DOI: 10.18410/jebmh/2015/689 ORIGINAL ARTICLE J of Evidence Based Med & Hlthcare, pISSN- 2349-2562, eISSN- 2349-2570/ Vol. 2/Issue 33/Aug. 17, 2015 Page 4925 EFFECTS OF INTEGRATED APPROACH OF YOGA (IAY) ON ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION Debasish Das 1 , Rajesh Manik 2 , Rajendra Gartia 3 HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Debasish Das, Rajesh Manik, Rajendra Gartia. ” Effects of Integrated Approach of Yoga (IAY) on Essential Hypertension”. Journal of Evidence based Medicine and Healthcare; Volume 2, Issue 33, August 17, 2015; Page: 4925-4938, DOI: 10.18410/jebmh/2015/689 ABSTRACT: The present study was designed to find out the effects of Integrated Approach of Yoga (IAY) on Essential Hypertension in a sample of 120 subjects from Cardiology OPD of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar in the age group of 21 years to 65 years divided into Experimental group and Control group60 in each. The Experimental group was exposed to regular yogic practice of 1 hour 15 minutes per day in morning for a period of 3 weeks. The Control group was not exposed to any yogic exercises, rather they were advised a regular morning walk 30minutes per day 5 days a week for a period of 3 weeks. The pre and post readings on subjective and objective parameters before and after the training programme were noted for both the groups. The study showed that the experimental group showed a significant reduction in blood pressure (Systolic and diastolic), pulse rate, respiration rate, BMI and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAR) (p<0.01), however the Control group failed to achieve it. KEYWORDS: Yoga, Essential Hypertension, Experimental group, Control group, Morning walk, Paired “t” test. INTRODUCTION: India is currently experiencing a rapid epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases. Rapid industrialization with subsequent rise in standard of living, obesity, stress, sedentary lifestyle, addiction etc. are posing a growing concern to the health of nation in terms of diseases like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, restrictive lung diseases and cardiovascular morbidities. [1] Hypertension is one of many psychosomatic diseases which can be treated through a combination of yoga and other traditional medicines in addition to drug therapy. The root cause of all the diseases is same: ignorance of our true nature and lack of awareness makes us suffer from these modalities like hypertension. [2] REVIEW OF LITERATURE: Global burden of hypertension (HTN) in general is estimated to be as high as 15 to 20% (Braunwald) with minimal elevation in many, [3,4] with essential hypertension being most prevalent. [5] Usefulness of yoga as an add on treatment in management in hypertension, when compared to conventional treatment and biofeedback was evident since 1975 by Chandra et.al. [6] Mc Caffrey et.al demonstrated after eight weeks of yoga therapy, the mean blood pressure decreased from 160/98mmHg to 136/81mmHg. [7] Asana make people more relaxed and decreases blood pressure demonstrated by Pasek et al. [8] Saraswati et al demonstrated that practice of Śavasana decreased mean blood pressure from 132 to 107mmHg with decrease in drug requirement by an average 68%. [9] Yoga can significantly reduce weight, blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure. [10] Meditators tend to have lower blood pressure. [11] Yoga practitioners tend to gain less weight as compared to non-practitioners. [12][13][14] A small randomised controlled trial of Sahaja yoga on depressive disorders showed depression scores