Yoga News and Research

RSS

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.

Mindfulness meditation can reduce stress hormone

Focusing on the present rather than letting the mind drift may help to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, suggests new research from the Shamatha Project at the University of California, Davis.

29 Mar 2013

FlexToBa program can enhance health of older adults

Fitness DVDs are a multimillion-dollar business, and those targeting adults over the age of 55 are a major part of the market. With names like "Boomers on the Move," "Stronger Seniors" and "Ageless Yoga," the programs promise much, but few have ever been rigorously tested.

12 Mar 2013

Poll shows compelling association between exercise and better sleep

Exercise can affect your sleep. The results of the National Sleep Foundation's 2013 Sleep in America poll show a compelling association between exercise and better sleep.

4 Mar 2013

Funding opportunity for schools to implement innovative programs targeting childhood obesity announced by first lady Michelle Obama

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center's CHALK/Just Move program is one of three programs selected by ChildObesity180, a national organization comprising public, nonprofit, academic, and private-sector leaders, for its Active Schools Acceleration Project (ASAP). An opportunity for schools across the country to apply for a grant to implement one of the three model programs was announced today in Chicago, with first lady Michelle Obama, as part of her "Let's Move! Active Schools" campaign.

1 Mar 2013

Northwestern Medicine expert offers tips to battle seasonal affective disorder

Winter is in full force. With short days and less exposure to sunlight, everyone feels less energetic and more people are vulnerable to depression. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or winter depression, is a mood disorder related to seasonal variations of light. Symptoms start in late fall and oftentimes last until April or early spring. It affects between 10 to 20 percent of Americans, primarily younger adults and women.

10 Feb 2013

Yoga has positive effects on major psychiatric disorders

Yoga has positive effects on mild depression and sleep complaints, even in the absence of drug treatments, and improves symptoms associated with schizophrenia and ADHD in patients on medication, according to a systematic review of the exercise on major clinical psychiatric disorders.

25 Jan 2013

People with chronic inflammatory conditions may benefit from mindfulness meditation

People suffering from chronic inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and asthma - in which psychological stress plays a major role - may benefit from mindfulness meditation techniques, according to a study by University of Wisconsin-Madison neuroscientists with the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center.

17 Jan 2013

Yoga can provide students with many emotional and physical benefits

While many university professors are busy with study groups and student meetings in preparation for final exams, Sandi Tenfelde, PhD, RN, ANP, CYI, has turned to sun salutations and savasanas.

13 Dec 2012

Creative art therapy combined with MBSR program shows promise for women with breast cancer

Cancer and stress go hand-in-hand, and high stress levels can lead to poorer health outcomes in cancer patients. The Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine combined creative art therapy with a Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program for women with breast cancer and showed changes in brain activity associated with lower stress and anxiety after the eight-week program.

29 Nov 2012

Cancer-related fatigue and exercise: an interview with Dr Fiona Cramp

It is likely that there is more than one reason why people with cancer experience fatigue. The causes are likely to include side effects of the treatment that people are receiving for cancer as well as the direct effects of the cancer.

28 Nov 2012

Yoga appears to be effective treatment for neck pain

According to published estimates, some 20 percent of the population suffers from chronic neck pain caused by a variety of structural dysfunctions in the neck, resulting in impaired quality of life and lost work time. A German study published in The Journal of Pain showed that yoga appears to be an effective treatment for neck pain and provides added benefits of improved psychological well being and quality of life.

28 Nov 2012

Exercise relieves cancer fatigue

A review of studies spanning 45 years shows that exercise, particularly aerobic rather than strength- or flexibility-based training, improves fatigue in cancer patients.

21 Nov 2012

Only 3% of patients actually receive stress management counseling: Study

While stress may be a factor in 60 to 80 percent of all visits to primary care physicians, only three percent of patients actually receive stress management counseling, say researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

21 Nov 2012

John Templeton Foundation to continue and extend meditation research project

The John Templeton Foundation has awarded a grant of $2.3 million over three years to continue and extend the Shamatha Project, the most comprehensive investigation yet conducted into the effects of intensive meditation training on mind and body.

20 Nov 2012

Exercise may help improve posture and reduce breast cancer risk in women

The end of the year is fast approaching and you know what that means: As soon as the calendar turns to 2013, you will be vowing to get physically active. But experts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham say with all the benefits you can glean, why wait until you make those New Year's resolutions to get active, especially if you are a woman?

9 Nov 2012

SSRIs should be prescribed with great caution to those attempting to get pregnant

Elevated risk of miscarriage, preterm birth, neonatal health complications and possible longer term neurobehavioral abnormalities, including autism, suggest that a class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) should only be prescribed with great caution and with full counseling for women experiencing depression and attempting to get pregnant, say researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Tufts Medical Center and MetroWest Medical Center.

31 Oct 2012

SSRIs should be prescribed with great caution to those attempting to get pregnant

31 Oct 2012

Complementary and alternative therapy offers self-reported benefits for arthritis patients

Nearly a quarter of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis used complementary and alternative therapy (CAT) to help manage their condition, according to a study in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

30 Oct 2012

Book about triple negative breast cancer

Hope, Treatment, and Recovery by Patricia Prijatel is exactly that-an encouraging guide to surviving a disease often referred to as, "a particularly aggressive and difficult to treat form of cancer." Prijatel is a health journalist who, at the age of 60 was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer [TNBC] a disease which disproportionately affects young women and women of African descent. No book existed on TNBC at the time of Prijatel's diagnosis.

19 Oct 2012