388 Sukhsohale and Phatak Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4)

*Corresponding Author : Dr. Neelam. D. Sukhsohale; Ladies Hostel, Room No. 1, Indira Gandhi GovernmentMedical College, Nagpur-18. India; Ph. : 09960390868; Email id: bkdrneelam@gmail.com

SHORT COMMUNICATION

EFFECT OF SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM BRAHMAKUMARISRAJA YOGA MEDITATION ON PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES

NEELAM D. SUKHSOHALE*1 AND MRUNAL S. PHATAK2

Departments of 1Preventive and Social Medicine and 2Physiology,Indira Gandhi Government Medical College,Nagpur, India

( Received on November 1, 2011 )

Abstract : Effect of short-term and long-term Brahmakumaris Raja Yogameditation on physiological variables like heart rate (HR), respiratory rate(RR), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) wasevaluated in 100 subjects practicing Raja Yoga meditation. All 100 subjects(33 men and 67 women) were aged 30 years and above (mean age52.06±12.76 years). Short-term meditators (STM) (n=27) practiced RajaYoga meditation for duration of six months to five years (mean duration3.37±1.67 years) and long-term meditators (LTM) (n=73) practiced RajaYoga meditation for more than five years (mean duration 11.19±5.13 years).The participants were asked to meditate and the physiological variables(HR, RR, SBP and DBP) were recorded twice (15 minutes and 30 minutes)after beginning of meditation. Also, the fasting blood sugar was estimatedby glucometer. The study subjects did not differ significantly in age andvarious anthropometric characteristics such as body weight, body massindex, waist-hip ratio and fasting blood sugar. Comparison between STMand LTM showed that the changes from baseline values (from pre-meditation to post-meditation at 15 and 30 minutes) in LTM were notstatistically significant with those in STM (P>0.05). However, within groupdifferences in LTM revealed that changes in the physiological variableswere statistically significant when compared between pre and post meditationboth at 15 and 30 minutes. The study suggests that the long-term practiceof Raja Yoga meditation improves basic cardio-respiratory functions due toshifting of the autonomic balance in favor of parasympathetic instead ofsympathetic system.

Key words : meditation brahmakumaris raja yoga

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INTRODUCTION

Meditation is a complex phenomenon thatinvolves several coordinated, cognitive

processes and autonomic nervous systemalterations. Meditation as a form of therapymay facilitate positive effect resulting in asense of physical and mental well being in

Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4) Meditation and Physiological Variables 389

and 67 women) in the age group of 30 yearsand above (mean age 52.06±12.76 years)visiting the Brahmakumaris centre andpracticing Raja Yoga meditation at least fora period of six months. The InstitutionalEthics Committee, Directorate of AnnamalaiUniversity Madurai, approved the study. Allstudy subjects aged 30 years and above wereinterviewed in the morning hours (between7 am and 8.30 am) after obtaining theinformed consent from them and detailedhistory regarding demographic profile, socio-economic status, presenting complaints, ifany, past history, personal history as wellas information regarding Raja Yogameditation practice was obtained. Thosesubjects practicing Raja Yoga meditationfrom six months up to five years wereclassified as short-term meditators (STM)(mean duration 3.37±1.67 years) and thosepracticing Raja Yoga meditation for morethan five years were classified as long-termmeditators (LTM) (mean duration 11.19±5.13years). During meditation, subjects sit in acomfortable posture with their eyes open,and with gaze fixed on a meaningful symbol(a light). At the same time, they activelythink positive thoughts about a universalforce pervading all over, as light and peace.The meditators were practicing Raja Yogameditation for one hour every morning (6-7am) at the Brahmakumaris centre. Completeclinical examination, including generaland systemic examinat ion was done.Anthropometric measurements (height,weight , waist c i rcumference and hipcircumference) were recorded. High waist –hip Ratio (WHR) is considered as > 1 formales and > 0.85 for females (7).

Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR),systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic

patients (1). Meditation has entered themainstream of health care as a method ofstress and pain reduction. In the recent yearsthere has been a growing interest withinthe medical community to s tudy thephysiological effects of meditation (2-5).

Raja Yoga meditation as taught in theBrahmakumaris World Spiritual University(also known as Prajapita BrahmakumarisIshwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya) is a behavioralintervention which is simple to practice, asno fixed physical postures are to be adopted.It is an art with scientific, psychological,intellectual and spiritual process, whichenables invis ib le latent powers andcapabil i t ies to emerge from the innerrecesses of heart and mind. It aims atestablishing balance in head, heart and hand.It is the science and art of harmonizingspiritual , mental and physical energythrough the connection with the ultimatesource of spiritual energy, the Supreme Soulfor enjoying ever healthy, ever-wealthy andever-happy life (6).

Regular practice of Raja yoga meditationcauses improvement in physio logicalparameters. The longer the duration ofmeditation, more are the changes. This studywas performed with the objective of assessingthe effect of short term and long termBrahmakumaris Raja Yoga meditation onphysiological variables.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional study was carried outat Brahmakumaris centre in Nagpur city.The study period was from 1st January 2010to 30th June 2010. The present study wascarried out in 100 study subjects (33 men

390 Sukhsohale and Phatak Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4)

blood pressure (DBP) were recorded beforemeditat ion pract ice . The purpose o fexperiment was explained to them in orderto reduce unnecessary anxiety. Then, thesubjects were asked to practice meditationfor 30 minutes and again their HR, RR, SBPand DBP were measured twice at 15 minutesinterval during the practice of meditationi.e. after 15 and 30 minutes. HR and RRwere recorded per minute. BP was measuredby mercury sphygmomanometer in the rightarm in sitting position both before and twiceduring meditation practice. During recordingdue care was taken so as not to disturb thesubjects in their meditation.

In addit ion , fast ing b lood sugarestimation was done using glucometer as perstandards recommended by AmericanDiabetes Association (ADA) (8). Because ofits simplicity and availability, the ADA reportrecommends basing the d iagnosis o fdiabetes mellitus (DM) on the fasting plasmaglucose. Subject was considered as diabeticif he/she was a known case of DM or if his/her fasting- blood sugar was 120 mg/dl ormore (9).

Statistical analysis

Data was analyzed by statistical softwareSTATA version 10.1 (2009). Within groupdifferences in STM and LTM were analyzedby one-way analysis of variance and multiplecomparisons were performed by Bonferronitest. For between group differences, changesfrom baseline values (from pre to postmeditation) were compared between STM andLTM by t test for independent sample.Statistical significance was assessed at a typeI error rate of 0.05.

RESULTS

The mean age of the study subjects inthe two groups i.e. STM and LTM was49.37±11.95 years and 53.05±12.98 years,respectively. The study subjects in the twogroups did not show statistically significantdi f ference in age and anthropometr iccharacteristics such as body weight, bodymass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR) andfasting blood sugar level (FBS) (Table I).

Physiological variables pre and postmeditation between STM and LTM are shownin Table II. Mean HR, RR, SBP and DBPwere found to be lower during post -meditation period (after 30 minutes) ascompared to during meditation period (after15 minutes) and pre-meditation period.Within group differences analysis in STMshowed that none of the physiologicalvariables between pre and post meditationperiod were statistically significant exceptRR, which was found to be significantlylowered during post meditation after 30 minas compared to pre-meditation period.However in case of LTM, the changes in

TABLE I : Age and anthropometry of short-term andlong-term practitioners before practice.

Parameters Short-term Long-term P value

Age (years) 49.37±11.95 53.05±12.98 0.20BW (kg) 60.48±14.69 55.41±11.87 0.07BMI (kg/m2) 23.44±4.28 22.91±4.36 0.58WHR 0.87±0.05 0.86±0.08 0.54FBS 108.66±33.35 112±49.56 0.74

Data are presented as mean±SD.BW: bodyweight; BMI: body mass index; WHR: waist hipratio; FBS: fasting blood sugar. The differencebetween STM and LTM not s tat is t i ca l lysignificant P>0.05 by student’s t test.

Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4) Meditation and Physiological Variables 391

physiological variables between pre and postmeditation period at 30 minutes were foundto be statistically significant (P<0.01).Between groups differences showed that thechanges from baseline values (from pre-meditation to post-meditation at 15 and 30minutes) in LTM were not found to bestatistically significant with the changes frombaseline values in STM (P>0.05).

DISCUSSION

The study emphasizes the effect of shortterm and long term Brahmakumaris RajaYoga meditation on physiological variablesduring meditation as compared to the pre-meditation period. Significant decrease inphysiological variables observed in long termmeditators after meditation indicates a shiftin the balancing components of autonomicnervous system towards the parasympatheticstate.

Sympathetic arousal is expected to bereduced during Raja Yoga pract ice .Hence the load on heart due to sympatheticarousal is also minimized resulting in animprovement in cardiovascular parameters.Similar f indings as in our study wereobserved in 23 subjects by Gupta S et al(10), attributing decline in HR, RR and BPto the reduction in the level of sympatheticarousal. Meditation is believed to gradually

reduce the sympathetic dominance resultingin better balance between sympathetic andparasympathetic. This should bring about ahypometabolic state resulting in decreasedheart rate and blood pressure (11). Thereduction of lactic acid brought about bymeditation as observed by Patel G (11) issupposed to be a sign of tension free andpeaceful state of mind.

Vyas R et al (12) observed that diastolicblood pressure was significantly lower in bothshort and long term meditators of Raja Yogameditation as compared to non-meditators.Lipid profile showed a significant loweringof serum cholesterol in short and long-termmeditators as compared to non-meditators.However contradictory results have beenobserved by Telles S et al (13), who conductedstudy in 18 males with 5-25 years ofmeditation (mean 10.1±6.2) showing thatheart rate during the meditation period wasincreased when compared to the baselineperiod, as well as compared to the valueduring the non-meditation period of controlsessions. No significant change was observedduring meditation, for the group as a whole,in palmar GSR, f inger plethysmogramamplitude and respiratory rate. Hence, asingle model of sympathetic activation oroverall relaxation may be inadequate todescribe the physiological effects of ameditation technique.

TABLE II : Physiological variables Pre and Post-Meditation among Short-term and long-term meditators.

Short term Long termParameters P

Pre-meditation Post-15 min Post-30 min Pre-meditation Post-15 min Post-30 min value

HR 72.22±1.15 73.18±9.30 69.40±6.90 74.71±8.91 71.58±7.65 70.63±7.68***## 0.46RR 18.96±2.19 18.11±2.47 17.22±1.86** 19±3.97 17.72±2.05** 17.41±2.07***## 0.67SBP 122.70±14.38 118.29±15.33 114.59±11.17 124.13±15.18 118.54±13.32 117.06±13.97***## 0.41DBP 82.29±10.44 80±8.32 78.44±7.89 83.20±10.24 80.21±9.73 78.49±9.29**## 0.98

Data are presented as mean±SD. Analysis of data was done by one-way ANOVA and post-hoc by bonferronitest . The * depicts comparison with Group 1 and the # depicts comparison with Group 2 .**P<0.05 , ***P<0.01, ##P>0.05. f – STM Post 30 min vs. LTM Post 30 min by student’s t test.

392 Sukhsohale and Phatak Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2012; 56(4)

Findings of our study suggest that dualmodel exist i.e. quietening of sympatheticsystem and activation of parasympatheticsystem during the meditation practice asindicated by the shift from sympathetic toparasympathetic resulting in decrease inphysiological variables like HR, RR, SBP andDBP. Thus, Meditation by modifying the stateof anxiety reduces the stress inducedsympathetic over activity resulting in alowering of respiratory and cardiovascularvariables. It relaxes the subject and therebydecreases arterial tone and peripheralresistance. This may be another reason fora fall in blood pressure. This implies thatRaja Yoga meditation confers significantbenef i ts in respiratory funct ions ;cardiovascular parameters which continuedto improve further with long-term meditation(12). Moreover, the findings of our study also

show greater and significant decrease inphysiological variables among long-termmeditators, which justifies the fact that long-term meditators have greater parasympatheticcontrol.

Further scientific research on effects ofRaja Yoga meditation on other physiologicalvariables like lipid profile, palmar GSR,f inger plethysmogram amplitude, skinresistance is needed to assess its beneficialeffects. Hence we recommend that Raja Yogameditation should be incorporated as thebasis for an effective behavioral program inthe management of diseases associated withlifestyle modification like hypertension,diabetes, coronary heart disease and cancers.For this, awareness needs to be createdamong masses regarding the positive healthbenefits of meditation.

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