Yoga boosts health in heart failure patients - study
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-30349520071106
Tue Nov 6, 2007

By Susan Kelly

ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - An eight-week regimen of yoga proved safe
for patients with chronic heart failure and helped reduce signs of
inflammation often linked with death, according to a study released
on Monday.

More than 5 million Americans have chronic heart failure, a long-term
condition in which the heart no longer pumps blood efficiently to the
body's other organs. Health problems and deaths from the disease
remain high despite widespread use of effective drug and device
therapies to treat the condition.

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta who
measured the effects of an eight-week yoga regimen on 19 heart
failure patients found the exercise routine reduced markers of
inflammation associated with heart failure while also improving
exercise tolerance and quality of life.

"Many people believe the addition of yoga may be beneficial in
cardiac rehabilitation," said the researchers, whose findings were
presented at the annual meeting of the American Heart
Association. "Furthermore, it may be that yoga has an impact on the
mechanisms of action involved in the progression of heart failure."

The study found significant differences in levels of biological
markers in the blood -- interleukin-6, C-reactive protein and extra-
cellular superoxide dismutase -- between patients who completed the
yoga therapy and those who received standard medical therapy.
Patients on yoga therapy completed the regimen without complications.

Patients who did yoga saw a 26 percent decrease in symptoms on a
standard assessment that measures quality of life in heart failure
patients, compared to a 3 percent decrease for the patients on
medical therapy alone.

"Yoga is aerobic. It is not surprising, in terms of its effects on
the inflammatory markers," said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, who prescribes
both yoga and tai chi, a Chinese martial art, to her heart failure
and heart attack patients.

Goldberg, a professor of medicine at New York University, said heart
failure patients often have trouble with exercise due to fatigue and
shortness of breath caused by the heart's reduced pumping ability.

"What's nice is they found not only does it reduce inflammatory
markers, but it is a safe form of exercise and it improves the
quality of their lives," Goldberg said.