A study, done by Ohio State University researchers and reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine states that regular practice of yoga reduces the blood levels of various compounds causing inflammation because of both normal aging and stress. The study revealed lesser amounts of cytokine IL-6 in the bloods of women practicing yoga, especially after being exposed to various environmental stressors.
Cytokines are small, secreted proteins which mediate and regulate immunity and inflammation. Also called interleukins, interleukin 6 or IL-6 acts as both a pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine. IL-6 is an important part of the body’s inflammatory response and has been implicated in heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, arthritis and a host of other age-related debilitating diseases. In women practicing yoga, increase in IL-6 after stressful experiences was less than those who didn’t practice yoga. Such women were therefore less susceptible to these diseases compared to those who didn’t take to yoga.
“In addition to having lower levels of inflammation before they were stressed, we also saw lower inflammatory responses to stress among the expert yoga practitioners in the study,” explained Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychiatry and psychology and lead author of the study. “Hopefully, this means that people can eventually learn to respond less strongly to stressors in their everyday lives by using yoga and other stress-reducing modalities.”
For the study, the researchers assembled a group of 50 women, age 41 on average, and classified them as “novices,” who had either taken yoga classes or who practiced at home for no more than 6 to 12 sessions, and “experts,” who had practiced yoga one of two times weekly for at least two years and at least twice weekly for the last year.
During the course of three sessions conducted at two-week intervals at the university’s Clinical Research Centre, women were given questionnaires and underwent several psychological tests to gauge mood and anxiety levels. Participants were then exposed to various stressors, from immersing their feet in cold water to solving tough mathematical problems, followed by a relaxing yoga session. Blood samples were continuously taken during the course of the study and assessed for IL-6 levels. Once the blood samples were analyzed after the study, researchers saw that the women labelled as “novices” had levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 that were 41 percent higher than those in the study’s “experts.”
“In essence, the experts walked into the study with lower levels of inflammation than the novices, and the experts were also better able to limit their stress responses than were the novices,” Kiecolt-Glaser explained.
Ron Glaser, a co-author and a professor of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics, said that the study has some fairly clear implications for health. “We know that inflammation plays a major role in many diseases. Yoga appears to be a simple and enjoyable way to add an intervention that might reduce risks for developing heart disease, diabetes and other age-related diseases,” he said. “This is an easy thing people can do to help reduce their risks of illness.”
The researchers’ next step is a clinical trial to see if yoga can improve the health and reduce inflammation that has been linked to debilitating fatigue among breast cancer survivors. They’re seeking 200 women to volunteer for the study that’s funded by the National Cancer Institute.
Written by Snigdha Taduri for Biomed-ME