Published in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice, the study from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) provided evidence that yoga can be a helpful complementary treatment for clinical depression or major depressive disorder.
To reach this conclusion, a group of 30 clinically depressed patients were randomly divided into two groups.
Both groups engaged in lyengar yoga (founded by B.K.S. Iyengar) and coherent breathing with the only difference being the number of instructional and home sessions in which each group participated.
Over three months, the high-dose group spent 123 hours in sessions while the low-dose group spent 87 hours.
Results showed that within a month, both groups' sleep quality significantly improved.
Tranquillity, positivity, physical exhaustion and symptoms of anxiety and depression significantly improved in both groups, as measured by several validated clinical scales
"Think of it this way, we give medications in different doses in order to enact their effects on the body to varying degrees. Here, we explored the same concept but used yoga. We call that a dosing study," explained Chris Streeter, associate professor of psychiatry at BUSM.
Past yoga and depression studies have not really delved deeply into this.
"The data is crucial for accompanying investigations of underlying neurobiology that will help elucidate 'how' yoga works," added study co-author Marisa M. Silveri, neuroscientist at McLean Hospital and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Research has shown combining therapy and medication has greater success than either treatment alone.
Although studies with more participants would be helpful in further investigating its benefits, this small study indicates adding yoga to the prescription may be helpful.
The research team evaluated three classroom-based wellness training programs that incorporate breathing and emotional intelligence strategies, finding that two led to improvements in aspects of wellbeing.
The most effective programme led to improvements in six areas, including depression and social connectedness.
The researchers, who reported findings in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry, said such resiliency training programmes could be a valuable tool for addressing the mental health crisis on university campuses.
"Student mental health has been on the decline over the last 10 years, and with the pandemic and racial tensions, things have only gotten worse," said study lead author Emma Seppala from the Yale University in the US.
For the findings, the research team conducted the study, which tested three skill-building training programs on 135 undergraduate subjects for eight weeks (30 hours total) and measured results against those of a non-intervention control group.
They found that a training programme called SKY Campus Happiness, developed by the Art of Living Foundation, which relies on a breathing technique called SKY Breath Meditation, yoga postures, social connection, and service activities, was most beneficial.
Following the SKY sessions, students reported improvements in six areas of wellbeing: depression, stress, mental health, mindfulness, positive affect, and social connectedness.A second programme called Foundations of Emotional Intelligence, developed by the Yale resulted in one improvement: greater mindfulness -- the ability for students to be present and enjoy the moment.
A third programme called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, which relies heavily on mindfulness techniques, resulted in no reported improvements.
"Now that I have these techniques to help me, I would say that my mentality is a lot healthier," study participant Davornne Lindo said.
"I can devote time to studying and not melting down. Races have gone better. Times are dropping." Another participant in the SKY programme," Lindo added.
Anna Wilkinson, who participated in the study, said she was not familiar with the positive benefits of breathing exercises before the training, but now uses the technique regularly.
"I didn't realise how much of it was physiology, how you control the things inside you with breathing. I come out of breathing and meditation as a happier, more balanced person, which is something I did not expect at all," Wilkinson said.
(IANS)
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