Yoga News and Research

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Yoga is an ancient system of practices used to balance the mind and body through exercise, meditation (focusing thoughts), and control of breathing and emotions. Yoga is being studied as a way to relieve stress and treat sleep problems in cancer patients.

Yoga may help improve quality of life in pediatric cancer patients, study reveals

Quality of life of patients doing yoga improved, according to the conclusions of “Results of a Pilot Yoga Intervention to Improve Pediatric Cancer Patients’ Quality of Life and Physical Activity and Parents' Well-being”.

16 Jan 2017

Yoga may help reduce pain in people with chronic non-specific lower back pain, reveals Cochrane review

A new systematic review, published in the Cochrane Library today, suggests that yoga may lead to a reduction in pain and functional ability in people with chronic non-specific lower back pain over the short term, compared with no exercise. However, researchers advise that more studies are needed to provide information on long-term effects.

16 Jan 2017

Chair yoga may be effective approach to reduce osteoarthritis pain in older adults, study shows

For the millions of older adults who suffer from osteoarthritis in their lower extremities (hip, knee, ankle or foot), chair yoga is proving to be an effective way to reduce pain and improve quality of life while avoiding pharmacologic treatment or adverse events.

11 Jan 2017

Yoga during active treatment can provide QOL benefits for pediatric cancer patients and parents

A yoga program for children with cancer can be carried out even during cancer treatment, and has quality of life (QOL) benefits for the children as well as their parents, suggests a study in Rehabilitation Oncology, official journal of the Oncology Section of the American Physical Therapy Association.

5 Jan 2017

UOW researchers testing therapeutic values of Ashtanga yoga for breast cancer survivors

Canada’s University of Windsor researchers are testing therapeutic values of Ashtanga yoga for survivors of breast cancer.

3 Jan 2017

Saint Louis University geriatrician urges older patients to talk to doctors about too many pills

If you're 65 or older and taking more than four medications, resolve to talk to your doctor about doing a New Year's triage to make sure too many pills aren't making you sick, advises Milta Little, D.O., associate professor of geriatrics at Saint Louis University.

26 Dec 2016

UNC study: Yoga treatment shows promise for improving trauma and related mental health problems

“Overall, the researchers found that yoga holds potential promise for helping improve anxiety, depression, PTSD and/or the psychological consequences of trauma”, according to a University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill news-release regarding a study by researchers at its School of Social Work.

20 Dec 2016

Geisinger physicians report opioid therapy to be ineffective in treating chronic pain

A new study by a pair of Geisinger Health System physicians reports that the use of opioid therapy to treat chronic pain is not only ineffective, it can actually increase the likelihood of more harmful consequences, including death.

8 Dec 2016

How old is your heart?

There have been a number of ways to measure the biological health and age of your heart, which has been done conventionally in the past. Blood pressure is one indicator. Other risk indicators include family history of heart disease, level of cholesterol and exercise testing, where you can get heart rate...

From iHeart - VitalSines International Inc. 1 Dec 2016

Penn study shows breathing-based meditation can help alleviate severe depression

A breathing-based meditation practice known as Sudarshan Kriya yoga helped alleviate severe depression in people who did not fully respond to antidepressant treatments, reports a new study published today in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

22 Nov 2016

Study finds yoga to be safe, but older participants may have injury risk

Participating in yoga is relatively safe, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who conducted the first large-scale examination of yoga-related injuries.

18 Nov 2016

Growing understanding of neuroplasticity could drive development of new therapeutic interventions

A growing understanding of the highly "plastic," changeable nature of the brain--from the level of DNA, proteins, neuronal connections and networks, up to communication across brain regions--is driving the development of new therapeutic approaches to treat chronic pain, stroke, Parkinson's disease, and a variety of other disorders described in an article in Alternative and Complementary Therapies, a journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

17 Nov 2016

New social prescribing service benefits people with mental health conditions

People with mental health conditions are benefitting from being prescribed non-medical treatments by their doctors, according to a new report.

7 Nov 2016

Study shows spinal supporting muscles may weaken during spaceflight

How does space travel affect the spine? Astronauts on long missions in space have atrophy of the muscles supporting the spine—which don't return to normal even several weeks after their return to Earth, reports a study in Spine, published by Wolters Kluwer.

25 Oct 2016

Simple treatment can help relieve majority of back pain

During their lifetime, as many as eight out of ten people experience back pain that lasts more than three days. However, for a vast majority of these people, the pain goes away with simple treatment.

19 Oct 2016

Yoga shows promise in reducing symptoms for people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Yoga could help reduce symptoms for people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, according to a study published by Georgia State University researchers in the International Journal of Yoga Therapy.

4 Oct 2016

Study evaluates calorie cost and metabolic intensity of individual yoga poses

Hatha yoga is an increasingly popular form of physical activity and meditative practice in the U.S.

23 Sep 2016

Weeklong residential Ayurvedic program yields lasting increases in perceived well-being

Participants in the weeklong residential "Perfect Health Program," developed by author and researcher Deepak Chopra, MD, had significant and lasting increases in perceived well-being and reductions in anxiety compared to a control group that experienced relaxation alone.

14 Sep 2016

Novel controlled clinical trial finds Ayurvedic-based well-being program can alter blood-based metabolites

In a novel controlled clinical trial, participants in a six-day Ayurvedic-based well-being program that featured a vegetarian diet, meditation, yoga and massages experienced measurable decreases in a set of blood-based metabolites associated with inflammation, cardiovascular disease risk and cholesterol regulation.

9 Sep 2016

Complementary health approaches appear to be effective in helping manage pain

Data from a review of U.S.-based clinical trials published today in Mayo Clinic Proceedings suggest that some of the most popular complementary health approaches--such as yoga, tai chi, and acupuncture--appear to be effective tools for helping to manage common pain conditions.

1 Sep 2016