Role of naturopathy and yoga treatment in the management of hypertension

AimThe primary aim was to study the effect of naturopathy and yoga interventions in treatment of mild to moderate hypertension.DesignThe variables of interest were measured at the beginning and end of the intervention using a pre-post design.SettingThe study was conducted by INYS medical research society in Jindal Nature Cure Institute, Bangalore.SubjectsA total of 104 subjects, already diagnosed with mild to moderate hypertension and on treatment with antihypertensive medicines were included in study.InterventionsThe intervention consisted of various inpatient administration of different naturopathy treatments, yoga therapies, low calorie and low sodium diet for 21 days. Antihypertensive medicines were withdrawn for some patients in one week based upon response to the treatment.Outcome measuresThe outcome measures were values of diastolic and systolic blood pressure and body weight. Subjects were followed for a period of one year after every 3 months.ResultsAfter starting nonpharmacological approach of naturopathy and yoga, Systolic blood pressure came down from mean of 139.6 to 129.6 where as it came down from 91.2 to 86.1 for diastolic blood pressure. At the same time favorable effect was also seen in other variables like lipid profile and body weight. At the end of one year out of 57 patients who came for follow-up, 14 cases were found to have blood pressure within normal ranges without any medication over the previous 12 months.ConclusionNaturopathy and yoga therapy can be considered as a valuable nonpharmacoloical approach in treatment of hypertension