Is Yoga as Effective as your Medication Prescription?

Yoga is widely known for reducing stress, improving flexibility and concentration, and decreasing chronic pain symptoms. However, researchers are understanding more about yoga and how it can be an effective “prescription” for a myriad of mental health symptoms. As some psychiatric medications have shown some efficacy for reducing anxiety and depression, other therapies such as yoga have been shown to help improve your mental health. Like my previous blog on self-compassion, yoga is no longer considered a solely “holistic” approach to improving mental health and well-being. While methods such as EMDR, DBT, and CBT have been shown to decrease depression and traumatic symptoms, practicing yoga has also been shown to be effective by researchers.

Yoga has been shown to help with the following

Reducing Anger: In a study with adolescents (2012), yoga was shown to increase one’s ability to control anger compared to a group that participated only in physical education. Practicing yoga has also been shown to decrease verbal aggression in adults.
Reducing Anxiety: Numerous studies have found that yoga may decrease anxiety symptoms, including performance anxiety. For example, in one study (2013) with adolescent musicians, practicing yoga decreased both solo and performance anxiety in participants.
Improving Sleep: In one study (2012) of postmenopausal women with a diagnosis of insomnia, yoga reduced insomnia severity compared to a control group. Another study with women with restless leg syndrome showed yoga improved multiple domains of sleep quality.
Decreasing Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD): In one study (2014) that focused on adult women diagnosed with trauma and PTSD, yoga significantly reduced PTSD symptoms in women who received a 10-week yoga treatment compared to the control group. At the end of the study, 52% of women no longer met the criteria for PTSD compared to 21% in the control group.
Improving Mood: Studies have shown yoga can help reduce depression, improve affect, and decrease perceived stress. For example, in a study with a prison-based population (2013), a 10-week yoga class increased positive affect, and reduced reported psychological stress.

Yoga Helps with an Important Muscle: Your Heart

Yoga and meditation help increase your heart rate variability (HRV). Further, increasing your HRV is good because it is the distance between one heartbeat to the next. The more distance between heartbeats, the calmer you may feel. For example, imagine when you feel stressed or anxious, your breathing is shallow and your HRV is reduced (heart beating fast). When you are feeling relaxed or engaged in deep breathing, your HRV is increased. This helps balance your autonomic nervous system (ANS) so you feel more regulated.

Yoga is a great addition to your wellness plan whether it is prescribed by your therapist or not. Luckily, no prescription is necessary! Finding the right program may consist of some trial and error as there are several types of yoga to choose from (hot, yin, Hatha, yang, etc). Some enjoy the more physically active styles (yang) like vinyasa or Bikram. Others may enjoy a slower-paced practice (yin) or a combination of both. In sum, regardless of the type of yoga you choose, a consistent yoga practice can help with emotion regulation and improve your overall sense of well-being.

Want to learn more techniques on how to reduce emotional trauma? Contact Dr. Hutchinson today »

References

Afonso, R. F., Hachul, H., Kozasa, E. H., Oliveira, D. S., Goto, V., Rodrigues, D., . . . Leite, J. R. (2012). Yoga decreases insomnia in postmenopausal women: A randomized clinical trial. Menopause, 19, 186–193.

Deshpande, S., Nagendra, H. R., & Raghuram, N. (2008). A randomized control trial of the effect of yoga on verbal aggressiveness in normal healthy volunteers. International Journal of Yoga, 1, 76– 82.

Khalsa, S. B. S., Butzer, B., Shorter, S. M., Reinhardt, K. M., & Cope, S. (2013). Yoga reduces performance anxiety in adolescent musicians. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 19, 34–45.

Khalsa, S. B., Hickey-Schultz, L., Cohen, D., Steiner, N., & Cope, S. (2012). Evaluation of the mental health benefits of yoga in a secondary school: A preliminary randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 39,80 –90.

Menezes, C. B., Dalpiaz, N. R., Kiesow, L. G., Sperb, W., Hertzberg, J., & Oliveira, A. A. (2015). Yoga and emotion regulation: A review of primary psychological outcomes and their physiological correlates. Psychology & Neuroscience, 8(1), 82-101.

van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score. Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. New York