Alternative nostril breathing on blood pressure in the elderly with hypertension

Introduction: The chance of hypertension in the elderly people is ranks first in among ten of the most frequent diseases experienced by aged people. Hypertension can be treated both pharmacologically and non-pharmacologically. One of non-pharmacological therapy that can be used for hypertension is nostril breathing because it can balance the activity of the sympathetic nerves and parasympathetic nervous system, so it can stabilize blood pressure. The purpose of this study is to identify whether there is any influence of alternative nostril breathing on blood pressure among the elderly with hypertension. Methods: Authors used pre-experimental method with one group pretest posttest approach, in sample of 61 people by using purposive sampling technique. Data collection was performed by measuring blood pressure before and after alternative nostril breathing was performed for 15 days in the morning with duration of 10 minutes. The data analysis used is wilcoxon signed rank test. Result: The results showed before taking alternative nostril breathing an average systolic blood pressure of 162.727 mm Hg and diastolic was 97.272 mm Hg, after taking alternative nostril breathing an average systolic blood pressure was 151.818 mm Hg and diastolic 86.363 mm Hg. Wilcoxon signed rank test result obtained p value of systolic blood pressure 0.036 and p value of diastolic blood pressure was 0.03 (α = 0.05). We found that there is an effect of alternative nostril breathing on blood pressure values in the elderly with hypertension. Conclusion: It can be concluded that alternative nostril breathing can be used as one of those alternatives handling to lower blood pressure in hypertensive patients.