Evaluation of Autonomic tone, Vascular and Endothelial function in Myocardial Infarction Patients undergoing Yoga based Cardiac Rehabilitation

The therapeutic landscapes of yoga are diverse. Several studies have shown that yoga and meditation control risk factors for cardiovascular disease like hypertension, type II diabetes and insulin resistance, obesity, lipid profile, psychosocial stress and smoking. Some randomized studies suggest that yoga / meditation could retard or even regress early and advanced coronary atherosclerosis.

CR is the process of restoring desirable levels of physical, social, and psychological functioning after the onset of cardiovascular illness. The aims of CR programmes are to optimise patient’s functioning, enhance quality of life, and minimise the risk of recurrent cardiac events. Comprehensive CR programmes are multi-component interventions, which include elements of exercise training, relaxation and stress management, secondary prevention, and pay attention to the patient’s psychosocial adjustment.  Yoga covers most of the elements of a comprehensive CR programme: improved physical fitness, stress reduction and lifestyle. The proposed research is to understand the mechanism behind the effects of Yoga based cardiac rehabilitation on autonomic, vascular and endothelial functions in patients following Acute Myocardial Infarction. Most of the studies on yoga are limited to healthy subjects and diseased conditions other than myocardial infarction. This study is unique in that there is deficiency of data on the effect of yoga based cardiac rehabilitation in acute Myocardial infarction patients. Therefore, this study proposes to test the mechanisms underlying the effects of Yoga-Cardiac Rehabilitation program in patients with acute myocardial infarction to suggest a road map for future enhancement of Yoga based Cardiac rehabilitation.