Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the world. It is estimated that there are 350 million people worldwide who have some form of depression.  If you are suffering from depression, you are not alone.  

Yes, studies have shown that attending yoga classes helps people who are suffering from depression.  A 2016 study found that “Yoga plus regular care was effective in reducing symptoms of depression compared with regular care alone.” Regular care means the person is being treated for depression in addition to doing yoga classes.   Another study found that Yoga showed greater reductions in depressive symptoms than waitlist, treatment as usual, and attention control.  Greater reductions in depressive symptoms were associated with a higher frequency of yoga sessions per week.  (Meaning the more yoga you do, the better . 

Yes, a study done in 2016 concluded “We found that yoga was more effective than no therapy in improving quality of life and reducing fatigue and sleep disturbances. We also found that yoga was better for reducing depression, anxiety and fatigue in women when compared with psychosocial or educational interventions such as counselling. Our findings indicate that women with a diagnosis of breast cancer can use yoga as supportive therapy for improving their quality of life and mental health, in addition to standard cancer treatments.” 

A National Institutes of Health article reviewing many studies concluded that “The mind-body-spirit connection applied in yoga is particularly valuable for conditions that affect both physical and mental health, such as cancer. Oncologic patients often suffer from long-term psychological distress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and chronic pain. A recent Cochrane meta-analysis on yoga for breast cancer, the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women worldwide, includes an impressive 24 randomized control trials (RCTs) involving 2166 women. The review recommends yoga as a complementary intervention for improving health-related QOL and reducing fatigue, sleep disturbances, depression, and anxiety.  Furthermore, yoga may boost the immune system of oncology patients. Patients with breast cancer in a Hatha yoga program showed decreases in interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1beta cytokine from isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide, and interferon-gamma, suggesting that yoga protects against stress-related immune suppression.” 

Yes, a study reported that “..this review found preliminary evidence of short-term efficacy of yoga in improving headache frequency, headache duration, and pain intensity in patients suffering from tension-type headaches.”   

Being the sixth leading cause of disability worldwide, headache is a major public health problem, strongly limiting quality of life.  Patients with chronic headache even report significantly lower quality of life than those with episodic headache. 

The study reported that “An important non-pharmacological treatment approach that has been shown to effectively reduce chronic pain, stress, and several other headache risk factors such as psychiatric conditions and obesity is yoga. Yoga has been used for health reasons by an estimated 31 million American adults at least once in their lifetime, with pain and stress relief being among the most common reasons for this use.” 

Yes.  In fact, a recent study found that yoga was more effective in treating neck pain than regular exercise. In the study, fifty-one patients (mean age 47.8 y; 82.4% female) were randomized to yoga (n=25) and exercise (n=26) intervention. After the study period, patients in the yoga group reported significantly less neck pain intensity compared with the exercise group [mean difference: -13.9 mm (95% CI, -26.4 to -1.4), P=0.03]. The yoga group reported less disability and better mental quality of life. Range of motion and proprioceptive acuity were improved and the pressure pain threshold was elevated in the yoga group.”   

The study found that “Yoga was more effective in relieving chronic nonspecific neck pain than a home-based exercise program. Yoga reduced neck pain intensity and disability and improved health-related quality of life. Moreover, yoga seems to influence the functional status of neck muscles, as indicated by improvement of physiological measures of neck pain.” 

Another study concluded that “Yoga has short-term effects on chronic neck pain, its related disability, quality of life, and mood suggesting that yoga might be a good treatment option.” 

Yes!  A National Institutes of Health article published recently reviewed 44 studies and found that: 
“The holistic yoga philosophy promotes a sustainably healthy lifestyle that may be useful for cardiopulmonary rehabilitation patients. A meta-analysis of 44 RCTs found that yoga improved systolic and diastolic blood pressures, heart rate, respiratory rate, waist circumference, waist/hip ratio, cholesterol, triglycerides, hemoglobin A1c, and insulin resistance.  The improvements in autonomic measures were attributable to increased parasympathetic activity through upregulation of GABA. This modulation counteracts the excessive activity of the sympathetic nervous system that has been associated with hypertension.  Rigorous yoga styles, such as Ashtanga or Vinyasa yoga, are more suitable for cardiovascular fitness, as no reductions in blood pressure were appreciated with Kundalini yoga interventions, which only uses poses lying down.” 

Notably, the article says that “rigorous” yoga styles are “more suitable for cardiovascular fitness”.  What could be more rigorous than a 90-minute Original Hot Yoga Class!