Health Benefits of Yoga
For over 5,000 years yoga has been offering health benefits to our minds and bodies. Today we start to understand “how does it work”.
Yoga is a way of living to embrace and enjoy well-being. Yoga practices comprise breathing, stretching, physical exercise, meditation, mindfulness, laughing, relaxing and… gratitude (as Yogi Bhajan said “The attitude of gratitude is the highest yoga”). If you think about it, we are fortunate that breathing, relaxing, stretching, laughing etc, are all complimentary and available anytime and everywhere.
Yoga’s medicinal properties are recognized and appreciated more and more by healthcare professionals. For example, in 2017 the American College of Physicians published clinical guidelines recommending yoga, tai chi and physical exercise as first-line therapy for chronic low back pain1. In addition, the American College of Rheumatology recommends yoga for osteoarthritis2.
Practicing yoga has been shown to provide clinical benefits for people with depression3, diabetes4, pain5, insomnia6, multiple sclerosis7, Parkinson’s disease8, hypertension9, arrhythmia10, cancer11, and anxiety12. In 2016, 306 randomized controlled trials comprising 52 different yoga styles were analyzed, and the authors reported 91% of positive findings (suggesting that diverse types of yoga can provide health benefits)13. BTW, did you know that Sudarshan Kriya yoga (rhythmic breathing exercises) significantly reduced depression symptoms in people with major depressive disorder who did not respond to antidepressants?14
“Yoga is like music. The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul creates the symphony of life.”
If you are curious “how does it work?”, please practice patience while research is uncovering various mechanisms of action. So far, yoga practice has shown such effects as: (1) modulation of autonomous nervous system15, (2) release of specific neurotransmitters (like GABA and serotonin)16, and increase levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF, please think neuroplasticity)17, (3) reduced levels of stress-hormone cortisol18, (4) modulation of cytokines and the immune cells19. Please joyfully await for more news about yoga’s medicinal wonders.
What about benefits of yoga for children? There are many, including (1) reduction of stress and anxiety20, (2) improved heart rate variability and motor skills in children with autism spectrum disorder21, and (3) reduction of seizures in children with epilepsy22. What about benefits of prenatal yoga? Plenty23.
In conclusion, practicing yoga as self-care is a wonderful way to nurture well-being and health.
Please enjoy benefits of yoga today and tomorrow.
Thank you, best wishes and stay well,
Greg
PS. Our next blog will explore health benefits of listening to music. Can music be a part of daily self-care? Please stay tuned more insights…
2. Arthritis & Rheumatology 2020
3. J Evid Based Complimentary Altern Med 2017
4. Complement Ther Med 2019
5. Mayo Clin Proc 2016
6. J Bodywork Mov Ther 2019
7. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2019
8. Int J Yoga Therap 2019
9. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2020
10. Explore 2012
11. Cancer 2019; Support Care Cancer 2017
12. Int Rev Psychiatry 2016
13. Complement Ther Med 2016
14. J Clin Psychiatry 2017
15. BMC Complement Altern Med 2016
16. J Altern Complement Med 2020
17. J Altern Complement Med 2015
18. Complement Ther Med 2017
19. Int J Yoga 2020
20. J Integr Med 2018
21. Phys Ther 2019; Int J Yoga 2019
22. J Pediatric Neurosci 2018
23. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 2020
