International Yoga Day celebrated at DMC&H

Ludhiana, June 21, 2023: On the occasion of International Yoga Day, the Department of Yoga at DMC&H held workshops at two locations: Hero DMC Heart Institute and DMC&H College Campus.

Bipin Gupta, Secretary of DMC&H Managing Society, Mukesh Verma, Treasurer of DMC&H Managing Society, Dr GS Wander, Vice Principal, DMC&H, Dr Bishav Mohan, Medical Suptd, Hero DMC Heart Institute, Dr Sanjeev Rawat, Head, Dept of Yoga, and others were present on the occasion.

 Several yoga demonstrations were presented which could be beneficial to heart disease patients and their attendants who may suffer from stress or other chronic conditions. The Yoga class was enthusiastically attended by patient attendants and DM&H employees.

Yoga is an ancient Indian system of philosophy. The seven major branches of yoga, Hatha yoga, which itself includes many different styles, is probably the most commonly recognised which covers most elements of a comprehensive CR programme: improved physical fitness, nutritional counselling, co-morbidity management such as weight management, blood pressure management, lipid management, diabetes management, lifestyle changes such as stress reduction and tobacco cessation

According to Bipin Gupta, Secretary DMC&H, Yoga is a part of Indian culture and tradition, and we must incorporate its lessons into our life. Yoga has received international reputation as a reliable strategy to keep a healthy life, particularly for cardiac patients, where it may assist in rehabilitation and raise the odds of chronic patients' lifespan.

Dr G S Wander, Vice Principal, DMC&H, said that the continuous efforts of the Dept of Yoga at DMC&H has been striving for quality patient rehab facilities.

Dr Bishav Mohan elaborated about several researches done on the benefit of yoga on patients suffering from chronic illness including Obstructive Sleep Apnea in collaboration with AIIMS and cardiovascular diseases.

Dr Bishav Mohan, Medical Supdt and Cardiologist, Hero DMC Heart Institute has also been a part of a study as a co- investigator, titled “Effectiveness of Yoga based Cardiac Rehabilitation (Yoga-CaRe) in Heart” funded by the Task Force Project under Non Communicable Disease (NCD) Division, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India. The trial demonstrated that the Yoga-CaRe programme is safe and may improve quality of life and return to pre-infarct activities.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death and disability in the developed world. While primary prevention for CVD remains a priority in the long term, the vital need for effective secondary prevention interventions, aimed at improving both the survival and the quality of life of those affected needs to be emphasized.

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is the process of restoring desirable levels of physical, social, and psychological functioning after the onset of cardiovascular illness. CR Programme aims at optimising patient’s functioning, enhancing quality of life, and also minimising the risk of recurrent cardiac events

In the Yoga-CaRe programme, 20 supervised sessions spread over a period of three months were scheduled on a twice a week basis for the first seven weeks and once a week between 8 to 13 weeks. The control group also received enhanced usual care along with three educational advice sessions. After the duration of 14 weeks they were encouraged to do Self-practice with audio and/or visual material at home.

Exercise based cardiac rehabilitation programmes are beneficial in reducing the mortality and hospitalisations in patients diagnosed with heart failure. A recent Cochrane review reported that exercise based cardiac rehabilitation programmes reduced overall hospitalisation, heart failure specific hospitalisation and a trend in reduction in mortality in trials with more than 1 year follow-up. Also, exercise based cardiac rehabilitation programmes provide improvements in quality of life, as assessed by Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire (MLHFW) and functional capacity.

Exercise based cardiac rehabilitation programmes are recommended for patients with heart failure by several professional organisations such as American Heart Association (AHA), European Society of Cardiology (ESC), National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Sports Medicine Australia

Yoga in cardiovascular diseases: four studies have been conducted in the developed nations which has evaluated the effects of yoga based multimodal intervention programs on cardiac patients. These studies tested the effects of multimodal intervention including yoga, lifestyle intervention, dietary advice and physical activity in patients with coronary artery disease.
Other trials evaluating yoga as a physical practice comprising one or more components such as postures, breathing practices, relaxation and meditation have reported cardiovascular benefits of yoga in a range of cardiovascular outcomes

It was estimated that there may be around 1.3 to 23 million people with heart failure in India in the year 2010. While the exact prevalence in India is not known, it is likely to be higher given the high burden of CVD risk factors like hypertension (over 200 million) and diabetes (over 7 million).
Three studies have been conducted in India which has evaluated the effects of yoga based multimodal intervention on cardiac patients. The trials reported improvements with yoga-based cardiac rehabilitation for a range of outcomes, including need for revascularization, self-rated health, cardiovascular risk factors, cardiovascular structure and function including regression of atherosclerosis and psychosocial functioning.
 

Other trials evaluating yoga as a physical practice comprising one or more components such as postures, breathing practices, relaxation and meditation have reported cardiovascular benefits of yoga in a range of cardiovascular outcomes. To the best of our knowledge there is only one trial of yoga in heart failure. This trial reported that yoga practice was associated with improvement in cardiac function, reduced myocardial stress and sympathetic activity.
 

DMC&H is continuously striving to provide best health care through research, treatment and rehab for patients and aid towards their attendants, so that the road towards recovery is a holistic one.