Yoga, naturopathy may alter stress-regulation system for months: Study

A 10-day programme combining yoga, naturopathy and dietary modification may bring measurable changes in the body’s autonomic regulation that remain detectable for up to nine months in people with hypertension, experts have said.
During a randomised controlled trial involving 262 people, researchers at the SDM College of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences in Ujire found that participants who underwent the integrated programme showed changes in heart-rate variability (HRV), a non-invasive measure used to assess the functioning of the autonomic nervous system.
The study, published in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies was registered with the Clinical Trials Registry of India and supported by the Ministry of AYUSH.
What particularly drew the researchers’ attention was that some of the changes remained evident nine months after the intervention had ended.
“Hypertension is not merely a disorder of elevated blood pressure; it is also closely linked to how the autonomic nervous system regulates cardiovascular function,” said Dr Sujatha K J, Vice Principal, SDM College of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences.
When this regulatory system remains under stress, the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity can be affected.
“Heart-rate variability gives us a useful, non-invasive window into this regulation. The changes observed in this study suggest that an integrated approach involving yoga, naturopathy and dietary modification may support a healthier autonomic balance,” said Dr Sujatha. The autonomic nervous system broadly consists of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. While the sympathetic system is associated with the body’s “fight-or-flight” response, the parasympathetic system supports “rest-and-digest” functions.
HRV measures variations in the time between successive heartbeats and can provide an indication of autonomic nervous system activity. In the trial, patients in the intervention group recorded a significant increase in high-frequency HRV, along with reductions in low-frequency activity and the LF/HF ratio. The overall pattern suggested a shift towards greater parasympathetic or vagal activity.
The difference in the LF/HF ratio between the intervention and control groups remained statistically significant at the nine-month follow-up.
An important strength of this study is that it moves the conversation beyond subjective claims of feeling relaxed or less stressed and looks at what is happening physiologically, said Dr Geetha B Shetty, Professor and Dean, SDM College of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences. “Heart-rate variability gives us a measurable window into autonomic regulation and allows these changes to be objectively assessed and followed over time. For integrative healthcare, this kind of instrument-based evidence is valuable because it helps us understand whether interventions such as yoga and naturopathy are influencing the body’s regulatory mechanisms in a measurable way,” said Dr Shetty. (PTI)