PRANAYAMA AND MEDITATION IMPACT ON SPIROMETRIC INDICES IN ASTHMA PATIENTS

Shruti Agnihotri* and Surya Kant

ABSTRACT

Background and Objective- Asthma is a serious health problem throughout the world, affecting people of all ages. It is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways. A lot of studies have been done in this field and the results were found positive. This study was, therefore, undertaken to know the efficacy of pranayama and meditation on pulmonary functions in asthma patients who were also the cases of major depressive disorder. Methods- It was a randomized controlled study carried out from April 2018- September 2019. Asthma patients aged between 18 to 70 years were recruited from the Department of Respiratory Medicine, King George’s Medical University, U.P., Lucknow, India. They were randomly divided into two groups: ‘the case group and ‘the control group’. Their spirometrical assessment was done at baseline, at 4th month and 8th month. Results- No significant changes in spirometrical variables were found in ‘the control group’ during the course of the study. A steady and progressive improvement was found in the subjects of ‘the yoga group’ during the same period. Interpretation and Conclusion- ‘The yoga group’ got significantly better improvement in spirometrical variables than ‘the control group’. The improvement was achieved relatively earlier by ‘the yoga group’ in comparison to ‘the control group’. Result shows that yoga can be used as an adjuvant therapy with standard medical treatment for the better management of asthma.

Keywords: Adjuvant; asthma; spirometrical variables; wheezing.