Effect of Yoga on pulmonary function tests

Background: Yoga is considered to be a very good exercise for maintaining proper health. The present work was planned to find effects of 10 weeks Yoga practice on some pulmonary function tests. Methods: The present study was conducted on 40 subjects, (30 males and 10 females) who came voluntarily as subjects for the project with written and informed consent. It was a prospective study on healthy volunteers from both sex of age between 20 to 65 years. Various Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs) were measured. Results: Respiratory rate was decreased while Breath Holding Time (BHT) and Maximum Ventilatory Volume (MVV) were found to be increased in both male and female subjects. Conclusions: From this study we conclude that yoga practice can be advocated to improve respiratory efficiency for   healthy individuals as well as an alternative therapy or as adjunct to conventional therapy in respiratory diseases.