Yoga vs Walking

Yoga is probably the most heavily studied wellness practice, and now a study out of Boston University and Harvard (among other participating centers) brings the evidence to a new level. The latest research measures levels of the key brain neurotransmitter, GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), before and after yoga sessions, and compares it to GABA levels wrought by a program of brisk walking.

Reduced activity in the brain's GABA systems is a hallmark of a number of mood disorders, anxiety disorders and epilepsy; and treatment with pharmacological agents that increase GABA is known to improve those conditions. Because there is a large body of research on the beneficial effects of exercise on depression and anxiety, researchers decided to make GABA a study target.

In a preliminary study using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the researchers demonstrated that experienced yoga practitioners had a significant (27%) increase in GABA levels after a 60-minute session of yoga postures compared to no change in GABA levels in controls after a 60-minute reading session. This raised the question of whether the associated increase in GABA leves was specific to yoga or related to physical activity in general.

In order to find out, researchers recruited 34 healthy 18-45 year olds not taking psychoactive medications and followed them for 12 weeks of three 60-minute sessions per week of either Iyengar yoga or walking. What they found is that yoga beat walking for improving mood and anxiety measured by standardized psychological tests, but the increase in GABA levels was about the same for yoga and walking.

The researchers commented that yoga has been shown in previous studies to increase activity in the parasympathetic nervous system--the body's built-in system for reversing the stress response--which sends signals to return heart beat, breath rate and blood pressure (among other systems) to normal, non-stressed operating levels after a stressful event. There might also be something to be said here for the placebo effect. Everyone knows yoga is supposed to make you calm and happy, and sometimes knowing it can help makes it so.

Yoga: Alleviates Fibromyalgia, New Research

David Life's partner, Sharon Gannon, shows us how it's done.In a study published in the November issue of the journal PAIN (where yoga is rarely subject to scrutiny) researchers report patients paritcipating in a "Yoga of Awareness" program showed significantly greater improvement in symptoms of Fibromyalgia (a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain in muscles, ligaments and tendons, as well as fatigue) compared to patients on a standard care program of medications accompanied by exercise and coping skills training. Given the much higher prevalence of Fibromyalgia in females (80%), researchers chose to include only women.

The program was designed to specifically address the most common FM symptoms: pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and emotional distress. Each Yoga of Awareness class included approximately 40 minutes of gentle stretching poses, 25 minutes of mindfulness meditation (awareness of breath, awareness of awareness itself), 10 minutes of breathing techniques (full yogic breath, breathing into sensation), 20 minutes of didactic presentations on the application of yogic principles to optimal coping, and 25 minutes of group discussions (experiences while practicing yoga at home). Let's just say that half of the study lucked out.

At the end of the 8 week program, women assigned to yoga showed significantly greater improvements on standardized measures of FM symptoms and functioning. Dr. Carson and colleagues observed, "In addition, the results suggested the yoga intervention led to a beneficial shift in how patients cope with pain, including greater use of adaptive pain coping strategies (i.e., problem solving, positive reappraisal, use of religion, activity engagement despite pain, acceptance, relaxation) and less use of maladaptive strategies (i.e., catastrophizing, self-isolation, disengagement, confrontation)." If that's all the women achieved, it would seem to be worth the price of a yoga class.