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Background: Pranayama has been reported to be beneficial in treating a range of stress related disorders, improving autonomic functions, relieving symptoms of asthma, stuttering and reducing signs of oxidative stress. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether regular practice of Bhramari Pranayama for 3 months can reduce the cardio-vascular hyper-reactivity induced by cold pressor test. Methods and results:The study group comprised of 54 healthy medical students of 18 to 24 yr age group. Initially there were 21 volunteers hyper-reactive to cold pressor test; which after 3 months of regular practice of Bhramari Pranayama reduced to 04 (≈ 81 % reduction ). Initially mean systolic BP after 1min cold stress was 139 ± 8.83 mmHg which was reduced to 134 ± 5 mmHg (t = 2.94, p< 0.01), while diastolic blood pressure reduced from 91 ± 7.5 mmHg to 88 ± 4.42 mmHg (t = 4.74, p<0.01). Initially the rise in systolic blood pressure due to cold stress (Hand immersed at 3 0 -4 0 C for one minute) was 19.24 ± 4.17 mmHg that became 15.71 ± 2.85 mmHg (t = 6.4, p<0.01), and initial rise in diastolic blood pressure was 14.67 ± 2.85 mmHg which became 11.62 ± 1.86 mmHg (t = 5.6, p< 0.01) after regular practice of Bhramari Pranayama for 3 months. Conclusion:We concluded that regular practice of Bhramari Pranayama for 3 months reduced the cardiovascular hyper-reactivity to cold pressor test in subjects who were hyper-reactive to cold stress, possibly by inducing parasympathetic predominance and corticohypothalamo medullary inhibition.

BACKGROUND Pranayama is a Yogic technique in which breathing is controlled voluntarily. Aim-To study the effect of yoga exercise ("Pranayama" breathing exercise) and meditation on cardiorespiratory parameters in young healthy volunteers.

Background: To survive in this competitive world, one has to go through a lot of stresses & strains which, in due course of time, reflected in altered physiology of body. One such change is the cardiovascular response to cold stress. Yoga has been reported to be beneficial as a de-stressing technique. Aims & Objective: To investigate whether regular practice of Yoga which includes Suryanamaskar, Pranayama & Meditation for 3 months could reduce the cardio-vascular hyper-reactivity induced by cold stress. Materials and Methods:In the present study, 53 young healthy medical students underwent cold pressor test. 20 turned out to be hyper reactors to this test. These hyper reactors performed Yoga (Suryanamaskar, Pranayama & Meditation) for 3 months and Cold Pressor Test was again performed at the end of this period and cardiovascular hyper-reactivity (parameters are Blood pressure, Pulse rate, and Respiratory rate) before and after yoga compared. Results: Our results showed that 14 out of original 20 hyper reactors (70 %, P<0.001) were converted to hypo reactors. Conclusion: Regular practice of Yoga reduces cardiovascular hyper-reactivity to cold pressor test. If we can spread its benefits and importance to the society we can reduce the risks of many diseases especially those related to stress.

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