Hold That Pose: Yoga May Ease Tough Depression

Depression can be addressed through the meditation and calming poses experienced when doing yoga. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine recently published an article citing that those with depression who did yoga on a weekly basis, were ably to find relief from their condition. The researchers hope the findings will allow patients with hard to treat depression the ability to get better by using yoga in conjunction with other treatments or as a stand alone treatment.

Yoga was shown to help those not on antidepressants or those whose condition has not improved on a stable dose of medication. Dr. Chris Streeter, a psychiatrist at Boston Medical Center led the study . He reports that up to 40 percent of patients with major depression, on medication do not have full relief from their symptoms.

Practicing Yoga can release chemicals in your brain that improve mood while reducing chemicals in the immune system that cause depression. The meditative state produced when doing Yoga can benefit the central nervous system, creating conscious awareness.

The study looked at 30 people with major depression, one group did 3 sessions of llyengar yoga a week, while the other group did 2 sessions. Both groups experienced decrease in symptoms of depression with the 3 times a week group experiencing more benefits. The hopes are that yoga can be used as a non-medical side effect free form if treatment.

Key Points:

  • 1Meditation might just be what the doctor ordered for depression.
  • 2Ilyengar yoga works on aligning the body and posture as well as focus and detail through breathe control.
  • 3Depression can often weaken and disable a person and meditation through yoga is a start to getting the blood flowing again.


The calming poses and meditation of yoga may be just what the doctor ordered when it comes to beating depression, new research suggests.

See the original at: https://medlineplus.gov/news/fullstory_164017.html

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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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