Improvement in Ventilatory Function through Yogic Practices

Abstract

Objective: The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of three months yogic practices on ventilatory functions. Methods: Sixty (n=60) healthy male volunteers (age range 21–33 years and height of 174.8 ± 3.52 cm) drawn randomly from BSF personnel participated in the study. Participants practiced yoga under supervision of professional yoga instructor, two hours daily five days a week, along with their daily routine activities. Standing height, weight and dynamic lung function tests viz. Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in 1st second (FEV1) and Maximum Voluntary Ventilation (MVV) were measured before and after 3 months of yoga training. Tiffeneau index (TI) was calculated before and after the said training. Results: After three months of yogic practice, there was no significant change in body weight with a trend of reduction. MVV increased significantly (P < 0.01) while the other parameters viz. FVC, FEV1 and TI did not change significantly. Conclusion: Increase in MVV indicates that yogic practices improve the pulmonary capacity of practitioner which can help in enhancement of ventilatory functions.

Keywords

• Yoga
• Maximum voluntary ventilation
• Ventilatory function
• Ventilatory muscle
• Tiffeneau index