text: Greater Heart Disease Benefits From Yoga Aerobics Combo
  Greater improvement in CHD risk factors for combined intervention versus either alone.
  (HealthDay News) -- For coronary heart disease patients with type 2 diabetes, combined Indian yoga and aerobic exercise is associated with greater improvement in heart disease risk factors than yoga or aerobic exercise alone, according to a study presented at the 8th Emirates Cardiac Society Congress in collaboration with the American College of Cardiology Middle East Conference, being held Oct. 19 to 21 in Dubai.
  Sonal Tanwar, PhD, and Naresh Sen, DM, PhD, from HG SMS Hospital in India, randomized patients diagnosed with coronary heart disease to one of three groups: aerobic exercise (group 1225 individuals), Indian-specific yoga for heart disease and diabetes (group 2240 patients), or Indian-specific yoga plus aerobic exercise (group 3285 individuals).
  The researchers found that the results were similar in groups 1 and 2 for reduction of blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein, weight reduction, waist circumference reduction, and improved angina (P < 0.05). Compared with individual groups, group 3 had about twofold greater reductions in blood pressure, body mass index, and cholesterol (P <0.04). Compared with groups 1 and 2, group 3 also had significant improvement of left ventricular ejection fraction, diastolic function, six-minute walk or exercise capacity, heart rate recovery, and class of dyspnea/angina (P <0.05, 0.003).
  "Combined Indian yoga and aerobic exercise reduce mental, physical, and vascular stress and can lead to decreased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity," the authors said in a statement.