Yoga For Anxiety And
Epression
by Andrea Ferretti
One such practice, yoga, has
received less attention in the
medical literature, though
it has become increasingly
popular in recent decades.
One national survey estimated,
for example, that about
7.5% of U.S. adults had
tried yoga at least once, and
that nearly 4% practiced
yoga in the previous year.
Yoga classes can vary from
gentle and accommodating
to strenuous and challenging;
the choice of style tends to be
based on physical ability and
personal preference. Hatha
yoga, the most common
type of yoga practiced in the
United States, combines three
19
elements: physical poses, called
asanas; controlled breathing
practiced in conjunction with
asanas; and a short period of
deep relaxation or meditation.
Available reviews of a wide
range of yoga practices
suggest they can reduce the
impact of exaggerated stress
responses and may be helpful
for both anxiety and depression.
In this respect, yoga functions
like
other
self-soothing
techniques, such as meditation,
relaxation, exercise, or even
socializing
with
friends.
By reducing perceived stress
and anxiety, yoga appears
tomodulate stress response
systems.
This, in turn, decreases
physiological arousal — for
example, reducing the heart
rate, lowering blood pressure,
and easing respiration. There
is also evidence that yoga
practices help increase heart
rate variability, an indicator
of the body’s ability to
respond to stress more flexibly.
A small but intriguing study
done at the University of Utah
provided some insight into the
effect of yoga on the stress
response by looking at the
participants’ responses to pain.
The researchers noted that
people who have a poorly r
egulated response to stress are
also more sensitive to pain. Their
subjects were 12 experienced
yoga practitioners, 14 people
with fibromyalgia (a condition
many researcers consider a
stress-related illness that is
characterized by to pain),and
16
healthy
volunteers .
Although many forms of
yoga practice are safe, some
are strenuous and may not be
appropriate for everyone. In
particular, elderly patients or
those with mobility problems
may want to check first with
a clinician before choosing
yoga as a treatment option.
When the three groups were
subjected to more or less
painful thumbnail pressure, the
participants with fibromalya.