Yoga as a tool for managing metabolic syndrome: Insights and benefits
**"Yogis," or folks who practice yoga, are known to sing its praises for both body and mind health. But what's the science behind the hype? A new study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports and led by Dr. Parco M. Siu from the University of Hong Kong, examines how yoga can help individuals with metabolic syndrome.
Our team at Medical News Today has covered numerous studies highlighting potential health benefits of yoga, including improved brain health and cognition, relief of depression symptoms, and even assistance in enlarging the prostate and overcoming erectile dysfunction. However, most of these studies are observational, meaning they don't definitively prove causality, and few have explored the underlying mechanisms.
But this new study sheds light on these mechanisms, focusing on yoga's effect on cardiometabolic health, particularly in those with metabolic syndrome.
Yoga and Inflammation
Metabolic syndrome is linked to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Approximately 34% of the adult population in the United States lives with this condition. Dr. Siu and his team previously found reduced blood pressure and smaller waist circumference in individuals who practiced yoga for a year. In this study, they wanted to investigate the effect of a year of yoga on those with metabolic syndrome and high-normal blood pressure.
Participants were randomly assigned to a control group or a yoga group, with the latter receiving three 1-hour yoga sessions weekly for a year. The researchers monitored the patients' adipokines, or signaling proteins released by fat tissue, to study the immune system's inflammatory or anti-inflammatory response.
The study revealed that a year of yoga decreased proinflammatory adipokines and increased anti-inflammatory adipokine levels.
"These findings support the beneficial role of yoga in managing metabolic syndrome by favorably modulating adipokines," noted the researchers.
The results suggest that yoga may be a worthwhile lifestyle intervention to help decrease inflammation and manage symptoms in those with metabolic syndrome.
Dr. Siu commented on the study's results, saying, "These findings help to reveal the response of adipokines to long-term yoga exercise, which underpins the importance of regular exercise to human health."
As for the mechanisms behind these findings, while the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports did not provide specifics, it's reasonable to suspect that yoga's reductions in stress, enhancement of gut health, exercise-like anti-inflammatory effects, modulation of the gut-brain axis, and improved insulin sensitivity might contribute to its anti-inflammatory effects.
- Yoga's beneficial role in managing metabolic syndrome, as suggested by the new study, could be due to its ability to decrease proinflammatory adipokines and increase anti-inflammatory adipokine levels.
- In addition to improving cardiometabolic health, the study sheds light on the underlying mechanisms, revealing that regular yoga practice could potentially help in managing chronic diseases like type-2 diabetes and heart disease, which are associated with metabolic disorders.
- Given the observed decrease in inflammation, yoga could serve as a useful fitness-and-exercise strategy for individuals with medical-conditions like metabolic syndrome, contributing to their overall health-and-wellness.
- The study also highlights the importance of regular exercise, as demonstrated by yoga, in promoting a healthier immune system response, which could help prevent and manage various chronic diseases and medical-conditions.
