Effect of Heartfulness cleaning and meditation on heart rate variability.
Narendra Kumar Arya, Kamlesh Singh, Anushree Malik, Rahul Mehrotra
Indian heart journal December 1, 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.ihj.2018.05.004 (opens in new tab) via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractHeartfulness cleaning and meditation, guided by a trainer, shift the autonomic nervous system toward greater parasympathetic activity. In 30 participants (21 men, 9 women; ages 19–70), low-frequency power (LFnu) decreased from 70.82 at baseline to 55.62 during cleaning and 55.17 during meditation, while high-frequency power (HFnu) rose from 30.86 to 44.37 and 44.83. The LF/HF ratio fell from 3.45 to 1.63 and 1.82, indicating improved sympathovagal balance. Blood pressure and heart rate were also measured. The practices appear to promote a relaxed, coherent physiological state.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Within-subjects repeated-measures design Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 30 |
| Population | Adults aged 19–70 years (21 males, 9 females) |
| Intervention | Heartfulness cleaning |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Heart rate variability Heartfulness Spiritual practice Well-being |
| Key finding | Heartfulness cleaning and meditation significantly increased high-frequency heart rate variability and decreased the LF/HF ratio, indicating improved parasympathetic activity and sympathovagal balance. |
Abstract
Meditation has been a key component of eastern spiritual practices. Heartfulness meditation is a unique heart based system with key practices like cleaning and meditation aided by yogic transmission. To study the effects of Heartfulness cleaning and meditation (guided by Heartfulness trainer) on heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR). A total of 30 participants (21 males, 9 females; age range 19-70 years, M = 45.1 years and SD = 12.7 years) participated in the study. HRV, BP and HR were studied before, during and after the three stages of rest, cleaning and meditation. There was significant effect of cleaning and meditation on normalized unit of power in low-frequency band (LFnu) for the three conditions [F (2, 87) = 9.98, p < 0.01] with mean values for baseline being 70.82 ± 14.55, cleaning being 55.62 ± 15.06 and meditation being 55.17 ± 16.63. There was also a significant effect of cleaning and meditation on normalized unit of power in high-frequency band (HFnu) [F (2, 87) = 7.31, p < 0.01] with mean values for baseline being 30.86 ± 16.51, cleaning being 44.37 ± 15.06 and meditation being 44.83 ± 16.63. Significant effect of cleaning and meditation was also seen for LF/HF [F (2, 87) = 4.98, p < 0.01] with mean values for baseline being 3.45 ± 3.40, cleaning being 1.63 ± 1.30 and meditation being 1.82 ± 2.19. Heartfulness cleaning and meditation had a positive effect on sympathovagal balance.