Exploring the Link Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Role of Neuroinflammatory Mechanisms.

The central industrial security force (CISF) is India’s leading multi-skilled security agency, operating under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Tasked with protecting vital infrastructure, its personnel routinely face intense work-related pressures that can contribute to the onset of hypertension. The demanding nature of their roles, characterized by long and irregular working hours, is a significant contributor to chronic stress – a key factor in the onset of hypertension.[] In addition to this occupational strain, prolonged periods of standing and continuous alertness add to the physical burden of the job. Further, there are lifestyle factors such as smoking[] and excessive alcohol consumption[] that add to the risk for these security professionals. Yoga is an ancient Indian mind-body practice that consists of physical postures, breathing exercises, meditation, and philosophical understandings and has shown enhancement in overall well-being. Previous findings confirm yoga’s cardiovascular effectiveness through parasympathetic activation via pranayama techniques and modulation of stress-inflammatory pathways. Studies by Cramer,[] Tyagi and Cohen,[] and Khandekar .[] observed significant blood pressure (BP) reduction through improved vagal tone, diminished sympathetic dominance, and lowered cortisol/pro-inflammatory markers. Previous studies mostly focus on general populations, resulting in significant methodological gaps concerning occupation-specific groups. Security personnel have working patterns that include the demanding nature of work, prolonged hypervigilance, and chronic occupational hazards. This has created typical physiological stressor profiles and circadian imbalances that may lead to specific patterns of cardiovascular dysfunction requiring targeted treatment exploration. This study explored biomarkers in line with yoga’s recognized cardiovascular processes. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was opted as the principal inflammatory marker due to its predictive validity for cardiovascular events and the previous finding highlighted as anti-inflammatory effects of yoga via parasympathetic modulation.[] The evaluation of homocysteine was included as an independent cardiovascular risk factor and its possible sensitivity to stress-reduction techniques due to yogic practices.[] Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) functioned as a cardiac autonomic evaluation, offering a quantitative assessment of parasympathetic nervous system activity, which has been observed as a physiological mechanism by which yoga confers cardiovascular advantages.[]