Effect of Nadi Shodhana Pranayama Exercise on Blood Pressure and Anxiety among Preoperative Patients

Abstract

Background: Surgery is often the only therapy that can alleviate disabilities and reduce the risk of death from common conditions.Anxiety is a common phenomenon among hospitalized patients awaiting any surgical procedure. Preoperative anxiety is known to increase patient's release of catecholamines, resulting in an increase in blood pressure. Therefore, aim of this study: is to examine the effect of Nadi shodhana pranayama exercise on blood pressure and anxiety among preoperative patients.Subjects and method: Quasi experimental design was utilized at surgical departments at Mansoura University Hospital throughout six months. Purposive sample of (100) preoperative patients was divided into two groups with equal size. Tools: Three tools were used to collect data and achieve aim of study as follows: Tool I: Structured interviewing questionnaire, tool II: Beck Anxiety Inventory scale and tool III: Clinical assessment (mercury blood pressure measurement). Results: showed that there was statistically significant reduction in median of overall anxiety scores among study group (16.0%) after practicing Nadi Shodhana pranayama exercise compared to control group (22.0%) as (P ≤ 0.01) and showed that there was statistically improvement in measurements of blood pressure among study group after practicing Nadi Shodhana pranayama exercise as (P =0.002**). The study concluded; practicing of Nadi shodhana pranayama exercise has positive effect on decrease level of anxiety and regulate blood pressure among preoperative patients. The study recommends; patients undergoing surgical operations should be encouraged to practice exercise of Nadi Shodhana pranayama, and this can be helped by providing them with illustrated, colored and simplified booklet.