Yoga Improves Sense of Well-Being, Reverses Changes in Metabolic Syndrome

By C. Vidyashankar
CHANNAI, India Dec 28 - Yoga induces a feeling of well-being in healthy people, and can reverse the clinical and biochemical changes associated with metabolic syndrome, according to results of studies from Sweden and India.
Dr. R.P. Agrawal, of the SP Medical College, Bikaner, India, and colleagues evaluated the beneficial effects of yoga and meditation in 101 adults with features of metabolic syndrome. In their randomized study, 55 subjects were assigned to 3 months of regular daily yoga, including standard postures, and Raja Yoga, a form of transcendental meditation, while the remaining received standard care.
Waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, and triglycerides were significantly lower, and high density lipoprotein levels were higher in the yoga group as compared to controls, Dr. Agrawal's team reports in the December issue of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.
"Yoga and meditation have always been an essential part of life in the traditional system of treatment," Dr. R.P Agrawal and colleagues write. They attribute the effects to the redistribution of body fat, decreased arterial tone and peripheral resistance due to parasympathetic predominance, and increased sensitivity of beta cells of the pancreas.
In the second report, published on December 19 in BioMed Central Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Dr. Anette Kjellgren from the University of Karlstad, Sweden and her team evaluated the beneficial effects of yogic breathing exercises on healthy volunteers.
Fifty-five adults were advised to practice "Sudarshan Kriya," which involves cycles of slow normal and rapid breathing exercises. The exercises were practiced for an hour daily, six days a week for six weeks, while 48 controls were advised to relax in an armchair for 15 minutes daily.
At the end of the study period, feelings of anxiety, stress and depression were significantly decreased, and optimism was significantly increased, in the yoga group compared to controls, Dr. Kjellgren and colleagues report.
Yoga induces a "relaxation response" associated with reduced sympathetic nervous system activity and a feeling of well-being probably due to an increase in antioxidants and lower levels of cortisol, Dr. Kjellgren's team suggests.
Yoga not only helps in prevention of lifestyle diseases, but can also be "a powerful adjunct therapy when these diseases arise," co-author Dr. Faahri Saatiglou, from the University of Oslo, told Reuters Health. "We do not emphasize this point enough in our Western health care."
Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2007;78:e9-10.