Evidence for yoga, Pranayama and mindfulness-based interventions in perioperative care: a mini review
Fernanda Moreira Boaventura
Abstract
Yoga, Pranayama and mindfulness-based interventions have gained increasing attention as adjuncts to perioperative care. These mind–body techniques may reduce anxiety and pain, improve pulmonary function, and modulate immune responses, which are critical factors for surgical recovery. A mini review was conducted following Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles quality criteria, with searches performed in PubMed, ScienceDirect, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center repository, and Google Scholar for studies published between 2016 and 2025. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials, observational studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses involving adult surgical patients. Interventions focused on yoga-based practices, such as Pranayama, and mindfulness-based interventions delivered during the perioperative period. Twenty-one articles were included and thematically analyzed. Evidence showed that short-term preoperative Pranayama reduced intraoperative fentanyl use by approximately 20%, shortened ventilation time, and decreased Intensive Care Unit stays by one day in cardiac surgery patients. Mindfulness interventions consistently decreased preoperative anxiety, with reductions of 30–40% in validated scales, and lowered postoperative pain scores by 1–2 points on the Visual Analog Scale in orthopedic and oncologic populations. Yoga-based breathing improved pulmonary function and reduced postoperative complications from 74% to 30% in esophagectomy patients. Mechanistic studies indicated that advanced meditation practices modulate gene expression, upregulating more than 200 immune-related genes while downregulating oxidative stress pathways. These findings highlight mind-body strategies as feasible, low-cost additions to Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols. Despite encouraging results, the current evidence is constrained by methodological heterogeneity and small sample sizes, requiring high-quality, multicenter randomized controlled trials to establish standardized frameworks.
Keywords
References
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Submitted date:
08/22/2025
Accepted date:
02/13/2026
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