Fifteen Minutes of Chair-Based Yoga Postures or Guided Meditation Performed in the Office Can Elicit a Relaxation Response
Open Access
- 16 January 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Hindawi Limited in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- Vol. 2012, 1-9
- https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/501986
Abstract
This study compared acute (15 min) yoga posture and guided meditation practice, performed seated in a typical office workspace, on physiological and psychological markers of stress. Twenty participants ( yr) completed three conditions: yoga, meditation, and control (i.e., usual work) separated by ≥24 hrs. Yoga and meditation significantly reduced perceived stress versus control, and this effect was maintained postintervention. Yoga increased heart rate while meditation reduced heart rate versus control (). Respiration rate was reduced during yoga and meditation versus control (). Domains of heart rate variability (e.g., SDNN and Total Power) were significantly reduced during control versus yoga and meditation. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were reduced secondary to meditation versus control only (). Physiological adaptations generally regressed toward baseline postintervention. In conclusion, yoga postures or meditation performed in the office can acutely improve several physiological and psychological markers of stress. These effects may be at least partially mediated by reduced respiration rate.
Keywords
This publication has 28 references indexed in Scilit:
- HPA axis, respiration and the airways in stress—A review in search of intersectionsBiological Psychology, 2010
- Psychological Stress and DiseaseJama-Journal Of The American Medical Association, 2007
- Iyengar Yoga Increases Cardiac Parasympathetic Nervous Modulation among Healthy Yoga PractitionersEvidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2007
- Job strain and autonomic indices of cardiovascular disease riskAmerican Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2005
- Association of psychosocial risk factors with risk of acute myocardial infarction in 11 119 cases and 13 648 controls from 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case-control studyThe Lancet, 2004
- Heart rate dynamics during three forms of meditationInternational Journal of Cardiology, 2004
- Treating hypertension with a device that slows and regularises breathing: a randomised, double-blind controlled studyJournal of Human Hypertension, 2001
- Heart Rate Variability and Progression of Coronary AtherosclerosisArteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 1999
- A Randomized Controlled Trial of Stress Reduction for Hypertension in Older African AmericansHypertension, 1995
- Effect of relaxation training on cardiac parasympathetic tonePsychophysiology, 1994