Effects of Yoga on Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability Responses to Stress

May 20, 2021 updated by: Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital

The Effects of Acute Yoga Practice on Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability Responses to Mental Stress

Introduction: Yoga has been shown to reduce stress and have benefits for a number of stress-related disorders. However, the effects of an acute bout of yoga practice on cardiac autonomic response to and recovery from stress remain unclear. This study aimed to examine the effect of a single bout of yoga on heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) response to and recovery from mental stress.

Materials and Methods: This study was conducted with a randomized, counterbalanced, crossover design. A total of 44 participants completed two sessions (yoga and video watching (VW)) in randomly assigned order. After each condition, participants underwent a Stroop task and mental arithmetic task. Electrocardiogram was measured and HR and HRV for resting, each condition, and the stress and recovery periods were analyzed.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

44

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

20 years to 40 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • aged between 20 and 40 years old
  • a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 30
  • being sedentary

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities (e.g., arrhythmia, atrioventricular blocks)
  • history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or renal disease
  • contraindications for exercise (e.g., orthopedic problems)
  • involvement in any yoga practice
  • being pregnant or nursing
  • use of tobacco products or medications that may affect cardiovascular function

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Hatha Yoga Condition
An experienced yoga instructor led the 30 minutes yoga condition session which consisted of 5 minutes warm up, 5 minutes breathing exercises, and 20 minutes yoga poses practice. The yoga props were used according to each participant's particular body type and needs to help he/she achieve precise yoga postures safely and comfortably.
Behavioral: Hatha Yoga
The yoga poses were chosen for providing a restorative session based on their purported relationship to restorative effects to best promote cardiac autonomic recovery from mental stress.
Placebo Comparator: Control Condition
Participants in the control condition were watching a neutral video on a television.
Behavioral: Video Watching
The video was about the history of the Earth which encompasses the development of the planet Earth from its formation to the present day.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Heart Rate
Time Frame: up to 5 minutes
Heart rate was derived from continuous heart rate recording, at a sampling rate of 1024 Hz, using an electrocardiogram (ECG) system
up to 5 minutes
Heart Rate Variability
Time Frame: up to 5 minutes
Heart rate variability was derived from continuous heart rate recording, at a sampling rate of 1024 Hz, using an electrocardiogram (ECG) system
up to 5 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 30, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

March 30, 2015

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 12, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 20, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

May 21, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 21, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 20, 2021

Last Verified

May 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • KMUH-IRB-20120375

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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