“When you live life well you give yourself the opportunity to have the best quality of life. The journey to wellness begins with information from credible sources to help you make informed decisions about your healthcare. “ – Bernadette Davis
Bernadette Davis earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Media Communications from Oral Roberts University. Davis says she is happy for the opportunity to utilize her degree in Communications to help people get excited about living well. “I believe we are here to serve others in our own unique way, so if I can encourage someone to get started on their road to wellness, my day is complete.”
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Live Life Well - Cardiac Rehabilitation and Yoga
Posted February 2024 | By Bernadette Davis
The results from a study conducted by the Yoga Journal and Yoga Alliance, shows that over 30 million Americans use yoga to maintain their overall health and well-being. And now it’s not uncommon to read about the physical and mental health practice in health articles, scientific journals and medical studies, as health professionals look for new ways to help patients recover from surgery or other health related injuries.
A recent Harvard Health article, “Yoga-based Cardiac Rehabilitation: A Promising Practice,” suggests yoga would be helpful to heart patients ,and health professionals like Physical Therapist, Kushboo Kabra, say patients who’ve suffered a heart event, get the maximum benefit from yoga by adding the mind-body practice to their physical therapy routine. “The maximum effect that we notice is controlling and maintaining the blood pressure and aiding the relaxation of the stressed heart muscles and once the muscles are relaxed they work more efficiently.”
Kabra says yoga breathing techniques are used to help lower high blood pressure which tops the list of risk factors for a number of diseases and health problems that affect millions of Americans every year. She also says the breathing exercises help stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system or the bodies rest and digestive system.
The physical therapist also mentioned that mind-body breathing exercises are very helpful for cardiac patients during rehab. “It’s very interesting how the breath is related with your blood pressure and your heart rate; and the yogic breathing works on increasing the parasympathetic activity, it helps control the heart by training the mind and the breath, it also helps with the activity tolerance, increases the energy levels improves fatigue and regaining the muscular flexibility, the thoracic cage flexibility and strength which may have been compromised in the cardiac patient.”
The health professional says the benefits of yoga based cardiac treatments continue long after patients complete their physical therapy. “For me as a physical therapist, physical therapy is an art and a science of treating the body while yoga and yogic practices connect the mind with the body; the more we learn about these benefits and seemingly different approaches of health, the more we realize that the combination of the two goes just beyond healing of a patient.”
sources:
https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/sports-medicine/team/physical-therapists/khushboo-kabra
https://www.yogaalliance.org/Get_Involved/Media_Inquiries/2016_Yoga_in_America_Study_Conducted_by_Yoga_Journal_and_Yoga_Alliance_Reveals_Growth_and_Benefits_of_the_Practice
https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/yoga-based-cardiac-rehabilitation-a-promising-practice
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