Cardiovascular and metabolic effects of intensive Hatha Yoga training in middle-aged and older women from northern Mexico.
BACKGROUND
Hatha Yoga (HY) can be an alternative to improve physical activity in middle-aged and older women. However, conventional HY (CHY) exercising may not result in enough training stimulus to improve cardiovascular fitness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of an intensive HY intervention (IHY) on cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged and older women from Northern Mexico.


METHODS
In this prospective quasiexperimental design, four middle-aged and nine older CHY practicing females (yoginis) were enrolled into an 11-week IHY program consisting of 5 sessions/week for 90 min (55 sessions). The program adherence, asana performance, and work intensity were assessed along the intervention. Anthropometric [body mass index (BMI), % body fat and Σ skin folds], cardiovascular fitness [maximal expired air volume (VE(max)), maximal O(2) consumption (VO(2max)), maximal heart rate (HR(max)), systolic (BPs) and diastolic blood pressure (BPd)], biochemical [glucose, triacylglycerols (TAG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)], and dietary parameters were evaluated before and after IHY.


RESULTS
Daily caloric intake (~1,916 kcal/day), program adherence (~85%), and exercising skills (asana performance) were similar in both middle-aged and older women. The IHY program did not modify any anthropometric measurements. However, it increased VO(2max) and VE(max) and HDL-C while TAG and LDL-C remained stable in both middle-aged and older groups (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
The proposed IHY program improves different cardiovascular risk factors (namely VO(2max) and HDL-C) in middle-aged and older women.
Ramos-Jiménez
Arnulfo
A
Departments of Basic Sciences, Biomedical Sciences Institute, Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez, Av. Hermanos Escobar y Plutarco Elías Calles s/n, Cd. Juárez Chih, Mexico.
Hernández-Torres
Rosa P
RP
Wall-Medrano
Abraham
A
Muñoz-Daw
María Dj
MDj
Torres-Durán
Patricia V
PV
Juárez-Oropeza
Marco A
MA