Is Breathing Exercise Can Lower Blood Pressure..?

What’s really scary is that the breathing exercise causes the blood vessels to contract, increasing the blood pressure. That’s like squeezing a tube of toothpaste.

Patients who practiced the breathing exercise showed a significant improvement in their blood pressure, compared to those who didn't do anything. This suggests that taking control of your breathing may be a helpful way to manage your blood pressure, and also shows how a simple breathing exercise could be used on its own as part of a treatment plan for high blood pressure.

"Mind-body interventions incorporating breathing exercises have been shown to have blood pressure-lowering effects," says Dr.

All of the patients received standard medical treatment for their condition, including drugs and advice on lifestyle changes. They were then split into groups and instructed to either practice the breathing exercise, or to ignore their symptoms and wait for their blood pressure to normalize on its own.

After a solid month of practicing their new technique, the volunteers' blood pressure had dropped by an average of 34 mmHg -- a reduction that was twice as large as that experienced by the control group.

And when they turned to the medical equipment, some of the patients also experienced a slight drop in blood pressure simply by using the technique – a claim that is perhaps the most exciting aspect of the study.

At one year, patients who did not use the breathing exercise had 23 mm Hg greater blood pressure than the others. But even more frightening, those who did the craniosacral therapy had a blood pressure that was 41 mm Hg greater than the other group one year later.

In the waiting period group, 4 out of the 25 patients (16%) dropped out, while in the group practicing the breathing exercise 11 out of the 25 dropped out (44%).

In the breathing exercise group, blood pressure reduced to normal levels within seven days for 3 out of the 25 patients (12%), and within 14 days for a further 11 out of the 25 (44%) of patients.

Researchers found that the group that performed the breathing exercise had a significantly lower systolic blood pressure than did the control group. Systolic blood pressure is the first or top number in a blood pressure reading, and it measures the pressure when the heart contracts.

Researchers also noted that there was no significant difference in diastolic pressure, the second or bottom number in a reading, between the two groups. 

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension, found that after six weeks, the group who received the breathing training had lower blood pressure than a group that received traditional medication.

The participants were given breathing exercises that had been shown in earlier research to reduce blood pressure. The exercise was performed for five minutes a day, three times a day. After six weeks, researchers found that patients who completed the breathing technique were able to lower their systolic blood pressure by 6.5 mmHg, compared to only 1.5 mmHg in the control group.

The small, randomized control study involved 80 patients with high blood pressure and then split them into groups. Half the groups attended one hour of meditation training every day for six weeks, and the others were told to continue with their normal lives.

The meditation training involved five-minute breathing exercises taught by recognized breathing coach and founder of Santi Institute, Dr Danny Penman. They were split into two groups: one group was asked to perform the five-minute breathing technique, while the second group received no intervention. The study found that the patients who did the breathing technique lowered their blood pressure and remained consistently lower throughout the six weeks. The study also found that the patients who did the breathing technique had a 26% lower chance of suffering a heart attack, stroke, or death.