.
9 HTN affects the neurocognitive functions through various mechanisms and induces changes in arteriolar endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells. 8 In general, P300 waves associated with attention & short term memory which may influence the information processing cognition and mnemonic functions in humans. ⁎unpaired t test was used for the comparison of inter group mean difference.Įvent-related potentials of P300 is an objective non-invasive approach to assess the information processing and cognitive brain functions, such as attention, learning, memory, and decision-making. The significant differences (P0.80) for P300 HTN with pranayama group at the end of 3 months intervention. Forty patients (n=40) in HTN with pranayama and forty-two (n=42) patient in HTN without pranayama group completed the study (Figure:1)and none of them reported any adverse events during the intervention period. In both the groups, age, height and other parameters observation were not significantly different at baseline.
Paired and unpaired t test was performed for inter group and intra group comparison using R statistical software version 3.6.1. Evoked potentials for P300 were recorded with eyes closed and the ‘standard’ & ‘target’ auditory stimuli were delivered through close fitting earphones. According to the International 10–20 systems, peak latency and peak amplitude of P300 Event Related Potentials (ERPs) were recorded using Nicolet Bravo System (Madison, WI). HTN without pranayama group did not practice any pranayama or yoga techniques during the study period. However, the investigator who gave pranayama intervention and assessed the outcome was blinded to both the group participants. Blinding was not possible among the participants as it was a yoga intervention. The quality of the pranayama performance was assessed with the help of a checklist booklet received from the patients at the end of 3 months. A qualified yoga and naturopathy doctor taught the Sheetali pranayama to the pranayama group participants for 20 rounds for 30 min daily for 4 weeks between 7:00 a.m to 9:00 a.m. 7 Hence, the present study was initiated to explore the beneficiary effect of Sheetali pranayama in cognition using P300 on patients with primary HTN.įrom 150 patients (Figure: 1) who enrolled in the study, only 100 were deemed to be eligible and randomly assigned to HTN with pranayama ( Sheetali) group (n =50) and HTN without pranayama group (n =50). Practice of Sheetali pranayama has been found to bring about mental relaxation by reducing the stress level in individuals. 6 Sheetali pranayama is one of the well-known types cooling pranayama, contains inhalation through mouth and exhalation through nostrils. Pranayama may also have reported to improve one's memory, concentration, attention, sequential learning, eye-hand coordination and cognitive functions improvement. patients that does not responds to medication has led to the search and evolvement of other modalities, such as pranayama, for the effective regulation of blood pressure. 5 However, the risen issues with resistant HTN i.e. 4 Overall, HTN is notable and highly associated with cognitive decline, vascular dementia, and Alzheimer's disease. 3 Emerging evidences suggests that sustained elevations in blood pressure may results cerebral vessel remodeling and promotes the pathological changes in brain associated with cognitive decline. 2 The stress dysregulation routes to HTN and affects the cardiovascular system, also reported to impair the cerebrovascular system and cognition decline. 1 Sustained and chronic exposure to stress can leads to a destructive process of neuroendocrine, metabolic and neuropsychological changes that results in the development and progression of cardio-vascular diseases (CVD) like HTN.
The practice of yoga is a custom in India and has been reported to be beneficial for the patients with hypertension (HTN).