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resistance of all the systems that are required to defend the body from extraneous factors.
Numerous other studies on pranayama have established that the practices reduce stress and hypertension, normalize blood pressure (both high and low), alleviate heart disease, increase vitality and lung capacity, and balance the relationship between the brain hemispheres. It has also been found that pranayama results in a synchronous flow of alpha, delta and theta waves, which harmonizes brain and heart activity.
Pranayama practices combined with asanas and/or relaxation practices have produced significant, and in some cases remarkable, improvements in chronic diseases in controlled experiments. Heart disease2 and hypertension3 have received the most attention. There have also been significant results for chronic lung disease*.
The stress reduction benefits of slow, deep, diaphragmatic breathing suggest that pranayama practices are a valuable component of integrated treatment programs. A study by A. L. Scopp found that treatment with both yogic breathing practices and a physical relaxation procedure produced significantly lower state and trait anxiety than either the breathing or relaxation treatments alone.
Research on nadi shodhana
Nadi shodhana pranayama is one of the most important practices in yoga. In 2002, the Yoga Research Foundation (YRF), Munger, India, undertook a research project to study some of the basic psycho-physiological effects of nadi shodhana pranayama on healthy subjects. Twenty-two resident students of BSY in the age group of 19 to 62 years were studied for a period of six months. The students practised nadi shodhana with the ratio of 1:1 (count of 10:10) and then 1:2 (count of 10:20), doing ten rounds daily. The parameters of the research were: performance speed in repetitive mathematical task, breath holding time (BHT), peak expiratory flow, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate, effects on swara and pranic experiences.
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