Yoga may help with depression and sleep problems

A review of studies on yoga shows that yoga may benefit those with depression and sleep problems. People with ADHD or schizophrenia may also benefit.

Some people with certain psychiatric conditions may benefit from yoga, according to a new review.

The review, which examined results from 16 well-designed studies of yoga's effect on mental illness, concluded that yoga may have positive effects for people with depression and sleep complaints even if they don't take medication, as well as for people suffering from schizophrenia and ADHD who are taking medication.

However, the review did not find a benefit for people with eating or cognitive disorders.

Studies that have looked at yoga suggest the practice influences chemical messengers in the brain, inflammation in the body, and other biological factors in much the same way antidepressants and psychotherapy do, said study researcher Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke University Medical Center in. [See The Science of Yoga and Why It Works.]

However, the studies in the review had limitations. Most of the studies on depression included patients with mild depression, so it's not clear if the results will apply to those with more severe forms of the disorder. Also, in many of the studies, people performed yoga in groups, and it's difficult to separate the effect of yoga from that of social interaction, Doraiswamy said.

In one study of 69 older adults with mild depression, weekly yoga sessions reduced depression scores by 40 percent at six months. A comparison group of adults who didn't take yoga, and a group that practiced a form of complementary medicine called Ayurveda, did not show changes in depression scores.

In another study of 39 adults who were sleeping poorly (they were receiving chemotherapy), seven weeks of yoga improved sleep quality and reduced the need for sleep aids. People who did not take the yoga sessions (control group) did not have an improvement in sleep.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) says people should not  replace conventional medical care with yoga. Nor should people who practice yoga postpone seeing a health care provider. Patients should tell their doctor about any complementary health practices they use. Anyone with a medical condition should check with a health care provider before starting yoga, NCCAM says.

Pass it on: Yoga may have positive effects for people with depression, complaints, schizophrenia or ADHD.

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Yoga may help with insomnia

Yoga has been found to have many positive effects for people with sleep issues.

Looking for a low-impact exercise routine with high returns for health and sleep? Try yoga.

The pleasures and benefits of yoga are widely understood: Yoga can improve physical strength and flexibility, improve breathing, reduce stress and enhance mental focus. What may be less well known are the positive effects that yoga can have on sleep.

A new study indicates that yoga can help improve sleep among people suffering from chronic insomnia. Researchers at Harvard Medical School investigated how a daily yoga practice might affect sleep for people with insomnia and found broad improvements to measurements of sleep quality and quantity.

In this study, researchers included people with different types of insomnia, evaluating people with both primary and secondary insomnia. Primary insomnia is sleeplessness that develops on its own, independent of any other health problem or sleep disorder. Secondary insomnia develops as a symptom or consequence of another medical condition. Many illnesses and health problems are associated withinsomnia, including cancer, chronic pain conditions such as arthritis and fibromyalgia, and depression. Medications taken for chronic or acute health conditions can also trigger insomnia, as can the use (and abuse) of substances such as alcohol.

Researchers in this study provided their subjects with basic yoga training, then asked them to maintain a daily yoga practice for eight weeks. The study participants kept sleep diaries for two weeks before the yoga regimen began and for the duration of the eight-week study period. In the sleep diaries, they kept a record of the amount of time spent asleep, number of times they awakened during the night, and the duration of time spent sleeping between periods of waking, in addition to other details about nightly sleep amounts and sleep quality. Twenty people completed the eight-week evaluation, and researchers analyzed the information in their sleep diaries to evaluate the influence of yoga on the disrupted sleep of chronic insomnia. They found improvements to several aspects of sleep, including:

• Sleep efficiency
• Total sleep time
• Total wake time
• Sleep onset latency (the amount of time it takes to fall asleep) 
• Wake time after sleep onset

There isn't a great deal of research into the effects of yoga on sleep and its potential value as a treatment for sleep problems and disorders. But we have seen other scientific evidence in recent years of yoga's effectiveness in improving sleep:

• This study of 410 cancer survivors found that yoga was linked to improved sleep quality, reduced feelings of fatigue, reduced frequency of use of sleep medication, and an improved sense of quality of life among patients who practiced yoga twice a week for 75-minute sessions.

• This research looked at the effects of yoga among post-menopausal women with insomnia and found that yoga was linked to a reduction in symptoms and the severity of the sleep disorder. This study also found yoga linked to lower stress levels and an enhanced sense of quality of life.

• In this study of women with osteo-arthritis and sleep problems, an evening yoga practice was linked to significant improvements in sleep efficiency and a decrease in the frequency of individual nights of insomnia.

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder among American adults, with 10-15 percent of the population suffering from chronic insomnia. As many as 40 percent of adults in the U.S. experience some type of insomnia every year. Older people, women, and those with other health problems are at higher risk for insomnia. Despite its prevalence, insomnia, like many other sleep disorders, remains significantly under-diagnosed, according to recent research. This study showed that while 1 percent of the population surveyed had a clinical diagnosis of insomnia, 37 percent of those surveyed showed symptoms of insomnia.

Insomnia may be common, but if left untreated its health consequences can be anything but benign. Chronic insomnia is associated with a number of serious medical conditions:

Insomnia is associated with high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems. This large-scale studyfound that people with insomnia had significantly elevated risk of heart attack. Insomnia is alsoassociated with inflammation in the body, which is itself a risk factor for heart problems and other serious illnesses.

Research indicates that lack of sleep can have negative effects on cognition, and the brain. This study linked insomnia with destruction of gray matter in the brain. This group of four studies, conducted independently of one another, found evidence that poor and fragmented sleep may contribute to impaired cognition as we age.

Insomnia has been found linked to both anxiety and depression. The relationship between sleeplessness and these mental health disorders is still being understood, including whether one condition precipitates the other. But insomnia, depression and anxiety share a deep and difficult connection.

Lack of sleep, and disrupted sleep, is also associated with obesity. We've seen extensive research that shows under-sleeping is linked to weight gain and the diseases associated with obesity.

With so much at stake, finding effective treatment for insomnia is an important endeavor. Sometimes medication can be an appropriate choice, but any treatment is best to begin with basic lifestyle changes. Yoga and other regular forms of exercise can help to form the basis of a long-term, sustainable lifestyle that helps you sleep more, and better.

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Yoga can help some sleep issues

Research looks into how yoga can help those who suffer from chronic insomnia and other sleep problems.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Sleep Foundation, millions of Americans suffer from sleep problems. Sleep deprivation is reported to affect two-thirds of American adults and is considered an important public health concern. Sleep experts recommend adults get 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night for good health and optimum performance, yet the majority of adults get considerably less.

No doubt the epidemic proportions of this problem stem from our nonstop society, where millions of people trade off quality sleep time for more work time. Stress, anxiety, and depression are also important causes of sleep problems, such as insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy.

Chronic sleep deprivation can increase the risk of serious health problems, including heart disease, strokeand breast cancer.

Research reports that yoga practice can help to alleviate sleep problems. For a natural, drug-free way to promote restful sleep, try yoga for sweet dreams.

Yoga Can Help Relieve Chronic Insomnia

A study published in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback found yoga helped relieve chronic insomnia.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston taught 20 study participants yoga breathing, meditation and mantra (sacred sound recitation) in one training session.

The participants practiced the yoga treatment before bedtime on their own and with brief in-person and telephone follow ups for eight weeks. The subjects maintained a sleep-wake diary for two weeks prior to treatment and for eight weeks during the treatment period.

The participants' sleep efficiency, total sleep time, total wake time, sleep onset latency, wake time after sleep onset, number of awakenings, and sleep quality measures were assessed from their sleep-wake diary entries.

Researchers found that the participants had significantly improved sleep efficiency, total sleep time, total wake time, sleep onset latency, and wake time after sleep onset at the end of treatment compared with before the treatment.

"Yoga is an effective treatment because it addresses insomnia's physical and psychological aspects," says study author Sat Bir Khalsa, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and associate neuroscientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in a statement.

Yoga Helps Ease Sleep Problems

A 2012 randomized study, published in the journal Menopause, found yoga helps ease sleep problems and menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women. All the participants were not on hormone therapy and were diagnosed with insomnia.

Brazilian researchers assigned 44 menopausal women with insomnia to yoga, physical therapy stretches, or no treatment for four months. Questionnaires evaluating insomnia, menopause symptoms, anxiety and depression symptoms, stress, and quality of life were obtained from the participants.

The yoga and physical therapy groups participated in sessions two times per week. The yoga program included yoga stretches and Tibetan yoga breathing.

The researchers found that the yoga participants had significantly reduced insomnia severity and menopause symptoms and improved quality of life and stress resistance compared to the control group. In addition, the yoga group had significantly fewer sleep problems than the physical therapy group.

"This study showed that a specific sequence of yoga might be effective in reducing insomnia and menopausal symptoms as well as improving quality of life in postmenopausal women with insomnia," the study authors conclude.

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Docs rope in on yoga experts to treat neurological disorders

With huge treatment gap for a increasing cases of mental and neurological disorders in the country, health experts are pitching in for traditional yoga to help the mentally ill patients to cope through their situation.

Their claim is not without reasons. Various studies have revealed that specific yoga postures along with pranayama have delivered positive results in the mentally depressed patients —both suffering from minor disorders as well as severe as schizophrenia.

Says Professor Smita Deshpande, Head of Psychiatric Department, RML Hospital: “We would definitely recommend yogasana to mentally disturbed people. Its effectiveness has been proven in our three-and-a-half-year pilot study concluded in 2009. The study revealed that the patients on our specific yoga regiment comprising of pranayama and Jalneti reported improvement in their thought process as well bringing positive change in them.”

Encouraged by the results, the hospital authorities initiated a five-year study last year in December in association with the US-based National Institute of Health (NIH) to confirm the results of the pilot project. “In this study we are having three groups-one comprising of patients on yoga regime plus medication, second group of patients provided with physical fitness and medication and the third group only on medication,” says Prof Deshpande.

So far 64 patients suffering from minor to major disorders such as bipolar mental disorders and schizophrenia have been enrolled under a three weeks programme. They are being regularly followed up, said the health expert. The positive results revealed that yoga helped those with mental illness to cope through their situation.

“I would definitely recommend yoga to all such patients as it helps them to cope through their anxiety and mood disorders. In other words, yoga along with the medicine can bring significant improvement in their situation,” Prof Despande said.

Read more: http://dailypioneer.com/nation/12076-docs-rope-in-on-yoga-experts-to-treat-neurological-disorders.html