Heart Health and Yoga: An Overview

by Nina

The Heart by Henri Matisse*

After three years of blogging, even I, the Editor-in-Chief, can't remember everything that’s on our blog. So because someone close to me has developed heart disease and I want to be able to help him, I’ve been—hahaha—reading through my own blog today. At the same time that I’m trying to see which topics we’ve covered so far (nothing on stents that I can see—paging Dr. Baxter Bell!), I’m also trying to get up to speed on some background information by re-reading some of our older posts. So it occurred to me that while I was educating myself on the topic of yoga and heart health, I should share what I find out with you all. After all, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says that heart disease is the leading cause of death of in the U.S.

In Shari’s post Yoga for Heart Conditions, she provides an excellent overview of what heart disease is and how yoga can help. She says that she believes that:

“yoga can be so effective for the management of heart disease because it is a holistic health approach that takes into account all of the varied systems of the body —in yoga, the body is part of a greater whole. Yoga is also accessible to all who want to practice, no matter what their physical ability may be. And yoga’s powerful stress management tools, including learning to slow down and breathe deeply, have many beneficial effects on heart health. Several scientific studies have now demonstrated conclusively that learning to breath deeply decreases blood pressure and slows down heart rate by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system (Relaxation Response) and slowing down the sympathetic nervous system (Fight or Flight Response). And once you learn to become mindful of your breath and of how your body can feel when it is in a relaxed state as opposed to a hyper-arousal state, then conscious, healthy eating is a natural sequel of the yogic approach to health. Finally, learning to move your body (which nourishes all the musculoskeletal, respiratory, lymphatic, and circulatory systems) will help improve heart health.”

In Baxter’s post About Yoga for Heart Health, he wrote about how yoga practices help to maintain or improve circulation in the cardiovascular system, which is essential for heart health. He concludes that post by saying:

"Yoga, therefore, can be said to improve circulation by improving blood flow and the return of lymphatic fluids to the heart, reversing the impact of chronic stress on circulation, lowering blood pressure, slowing down or reversing atherosclerosis, improving the heart rhythm and improving overall heart health."

In Baxter’s post Cortisol and Good Health, he focuses in particular on the relationship between chronic stress and health problems, including heart disease. He says:

"But if you are either under constant stress, or your mind is prone to brooding about the past or anxious musings about the future or even negative assessments about the present moment, your adrenals interpret this as an actual stressful event occurring right now, and cortisol gets released into your system. So cortisol levels remain high in the blood stream for greater periods of time, which can result in swelling of the gland itself, and an increased chance of the following negative effects: loss of immunity secondary to shrinkage of lymph glands, increased risk of stomach ulcers, increased risk of hypertension, heart disease and other vascular disorders, excess sugar in the blood stream and more chance of developing diabetes."

While we in the yoga community all know that yoga can help to improve circulation and reduce stress (see The Relaxation Response and Yoga), Baxter also recently posted Yoga and Heart Health: Newest Study about a scientific meta-analysis study Effects of yoga on cardiovascular disease risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis, which concluded:

"This meta-analysis revealed evidence for clinically important effects of yoga on most biological cardiovascular disease risk factors. Despite methodological drawbacks of the included studies, yoga can be considered as an ancillary intervention for the general population and for patients with increased risk of cardiovascular disease."

Baxter has even designed two different yoga sequences for heart health, both short and accessible practices.

The Inverted Heart Health Sequence includes inverted poses because they can have several immediate and long-term influences on your heart and circulatory system. Inversions put your body in a position to take advantage of gravity to assist in venous return to your heart—you flip upside down and gravity pulls the blood back toward your heart and head! They can also have a quieting effect on your nervous system, encouraging a shift from Fight or Flight mode to Rest and Digest mode. Your heart muscle needs both exercise and rest, so a good combination of effort and relaxation in your practice will give your heart a more balanced experience.

The Cardiovascular Heart Health Sequence includes:

• Dynamic Yoga Sequences. Linked sequence of poses that move fairly quickly, such as Sun Salutations, gradually warm up your body and your cardiovascular system, both strengthening and stretching the muscles and connective tissue that your body’s blood vessels pass through, both exercising your heart and encouraging more efficient flow through the piping of your system.
• Static Poses. Poses that you hold for longer periods increase what is known as the “work load” of your heart, providing a different kind of exercise and challenge for your heart. Those with high blood pressure and diabetes will have to approach these poses with  caution and work into the holds very gradually, preferably under the guidance of an experienced teacher. 
• Gentle Inversions and Restorative Poses. These poses quiet and rest your cardiovascular system and your heart, which is equally important to testing and stressing your system. They allow your heart and nervous system to quiet, and as a result can nicely lower your blood pressure, heart rate and breathing rate.
• Pranayama and Meditation Practices. These practices support the effects of the inversions and restorative poses.

If chronic stress is a problem, see The Relaxation Response and Yoga for an overview of how yoga helps with stress and a list of techniques to choose from. We also have many posts on insomnia (see Five Tips for Better Sleep, for example). Finally, if you’re struggling with poor eating habits, see Yoga for Healthy Eating. 

I'll be giving my loved one private lessons, starting with initial lessons on managing the stress related to realizing you have the disease and coping with surgery and recovery, and I'm sure I'll have more to say about yoga for heart disease as I learn more about it myself.

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