Tips for Using Yoga to Control Metabolic Syndrome
**"Yogis" and their hearty endorsements of yoga's benefits on body and mind are a dime a dozen. But is there any scientific basis to these claims? One study doubles down on yoga's positive impact, focusing on the effects of yoga on individuals with metabolic syndrome.
We've been regularly reporting on studies demonstrating various health benefits of yoga - from boosting brain health and cognition to soothing thyroid problems and reducing depression symptoms. However, most of these studies are observational, providing no definitive proof of causality.
This dwells on a study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, led by Dr. Parco M. Siu from the University of Hong Kong in China. This study dives deep into the impact of yoga on cardiometabolic health.
As per the study, metabolic syndrome - often associated with type 2 diabetes and heart disease - affects approximately one-third of the adult population in the United States. In this study, researchers investigated the effect of a year of yoga on people with metabolic syndrome and high-normal blood pressure.
They assigned 97 participants with metabolic syndrome to either a control group or a yoga group. People in the control group didn't receive any intervention, while those in the yoga group attended three 1-hour yoga sessions per week for a year. Researchers also monitored their patients' sera for adipokines, signaling proteins released by fat tissue that influence the immune system's inflammatory response.
The study concluded that a year of yoga training decreased pro-inflammatory adipokines and increased anti-inflammatory adipokines in adults with metabolic syndrome and high-normal blood pressure. This suggests that yoga could be an effective lifestyle intervention that reduces inflammation and helps individuals with metabolic syndrome manage their symptoms.
Dr. Siu added, "These findings reveal the response of adipokines to long-term yoga exercise, emphasizing the importance of regular exercise for human health."
The study's results can be attributed to several biological and physiological mechanisms, including the suppression of pro-inflammatory signaling pathways, modulation of the autonomic nervous system balance, alteration of the gut microbiome composition, and reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
In essence, the anti-inflammatory benefits of yoga for people with metabolic syndrome stem from multiple root causes targeting inflammation at the molecular level and through autonomic regulatory and microbiome-mediated pathways. This integrated effect enhances metabolic health and potentially reduces the risk of inflammation-related complications associated with metabolic syndrome."
- The study, focusing on the effects of yoga on individuals with metabolic syndrome, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, revealed that a year of yoga training decreased pro-inflammatory adipokines and increased anti-inflammatory adipokines in adults with metabolic syndrome and high-normal blood pressure, suggesting that yoga could be an effective lifestyle intervention for reducing inflammation in individuals with metabolic syndrome.
- Yoga, as demonstrated in the aforementioned study, may offer a potential solution for managing symptoms of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, considering the reduced inflammation observed in individuals who underwent a year of yoga training.
- Owing to the decrease in pro-inflammatory adipokines and increase in anti-inflammatory adipokines, the integrated effect of yoga enhances metabolic health and potentially reduces the risk of inflammation-related complications associated with metabolic syndrome and chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes.
- Apart from its mental and physical benefits, yoga, as evidenced by the study led by Dr. Parco M. Siu, exhibits promise for managing medical conditions such as metabolic disorders, thereby underlining the importance of including yoga as a component of overall health-and-wellness, fitness-and-exercise, and nutrition regimens.
