Yoga May Decrease Inflammation, and therefore Risk of Disease
13 Jan
For a while now, science has been gathering evidence that inflammation in the body raises the risk for some preventable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
Good news for yoga practitioners: If you practice regularly, you may be reducing the amount of inflammation you have. A new study out of Ohio State University and published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, compared women who practice twice weekly with those who are more sporadic about it. They gave them things to do that were intended to up the participants’ stress levels, and then followed that up with yoga, a walk on a treadmill or something boring to do. Then they took blood samples. By taking the blood sample, the researchers were looking for a chemical called IL-6 (pro-inflammatory cytokine), which both stimulates and inhibits inflammatory action in the body.
Yoga May Reduce Inflammation and Risk of Disease
The women who practiced yoga regularly had 41% less IL-6 than their not-so-dedicated counterparts, suggesting that yoga may be an easy and rewarding thing to add to a disease prevention lifestyle plan. The Ohio state researchers are planning more studies on this topic.
Sources:
Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Inflammation: A unifying theory of disease. Health Encylopedia. AOL Health. Last Updated Sept 5 08. Accessed Jan 12 10. http://www.aolhealth.com/conditions/inflammation-a-unifying-theory-of-disease
Press Release. Ohio State University. Yoga Reduces Cytokine Levels Known to Promote Inflammation Released Jan 11 10. Accessed Jan 12 10. http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/560214/?sc=dwtr;xy=5040587
I have been doing Yoga since college and i love the way that it can relax my body. Yoga is great for stress relief.
As a health coach I send folks to yoga for many inflammatory processes, including gingivitis, arthritis, fibromyalgia, low back pain, disc inflammation, abdominal obesity,cardiovascular disease and depression. But maybe the most important group of people who can benefit from yoga and anti-inflammatory foods like blueberries, rasberries and all sources of omega-3 fatty acids, are women who are preparing to become pregnant and those who are pregnant.
Yoga is great medicine!