efficientstrategies for utilizing yoga to control metabolic syndrome
Yoga enthusiasts, commonly known as "yogis," are always praising the benefits of yoga on mind and body, but does science back up these claims? A recent study sheds light, focusing on the impact of yoga on individuals with metabolic syndrome. Here at Medical News Today, we've been keeping an eye on several studies that suggest yoga might have a plethora of health benefits, such as boosting brain health, alleviating depression, and aiding in managing diabetes symptoms.
However, most of these studies are observational, making it challenging to establish a causal relationship. The study led by Dr. Parco M. Siu from the University of Hong Kong, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, focuses on the effect of yoga on cardiometabolic health.
Researchers found not only that yoga benefits those with metabolic syndrome, but also uncovered the mechanisms behind these benefits. Metabolic syndrome, associated with type 2 diabetes and heart disease, impacts approximately 49% of the adult population in the United States.
Dr. Siu and his team, having previously found lower blood pressure and smaller waist circumference among yoga practitioners, wanted to explore the impact of a year of yoga on individuals with metabolic syndrome. They assigned 97 participants with metabolic syndrome and high-normal blood pressure to either a control or a yoga group. The yoga group practiced three hours of yoga weekly for a year.
The researchers also monitored the patients' sera for adipokines, proteins that signal the immune system to either release an inflammatory or anti-inflammatory response.
The study findings reveal that yoga decreased proinflammatory adipokines and increased anti-inflammatory adipokines in adults with metabolic syndrome and high-normal blood pressure. "These findings support the beneficial role of yoga in managing metabolic syndrome by favorably modulating adipokines," say the researchers.
The results suggest that yoga could be an attractive lifestyle intervention to decrease inflammation and assist individuals with metabolic syndrome in managing their symptoms. Dr. Siu comments on the study, stating, "These findings help reveal the response of adipokines to long-term yoga exercise, which underpins the importance of regular exercise to human health."
The mechanisms behind yoga's benefits involve lifestyle and systemic modifications that regulate immune function, reduce pro-inflammatory markers, and improve physiological stress responses. This collective effect reduces the chronic inflammatory state associated with metabolic syndrome.
- The study led by Dr. Parco M. Siu from the University of Hong Kong, focused on the effect of yoga on cardiometabolic health, and it has been published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.
- The study, which assigned 97 participants with metabolic syndrome and high-normal blood pressure to either a control or a yoga group, found that after a year of practicing three hours of yoga weekly, yoga decreased proinflammatory adipokines and increased anti-inflammatory adipokines in adults with metabolic syndrome and high-normal blood pressure.
- This research supports the beneficial role of yoga in managing metabolic syndrome by favorably modulating adipokines, and it suggests that yoga could be an attractive lifestyle intervention to decrease inflammation and assist individuals with metabolic syndrome in managing their symptoms.
- The findings reveal that the mechanisms behind yoga's benefits involve lifestyle and systemic modifications that regulate immune function, reduce pro-inflammatory markers, and improve physiological stress responses, thus reducing the chronic inflammatory state associated with metabolic syndrome.
