In a recent perspective published in Prostate Cancer and Prostate Diseases, researchers presented the potential benefits of yoga in improving prostate health.
Study: Yoga, benign prostatic hyperplasia and lower urinary tract symptoms: a new path for clinical trials. Image Credit: tommaso lizzul/Shutterstock.com
Background
Yoga is a therapeutic strategy that promotes mental and physical well-being while treating various biological and physiological concerns.
It effectively manages chronic backaches and asthma, as well as improving pulmonary function among individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cancer patients, and cancer survivors.
Yoga can also help in treating schizophrenia, epilepsy, and depression. It strengthens pelvic muscles and improves life quality and urine incontinence following a radical prostatectomy.
Yoga has been effective in improving prostate cancer (PCa), chronic pelvic discomfort, and chronic prostatitis symptomatology. However, the effect of yoga programs on benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) is little understood.
Some researchers have investigated the effects of yoga practices on these parameters, and the results suggest that it may help with BPH and LUTS management.
About the perspective
In the present perspective, researchers describe the impact of yoga exercises on prostatic health.
Yoga, inflammation, the microbiome, and cardiovascular disease
Thai yoga dramatically reduced airway inflammation in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) by lowering the exhaled fraction of nitric oxide (NO) and oxidative stress while enhancing pulmonary output and respiratory muscle performance.
Yoga also helped them manage their blood glucose levels. However, the data on this subject is quite varied.
Yoga did not significantly reduce interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), or C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in trials involving patients experiencing psychological distress.
The primary limitation of this research is the difference in yoga curricula, which may result in diverse effects on inflammatory pathways. Overall, the evidence for yoga's anti-inflammatory benefits is equivocal.
A recent meta-analysis (six studies including 395 people) found that yoga increases brachial fibrillary dysfunction (FFD; mean difference of 1.2%).
Furthermore, yoga has moderate but favorable effects on lipid profile, blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), indicating that it might play an auxiliary role in preventing cardiovascular disease. The findings suggest that yoga might considerably influence cardiovascular risk variables, thus contributing to CVD prevention.
Researchers have proposed yoga as a therapeutic method for addressing microbiome changes in LUTS. Studies have reported that yoga paired with vegan diets enhanced good bacteria in the intestines of 288 individuals, even after three months of completing the Samyama Yoga program.
Further, mindfulness-driven stress management significantly improved symptoms among individuals with interstitial cystitis (IC) or bladder pain syndrome (BPS), measured using the Urogenital Distress Inventory Short Form (UDI-6) and the IC Pain and Symptom Indices.
The medication considerably affected the overall makeup of the urine microbiome, resulting in increased microbial diversity. Future research should examine the effects of yoga exercises on urological diseases.
Association of yoga with prostate cancer
Yoga has improved the quality of life and reduced incontinence in individuals after severe surgery. Yoga can reduce stress symptoms, improve cortisol levels and immunological function, and lower blood pressure.
An organized yoga program of two sessions per week during the radiotherapy (RT) cycle significantly reduced fatigue and improved sexual and urinary dysfunction among PCa patients.
Recent research randomly allocated 29 males with localized PCa to a yoga intervention for six weeks or regular care before performing radical prostatectomy.
Yoga elevated the counts of helper T and cytotoxic T lymphocytes, enhanced interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) production, and fragment crystallizable (Fc) receptor type III counts within natural killer (NK) lymphocytes.
In addition, yoga significantly improved health-associated life quality indicators. These trials provide strong evidence to support research on yoga interventions for PCa patients.
Yoga has impacted numerous pathophysiological pathways involved in LUTS/BPH development. The EAU recommendations advocate lifestyle changes for individuals with moderate LUTS, such as limiting fluid consumption, avoiding coffee and alcohol, using distraction tactics, relieving constipation, engaging in physical exercise, and bladder retraining.
However, further research could assess the benefits of yoga routines in this aspect and its combination with medical care.
Based on this perspective, yoga may improve male health, notably in treating BPH-associated LUTS through various processes.
Yoga improves cardiovascular health by increasing vascularization, gut microbiota restoration, and immunological function by blocking reactive oxygen species and lowering oxidative stress.
Despite peer-reviewed literature and hundreds of novel studies on BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia) and LUTS (Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms), the health implications of yoga exercises require further investigation.
Academic questions remain, such as the advantages of yoga practices in managing LUTS and BPH, the effectiveness of different yoga routines, potential harm, patient satisfaction, and the effects of yoga exercises in lowering anxiety in active cases.
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