Can Yoga really make a difference with your mental well being?
Maybe you have heard practicing yoga can help you gain strength and increase flexibility. While this can be true, there is a lot more to yoga. Yoga isn’t just about wearing leggings and working out. The practice of yoga stimulates the Vagus Nerve, promotes the body’s natural rest and restore mechanism. When you practice yoga, you feel good. Many studies are finding that yoga has a positive impact on mental well being.
In adults with mild-to-moderate major depression, an 8-week hatha yoga intervention resulted in statistically and clinically significant reductions in depression severity.
A mindfulness meditation practice may decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as enhance psychological well-being.
Several studies of exercise and yoga have demonstrated therapeutic effectiveness superior to no-activity controls and comparable with established depression and anxiety treatments (e.g., cognitive behavior therapy, sertraline, imipramine).
Mindful meditation and exercise have positive effects as adjunctive treatments for depressive disorders, although some studies show multiple methodological weaknesses.
Yoga as monotherapy or adjunctive therapy shows positive effects, particularly for depression. As an adjunctive therapy, it facilitates treatment of anxiety disorders, particularly panic disorder.
As monotherapy or an adjunctive therapy, mindfulness-based meditation has positive effects on depression, and its effects can last for six months or more.
Prathikanti S, Rivera R, Cochran A, Tungol JG, Fayazmanesh N, Weinmann E. Treating major depression with yoga: A prospective, randomized, controlled pilot trial. PLoS One. 2017 Mar 16;12(3):e0173869. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173869. PMID: 28301561; PMCID: PMC5354384.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28301561/
Saeed SA, Cunningham K, Bloch RM. Depression and Anxiety Disorders: Benefits of Exercise, Yoga, and Meditation. Am Fam Physician. 2019 May 15;99(10):620-627. PMID: 31083878.
https://www.aafp.org/afp/2019/0515/p620.html
Marchand WR. Mindfulness meditation practices as adjunctive treatments for psychiatric disorders. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2013 Mar;36(1):141-52. doi: 10.1016/j.psc.2013.01.002. PMID: 23538083.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0193953X13000038?via%3Dihub
