Yoga to Ease Inflammation
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 5:56AM
Practicing yoga may not only relax you, it may also lower levels of compounds in the blood that promote inflammation. New research from Ohio State University shows that women who routinely practiced yoga had lower amounts of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a component of the body's inflammatory response that may play a role in heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, arthritis and other chronic diseases. What's more, these "expert" women with at least two years' experience practicing yoga were also able to maintain lower levels of IL-6 when they were deliberately stressed. Study participants included 50 women, average age 41, who were classified as experts or novices depending on their yoga experience. After being stressed (by being asked to solve difficult mathematical problems without pen and paper after having a foot immersed in icy water) the novices' IL-6 levels were 41 percent higher than the yoga experts'. So take note: yoga can not only keep you flexible and mellow, it may actually protect you from disease. The study was published online in Psychosomatic Medicine on January 11, 2010.
Find more information on yoga and yoga poses here.
Reader Comments (2)
The ability to minimize inflammatory responses to stressful encounters influences the burden that stressors place on an individual. If yoga dampens or limits stress-related changes, then regular practice could have substantial health benefits.
The most important benefit of yoga is physical and mental therapy. According to medical scientists, yoga therapy is successful because of the balance created in the nervous and endocrine systems which directly influences all the other systems and organs of the body. In markets many types of fitness equipment are also available. its also help us to maintain our health.