Yoga for chronic heart diseases

Chronic heart diseases are a global health problem and are the leading cause of death worldwide. Chronic heart disease is a general term that covers health problems that affect the heart. This term is often used interchangeably with the term cardiovascular disease. These diseases are basically a series of health problems that include cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease and hypertension, rhythm problems, and congenital heart diseases. Although pharmacological treatments form the basis of the management of these heart diseases, it is stated that lifestyle changes also make a significant positive contribution to the process. Studies in the literature show that heart diseases are closely linked to lifestyle changes and problems such as stress, anxiety, and worry. In the management of stress, which is one of the important consequences of today's living conditions, mindfulness-based stress reduction methods attract attention. One of the mindfulness-based health practices is yoga. Yoga, which is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, is an ancient Indian mind-body technique that aims for the harmonious development of the body and mind. In this respect, yoga includes positive thoughts such as physical and mental well-being, positive thinking, and happiness in human life. It is emphasized that practices such as yoga/meditation help reduce heart disease risk factors such as oxidative stress, psychosocial stress, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity, and tobacco use. In this chapter, the place of yoga in the management of chronic heart diseases and risk factors was tried to be explained in the light of the existing literature, and its use and effectiveness for chronic heart diseases were tried to be revealed.