Sudarshan Kriya practitioners exhibit better antioxidant status and lower blood lactate levels

Oxidative stress may contribute to the pathophysiology of many chronic diseases. Since psychosocial stress increases oxidative stress, we conducted an exploratory study to investigate the effects of stress reduction with the Sudarshan Kriya (SK) program, on superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione and blood lactate levels in practitioners and non-practitioners of SK. Blood samples of ten practitioners of SK and 14 non-practitioners of any formal stress management technique were analyzed for SOD, catalase, glutathione and lactate levels. Differences between groups and subgroups were analyzed by t-test and correlations between variables compared using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Significantly lower levels of blood lactate (P = 3.118e-10) and higher levels of SOD (P = 0.0001415), glutathione (P = 2.038e-06) and catalase (P = 0.001565) were found in practitioners as compared to non-practitioners of SK, thereby suggesting that lower levels of blood lactate and better antioxidant status in practitioners are associated with regular practice of SK technique. However, this study needs to be conducted on a larger sample size to confirm this effect. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.