Influence of the yoga breathing exercise “uddiyana” on blood flow in the marginal sinus

Abstract

Purpose: Studying the effect of the Uddiyana Bandha (UB) yoga breathing exercise on blood flow in the marginal sinus (MS).Materials and methods: The study involved 16 people in whom blood flow in the MS was assessed against the background of free breathing, during voluntary expiratory apnea (VEA) — 5 seconds, and during UB — 5 seconds. The maximum blood flow velocity (Vmax), the time-averaged maximum velocity Vmean, and the index phase character (IP) were recorded.Results: When recording Vmax during VEA (stage 2) for 5 seconds, it did not show significant differences compared to free breathing (stage 1); within 5 seconds of execution, the UB (stage 3) was significantly higher than the baseline (stage 1), p < 0.001, and also higher than the VEA (stage 2), p < 0.001. Vmean PEA (stage 2) for 5 seconds was without significant differences compared to free breathing (stage 1). During 5 seconds of UB execution (stage 3), Vmean was higher than the baseline (stage 1), p < 0.001, and also higher than VEA (stage 2), p < 0.009. Against the background of free breathing (stage 1) and PEA (stage 2), the values of IP and were without significant differences compared to UB (stage 3).Conclusions: The UB breathing exercise increases the maximum linear blood flow velocity Vmax and the time-averaged maximum blood flow velocity Vmean in the MS, which may indicate activation of cerebral venous outflow during the exercise.