Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care
December 1, 2025
Neena Sharma, Kamlesh Jha, Chandrakanta Munni
Pranayama, yogic breathing techniques, are considered a form of meditation. In classical yoga, the breath is associated with prana; thus, pranayama is a means to control the inner force, the prana shakti or life energy. Pranayama is more than regular breathing and if practiced in structured and methodical manner can reduce the body's physical symptoms of stress and anxiety. It has more recently...
Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care
July 1, 2025
Amalesh S Honnekeri
Sleep Paralysis (SP) is a state that occurs during the hypnagogic or hypnopompic period in which one finds themselves unable to move despite being conscious. During an episode of SP, the individual experiences muscle atonia, as they would during normal sleep, but they remain conscious. SP is also largely associated with three types of hallucinations - the 'intruder', the 'incubus', and an out...
Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care
April 2024
Kaushal Kumar Alam, Nonita Gangwani, Mamta Mohan
Yoga is an ancient wisdom that originated in India and encompasses eight limbs, including yama, niyama, asanas, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. Despite its holistic nature, many studies on yoga tend to focus solely on its physical aspects, breathing practices, and meditation, neglecting other essential components. To address this gap, a study was conducted to determine the...
Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care
March 1, 2023
Amrit Sharma, Sateesh Sakhamuri, Stanley Giddings
We present a case of recurrent fearful isolated sleep paralysis in a 52-year-old male of Indo-Caribbean ethnicity with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Recurrent sleep paralysis is a widely under-reported yet worrisome symptom of various sleep disorders. Although a benign condition in most cases, sleep paralysis in a minority of patients causes great distress. Some patients exhibit bedroom...
Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care
March 3, 2022
Varun Malhotra, Danish Javed, Santosh Wakode et al.
Background: Kapalbhati is a fast pace respiratory exercise or pranayam, which is supposed to be practiced by yogis to clean their brain. Pranayamas are well known to improve heart rate variability (HRV) ultimately leading to better autonomic functions. Other studies have observed the immediate effect of kapalbhati on various neurological (brain and spine) and autonomic functions, but their...
Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care
August 25, 2020
Abhimanyu Ganguly, Sandip M Hulke, Rajay Bharshanakar et al.
Context: Meditation is very useful to relieve stress via hypothalamo-pituitory axis. Meditation is considered to be useful to relieve stress and cardio-respiratory health. Aims: To compare the effect of meditation on autonomic function including heart rate variability (HRV) over a period of 3 months of meditation. Settings and design: Longitudinal study conducted at Physiology Department, AIIMS...