Combination effect of breathing exercise on haemodynamics and heart rate variability parameters in hypertensive patients

Objective Various breathing exercises (BE) have been investigated for their effect on blood pressure (BP) in hypertension. Even if each breathing pattern shares a similar postulated mechanism of baroreflex regulation, they have some different mechanisms. This raises the question of whether it further enhances BP regulation on combining BE. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the developed BE’s combined effect on the haemodynamics and heart rate variability (HRV) parameters in hypertensive patients. Subjects and Methods A repeated-measures design was planned. Twenty hypertensive patients randomly performed five patterns of BE, deep and slow breathing, and developed BE1–4. The effects on haemodynamics and HRV parameters were measured before and after exercise practice. Results Two-way analysis revealed a significant effect of time on systolic blood pressure (SBP) (F(1,19) = 20.19, <i>p</i> < 0.05). There was a mean difference with a 95% CI of SBP, with post-test being greater in developed BE1 [−5.5 (−9.7, −1.2)] and BE3 [−4.6 (−7.1, −2.1)]. While deep and slow breathing showed −1.3 (−5.5, 3.0). However, there was no significant change in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) or heart rate (HR). The effect of BE on HRV parameter (SDNN) was significant immediately after the exercise session: 2 (9) = 18.59, <i>p</i> < 0.05. The within-group comparison revealed significant differences between the developed BE1, BE3, and BE4 at <i>p</i> < 0.05. The comparison between groups was not significant in either SBP or SDNN. Conclusions Ten minutes of developed BE tends to be effective on SBP and SDNN in hypertensive patients rather than deep and slow breathing.