What’s This Research About?
Can yoga serve as a primary intervention to impact the risk factors that lead to cardiovascular disease (CVD)?
According to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 25% of all U.S. deaths are due to heart disease. Worldwide, the percentage of heart disease deaths is 30%, killing approximately 17 million people per year.
Decreasing the risk factors leading to CVD has the potential to prevent CVD, reduce the number of deaths, and lower surmounting healthcare costs. In 2013 the CDC released a report stating that 80% percent of heart disease is preventable. We can impact 500,000 lives in the U.S. alone by addressing the risk factors and lifestyle choices that contribute to this disease.
The risk factors contributing to CVD include high blood pressure, lipid levels, smoking, poor diet, and physical inactivity. As a primary intervention, managing these factors can reduce occurrence of the disease before it starts.
TITLE: Yoga for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease
PUBLICATION: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
DATE: 2014
AUTHORS : Hartley, L, Dyakova, M., Holmes, J., Clarke, A., Soo Lee, M.,
Ernst, E., Rees, K.
Cardiovascular disease: Conditions that involve narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to a heart attack, chest pain (angina) or stroke. Other heart conditions, such as those that affect your heart’s muscle, valves or rhythm, also are considered forms of heart disease. The most common type of heart disease in the United States is coronary artery disease, which affects the blood flow to the heart.
Primary prevention: Health interventions that are implemented before there is presence of a disease
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