Cardiovascular
‘Yoga can play a salutary role in both primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD)’
Nov
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Dr Indranill Basu Ray, interventional cardiac electrophysiologist, a professor of cardiology and public health and founder-chairman of the American Academy of Yoga in Medicine spoke to ETHealthworld’s Prathiba Raju on how yoga has been found to play a salutary role in both primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD). Elucidated that stress-induced aberrant pathology leads to heart disease and yoga may reverse it to return the body to normal and build a harmonious equilibrium.
Can you explain how meditation can help manage heart disease? Why do you think that physicians should incorporate meditation into heart disease management?
Modern research in the frontiers of medicine has revealed that the stress of daily life causes inflammation in our blood vessels, which is the root cause of heart disease. The heart, brain, and kidneys are among the essential organs that receive nourishment from blood vessels. These blood vessels become inflamed, leading to blockages, producing heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. Extensive research using PET Scans and functional MRI has shown that meditation reduces stress. Not only that, it can modify the brain’s functioning by a process called Neuroplasticity that helps to root out stress, anxiety, and depression. However, this fact can also be subjectively experienced by anyone who cares to understand its potential power and learn it to sit and meditate.
The stress-related NCDs are the most significant challenges to health around the world. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), being the leading cause of mortality, account for 30 per cent of deaths and create a substantial burden of illness as well. CVDs kill twice as many people as cancer, the second most common killer. It is also known that mental diseases are becoming an epidemic, and many mental disorders like Depression, if they exist as a comorbid condition, increase mortality.
Yoga and meditation are safe, inexpensive adjunctive approaches to treating cardiovascular disease that can help address this public health crisis. Yoga, unfortunately, is enmeshed in a maze of non-scientific discussions, philosophical arguments, and uninvited wrangling by individuals with little scientific training despite its widespread appeal. Practitioners who become “posture experts” and profess to be knowledgeable about Yoga but are entirely cut off from the scientific basis of the practice contribute to this state of affairs. So, physicians being scientific, due to the nature of their profession, can bring a paradigm shift in how both medicine and Yoga are perceived, integrated, and applied. India has become the capital of diabetes and thus is expected to have the largest number of cardiovascular deaths in the coming decades. This can be prevented if taken up as a public health policy to integrate with modern medicine.
Why do you think mindfulness and meditation practices are appropriate for patients with coronary artery disease?
In the past few decades, clinical and bench research on genetics and epigenetics have found scientific proof of Yoga’s effects. It’s clear how stress-induced aberrant pathology leads to heart disease and how Yoga may reverse it to return the body to normal and build a harmonious equilibrium. Yoga has been found to play a salutary role in both primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD).
The ability of yoga to attenuate the disastrous effect of stress on the body is one of its most apparent cardiovascular benefits. The cascade of physiological reactions, such as releasing dangerous chemicals that narrow blood vessels and raise blood pressure, make the heart go fast, and induce atherosclerosis, can be brought on by emotional stress. All these are blocked by the practice of Yoga, which includes meditation and not just physical exercise. Moreover, it also causes changes in lifestyle in the practitioner, which has long-standing ramifications to not only keep people healthy but may also help reduce aging.
What type of feedback are you getting from your patients who have been encouraged to add meditation to their treatment plan?
Multiple studies on patient-based research have shown that integrated or separate approaches of yoga techniques (Yamas and Niyams, yogic diet, kriya, suryanamaskar, asana, pranayama, bandha, mudra, dharana, and dhyana) can improve quality of life, reduce the risk of cardiac events. However, meditation as part of the treatment plan has not been realized optimally. That is the main reason why the American Academy for Yoga in Medicine has introduced various research-backed courses on the role of yoga, both in preventive and treatment aspects of medicine, for clinicians, medical and yoga students, patients, and ordinary people also, to spread the awareness in this regard.
Is there a dearth of electrophysiologists in our country? What do you think should be done to close the gap? Do you think the scope for electrophysiology has widened in India with more hospitals coming in tier II and III cities?
Almost up to 50 per cent of cardiac problems are treated by an Electrophysiologist. However, being the youngest branch of cardiology, it comes with many technological innovations. Thus, dedicated training at centers that can do these latest procedures is needed. India has been developing the capacity to provide these services with more and more people getting trained. Given India’s large population, having at least a state-of-the-art center in all the big and medium-sized cities is vital. The quality of training for these physicians is also essential. Another problem is the cost of therapy. Some of the newer devices like CRT-p, CRT-d, or CCM need lakhs of rupees, which many middle-class families cannot afford, and thus, we need an excellent medical insurance system that will pay for these.
From your work exploring yoga and heart disease management and outcome improvement, what are the top three things clinicians can do to help predict or prevent CVD?
First and foremost, it is essential to explain to the patient that things like Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (CABG) and stenting do not cure Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) but provide symptomatic relief. They have to change their lifestyle, which includes doing Yoga or any other cardiovascular exercise, practicing mindfulness and meditation, and having the proper diet to prevent more stenting or repeat CABG. Aggressively discovering and treating patients with other comorbid conditions like Depression is mandatory. Most diabetics die due to heart disease. Again, diabetes is controlled with drugs but cannot be cured with it. An aggressive lifestyle change, including a plant-based diet and Yoga, is mandated. There is a large volume of studies, including good and robust clinical trials, on how Yoga is effective, and that needs to be learned and read by modern-day physicians and not get enamored by modern-day technology only, which does save a life but more can be done with an integrated approach, particularly at a much lesser and affordable cost.
Since the practice of yoga therapy is a clinical science, we have come up with “The Principle and Practice of Yoga in Cardiovascular Medicine,” the world’s first textbook covering the role of Yoga in CVDs. It details the epidemiology, physiology, pathology, prevention, and management of cardiovascular diseases based on the current scientific understanding of Yoga. Seventy-five experts from four continents, including the most notable names, contributed to this work to create the world’s first comprehensive reference literature on Yoga in cardiovascular medicine. The chapters cover information related to Yoga, both as prevention and therapy, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, and arrhythmias. In addition, critical cardiovascular topics like obesity and diabetes mellitus are also included.
What do you anticipate will be the most significant challenges or barriers to improving cardiovascular health using digital innovations in the future?
Since the field of digital health is dynamic and constantly changing, new methods are needed to evaluate the usefulness and efficacy of these cutting-edge technologies. Despite the enormous potential that digital health holds to enhance CVD prevention and care, the application of digital health technologies has received little solid scientific backing up to this point in terms of lowering the burden of diseases. One-third of all fatalities in America each year—over 877,500—are caused by CVD. Additionally, these illnesses have a financial impact of $216 billion annually on our healthcare system and $147 billion in lost productivity. While top physicians, policymakers, and public health experts helplessly stared at such figures that suggested an utter failure of modern medicine in treating chronic diseases, the prevalence of the disease has not significantly decreased despite significant technological advancements with modern technologies, interventions, and medications. Therefore, people must realize that digital innovations are important yet secondary to Yoga-induced healthy lifestyle modification and remarkable mind transformation.
Digital Innovations can be of tremendous help in predictive medicine. Thus, if we can predict a heart attack, it can be treated with medications, and stents may not be required. Over 400000 Americans die of what is known as sudden cardiac death. The number of such deaths in India is similar. If these can be predicted, that would save lives. Efforts are being made to reach this goal, but we still need to arrive. There will likely be many such initiatives in India’s start-up space. Large companies like Apple and Google have entered this space with huge budgets, so we can expect things to be moving fast.
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Multiple studies on patient-based research have shown that integrated or separate approaches of yoga techniques can improve quality of life, and reduce the risk of cardiac events. However, meditation as part of the treatment plan has not been realized optimally. Yoga and meditation are safe, inexpensive adjunctive approaches to treating cardiovascular disease that can help address this public health crisis, informs Dr Indranill Basu Ray, interventional cardiac electrophysiologist
Dr Indranill Basu Ray, interventional cardiac electrophysiologist, a professor of cardiology and public health and founder-chairman of the American Academy of Yoga in Medicine spoke to ETHealthworld’s Prathiba Raju on how yoga has been found to play a salutary role in both primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD). Elucidated that stress-induced aberrant pathology leads to heart disease and yoga may reverse it to return the body to normal and build a harmonious equilibrium.
Can you explain how meditation can help manage heart disease? Why do you think that physicians should incorporate meditation into heart disease management?
Modern research in the frontiers of medicine has revealed that the stress of daily life causes inflammation in our blood vessels, which is the root cause of heart disease. The heart, brain, and kidneys are among the essential organs that receive nourishment from blood vessels. These blood vessels become inflamed, leading to blockages, producing heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. Extensive research using PET Scans and functional MRI has shown that meditation reduces stress. Not only that, it can modify the brain’s functioning by a process called Neuroplasticity that helps to root out stress, anxiety, and depression. However, this fact can also be subjectively experienced by anyone who cares to understand its potential power and learn it to sit and meditate.
The stress-related NCDs are the most significant challenges to health around the world. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), being the leading cause of mortality, account for 30 per cent of deaths and create a substantial burden of illness as well. CVDs kill twice as many people as cancer, the second most common killer. It is also known that mental diseases are becoming an epidemic, and many mental disorders like Depression, if they exist as a comorbid condition, increase mortality.
Yoga and meditation are safe, inexpensive adjunctive approaches to treating cardiovascular disease that can help address this public health crisis. Yoga, unfortunately, is enmeshed in a maze of non-scientific discussions, philosophical arguments, and uninvited wrangling by individuals with little scientific training despite its widespread appeal. Practitioners who become “posture experts” and profess to be knowledgeable about Yoga but are entirely cut off from the scientific basis of the practice contribute to this state of affairs. So, physicians being scientific, due to the nature of their profession, can bring a paradigm shift in how both medicine and Yoga are perceived, integrated, and applied. India has become the capital of diabetes and thus is expected to have the largest number of cardiovascular deaths in the coming decades. This can be prevented if taken up as a public health policy to integrate with modern medicine.
Why do you think mindfulness and meditation practices are appropriate for patients with coronary artery disease?
In the past few decades, clinical and bench research on genetics and epigenetics have found scientific proof of Yoga’s effects. It’s clear how stress-induced aberrant pathology leads to heart disease and how Yoga may reverse it to return the body to normal and build a harmonious equilibrium. Yoga has been found to play a salutary role in both primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD).
The ability of yoga to attenuate the disastrous effect of stress on the body is one of its most apparent cardiovascular benefits. The cascade of physiological reactions, such as releasing dangerous chemicals that narrow blood vessels and raise blood pressure, make the heart go fast, and induce atherosclerosis, can be brought on by emotional stress. All these are blocked by the practice of Yoga, which includes meditation and not just physical exercise. Moreover, it also causes changes in lifestyle in the practitioner, which has long-standing ramifications to not only keep people healthy but may also help reduce aging.
What type of feedback are you getting from your patients who have been encouraged to add meditation to their treatment plan?
Multiple studies on patient-based research have shown that integrated or separate approaches of yoga techniques (Yamas and Niyams, yogic diet, kriya, suryanamaskar, asana, pranayama, bandha, mudra, dharana, and dhyana) can improve quality of life, reduce the risk of cardiac events. However, meditation as part of the treatment plan has not been realized optimally. That is the main reason why the American Academy for Yoga in Medicine has introduced various research-backed courses on the role of yoga, both in preventive and treatment aspects of medicine, for clinicians, medical and yoga students, patients, and ordinary people also, to spread the awareness in this regard.
Is there a dearth of electrophysiologists in our country? What do you think should be done to close the gap? Do you think the scope for electrophysiology has widened in India with more hospitals coming in tier II and III cities?
Almost up to 50 per cent of cardiac problems are treated by an Electrophysiologist. However, being the youngest branch of cardiology, it comes with many technological innovations. Thus, dedicated training at centers that can do these latest procedures is needed. India has been developing the capacity to provide these services with more and more people getting trained. Given India’s large population, having at least a state-of-the-art center in all the big and medium-sized cities is vital. The quality of training for these physicians is also essential. Another problem is the cost of therapy. Some of the newer devices like CRT-p, CRT-d, or CCM need lakhs of rupees, which many middle-class families cannot afford, and thus, we need an excellent medical insurance system that will pay for these.
From your work exploring yoga and heart disease management and outcome improvement, what are the top three things clinicians can do to help predict or prevent CVD?
First and foremost, it is essential to explain to the patient that things like Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (CABG) and stenting do not cure Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) but provide symptomatic relief. They have to change their lifestyle, which includes doing Yoga or any other cardiovascular exercise, practicing mindfulness and meditation, and having the proper diet to prevent more stenting or repeat CABG. Aggressively discovering and treating patients with other comorbid conditions like Depression is mandatory. Most diabetics die due to heart disease. Again, diabetes is controlled with drugs but cannot be cured with it. An aggressive lifestyle change, including a plant-based diet and Yoga, is mandated. There is a large volume of studies, including good and robust clinical trials, on how Yoga is effective, and that needs to be learned and read by modern-day physicians and not get enamored by modern-day technology only, which does save a life but more can be done with an integrated approach, particularly at a much lesser and affordable cost.
Since the practice of yoga therapy is a clinical science, we have come up with “The Principle and Practice of Yoga in Cardiovascular Medicine,” the world’s first textbook covering the role of Yoga in CVDs. It details the epidemiology, physiology, pathology, prevention, and management of cardiovascular diseases based on the current scientific understanding of Yoga. Seventy-five experts from four continents, including the most notable names, contributed to this work to create the world’s first comprehensive reference literature on Yoga in cardiovascular medicine. The chapters cover information related to Yoga, both as prevention and therapy, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, and arrhythmias. In addition, critical cardiovascular topics like obesity and diabetes mellitus are also included.
What do you anticipate will be the most significant challenges or barriers to improving cardiovascular health using digital innovations in the future?
Since the field of digital health is dynamic and constantly changing, new methods are needed to evaluate the usefulness and efficacy of these cutting-edge technologies. Despite the enormous potential that digital health holds to enhance CVD prevention and care, the application of digital health technologies has received little solid scientific backing up to this point in terms of lowering the burden of diseases. One-third of all fatalities in America each year—over 877,500—are caused by CVD. Additionally, these illnesses have a financial impact of $216 billion annually on our healthcare system and $147 billion in lost productivity. While top physicians, policymakers, and public health experts helplessly stared at such figures that suggested an utter failure of modern medicine in treating chronic diseases, the prevalence of the disease has not significantly decreased despite significant technological advancements with modern technologies, interventions, and medications. Therefore, people must realize that digital innovations are important yet secondary to Yoga-induced healthy lifestyle modification and remarkable mind transformation.
Digital Innovations can be of tremendous help in predictive medicine. Thus, if we can predict a heart attack, it can be treated with medications, and stents may not be required. Over 400000 Americans die of what is known as sudden cardiac death. The number of such deaths in India is similar. If these can be predicted, that would save lives. Efforts are being made to reach this goal, but we still need to arrive. There will likely be many such initiatives in India’s start-up space. Large companies like Apple and Google have entered this space with huge budgets, so we can expect things to be moving fast.
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Dr Indranill Basu Ray, interventional cardiac electrophysiologist, a professor of cardiology and public health and founder-chairman of the American Academy of Yoga in Medicine spoke to ETHealthworld’s Prathiba Raju on how yoga has been found to play a salutary role in both primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD). Elucidated that stress-induced aberrant pathology leads to heart disease and yoga may reverse it to return the body to normal and build a harmonious equilibrium.
Can you explain how meditation can help manage heart disease? Why do you think that physicians should incorporate meditation into heart disease management?
Modern research in the frontiers of medicine has revealed that the stress of daily life causes inflammation in our blood vessels, which is the root cause of heart disease. The heart, brain, and kidneys are among the essential organs that receive nourishment from blood vessels. These blood vessels become inflamed, leading to blockages, producing heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure. Extensive research using PET Scans and functional MRI has shown that meditation reduces stress. Not only that, it can modify the brain’s functioning by a process called Neuroplasticity that helps to root out stress, anxiety, and depression. However, this fact can also be subjectively experienced by anyone who cares to understand its potential power and learn it to sit and meditate.
The stress-related NCDs are the most significant challenges to health around the world. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), being the leading cause of mortality, account for 30 per cent of deaths and create a substantial burden of illness as well. CVDs kill twice as many people as cancer, the second most common killer. It is also known that mental diseases are becoming an epidemic, and many mental disorders like Depression, if they exist as a comorbid condition, increase mortality.
Yoga and meditation are safe, inexpensive adjunctive approaches to treating cardiovascular disease that can help address this public health crisis. Yoga, unfortunately, is enmeshed in a maze of non-scientific discussions, philosophical arguments, and uninvited wrangling by individuals with little scientific training despite its widespread appeal. Practitioners who become “posture experts” and profess to be knowledgeable about Yoga but are entirely cut off from the scientific basis of the practice contribute to this state of affairs. So, physicians being scientific, due to the nature of their profession, can bring a paradigm shift in how both medicine and Yoga are perceived, integrated, and applied. India has become the capital of diabetes and thus is expected to have the largest number of cardiovascular deaths in the coming decades. This can be prevented if taken up as a public health policy to integrate with modern medicine.
Why do you think mindfulness and meditation practices are appropriate for patients with coronary artery disease?
In the past few decades, clinical and bench research on genetics and epigenetics have found scientific proof of Yoga’s effects. It’s clear how stress-induced aberrant pathology leads to heart disease and how Yoga may reverse it to return the body to normal and build a harmonious equilibrium. Yoga has been found to play a salutary role in both primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD).
The ability of yoga to attenuate the disastrous effect of stress on the body is one of its most apparent cardiovascular benefits. The cascade of physiological reactions, such as releasing dangerous chemicals that narrow blood vessels and raise blood pressure, make the heart go fast, and induce atherosclerosis, can be brought on by emotional stress. All these are blocked by the practice of Yoga, which includes meditation and not just physical exercise. Moreover, it also causes changes in lifestyle in the practitioner, which has long-standing ramifications to not only keep people healthy but may also help reduce aging.
What type of feedback are you getting from your patients who have been encouraged to add meditation to their treatment plan?
Multiple studies on patient-based research have shown that integrated or separate approaches of yoga techniques (Yamas and Niyams, yogic diet, kriya, suryanamaskar, asana, pranayama, bandha, mudra, dharana, and dhyana) can improve quality of life, reduce the risk of cardiac events. However, meditation as part of the treatment plan has not been realized optimally. That is the main reason why the American Academy for Yoga in Medicine has introduced various research-backed courses on the role of yoga, both in preventive and treatment aspects of medicine, for clinicians, medical and yoga students, patients, and ordinary people also, to spread the awareness in this regard.
Is there a dearth of electrophysiologists in our country? What do you think should be done to close the gap? Do you think the scope for electrophysiology has widened in India with more hospitals coming in tier II and III cities?
Almost up to 50 per cent of cardiac problems are treated by an Electrophysiologist. However, being the youngest branch of cardiology, it comes with many technological innovations. Thus, dedicated training at centers that can do these latest procedures is needed. India has been developing the capacity to provide these services with more and more people getting trained. Given India’s large population, having at least a state-of-the-art center in all the big and medium-sized cities is vital. The quality of training for these physicians is also essential. Another problem is the cost of therapy. Some of the newer devices like CRT-p, CRT-d, or CCM need lakhs of rupees, which many middle-class families cannot afford, and thus, we need an excellent medical insurance system that will pay for these.
From your work exploring yoga and heart disease management and outcome improvement, what are the top three things clinicians can do to help predict or prevent CVD?
First and foremost, it is essential to explain to the patient that things like Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (CABG) and stenting do not cure Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) but provide symptomatic relief. They have to change their lifestyle, which includes doing Yoga or any other cardiovascular exercise, practicing mindfulness and meditation, and having the proper diet to prevent more stenting or repeat CABG. Aggressively discovering and treating patients with other comorbid conditions like Depression is mandatory. Most diabetics die due to heart disease. Again, diabetes is controlled with drugs but cannot be cured with it. An aggressive lifestyle change, including a plant-based diet and Yoga, is mandated. There is a large volume of studies, including good and robust clinical trials, on how Yoga is effective, and that needs to be learned and read by modern-day physicians and not get enamored by modern-day technology only, which does save a life but more can be done with an integrated approach, particularly at a much lesser and affordable cost.
Since the practice of yoga therapy is a clinical science, we have come up with “The Principle and Practice of Yoga in Cardiovascular Medicine,” the world’s first textbook covering the role of Yoga in CVDs. It details the epidemiology, physiology, pathology, prevention, and management of cardiovascular diseases based on the current scientific understanding of Yoga. Seventy-five experts from four continents, including the most notable names, contributed to this work to create the world’s first comprehensive reference literature on Yoga in cardiovascular medicine. The chapters cover information related to Yoga, both as prevention and therapy, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, and arrhythmias. In addition, critical cardiovascular topics like obesity and diabetes mellitus are also included.
What do you anticipate will be the most significant challenges or barriers to improving cardiovascular health using digital innovations in the future?
Since the field of digital health is dynamic and constantly changing, new methods are needed to evaluate the usefulness and efficacy of these cutting-edge technologies. Despite the enormous potential that digital health holds to enhance CVD prevention and care, the application of digital health technologies has received little solid scientific backing up to this point in terms of lowering the burden of diseases. One-third of all fatalities in America each year—over 877,500—are caused by CVD. Additionally, these illnesses have a financial impact of $216 billion annually on our healthcare system and $147 billion in lost productivity. While top physicians, policymakers, and public health experts helplessly stared at such figures that suggested an utter failure of modern medicine in treating chronic diseases, the prevalence of the disease has not significantly decreased despite significant technological advancements with modern technologies, interventions, and medications. Therefore, people must realize that digital innovations are important yet secondary to Yoga-induced healthy lifestyle modification and remarkable mind transformation.
Digital Innovations can be of tremendous help in predictive medicine. Thus, if we can predict a heart attack, it can be treated with medications, and stents may not be required. Over 400000 Americans die of what is known as sudden cardiac death. The number of such deaths in India is similar. If these can be predicted, that would save lives. Efforts are being made to reach this goal, but we still need to arrive. There will likely be many such initiatives in India’s start-up space. Large companies like Apple and Google have entered this space with huge budgets, so we can expect things to be moving fast.
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