Way to Wellness through Yoga

Our series on exercise and wellness would be incomplete without a column on Yoga. At the outset I must confess that I am not an expert on yoga and will offer my sceptic observations as a medical scientist.

Of the numerous reports in the literature on the effects of Yoga on various aspects of health such as insulin resistance, heart and fatty liver, very few stand up to scientific scrutiny as the trials have not been designed in line with modern medical requirements. 

When asked to review this topic for an international conference a few years back, I could find only 25 eligible studies of which just 4 were randomized controlled ones (considered to be scientifically well designed), 6 were non-randomized controlled trials (these studies are subject to bias in evaluating outcome), and 15 were uncontrolled studies (likely to be biased by the person conducting it as there are no controls).

Having explained the limitations and lacunae let me turn to the positive side: what did the studies show? Nineteen of the 20 studies that looked at the effect of Yoga on insulin resistance (the key underlying factor responsible for coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and fatty liver) showed significant improvement.  Regular yoga brought about a 6-34% reduction in fasting glucose levels and significantly improved HbA1C levels in diabetics!

The improvement in health parameters with Yoga in fact went beyond to significant improvement in lipid profile (reduction in bad cholesterol and increase in good cholesterol levels), decrease in weight and enhancement in cardiac function.

Further, yoga has several additional benefits. It tones up all the muscles, joints and nerves of the body, and provides a great sense of fitness and energy. The real advantage of yoga over other forms of exercise, that often gets overlooked, is that it focuses on breathing, making it coordinated, rhythmic and invigorating, exerting a positive effect on the mind in turn.

Despite the growing popularity of Yoga in several parts of the world, Yoga, unlike modern medicine, still unfortunately remains scattered, fanciful and whimsical largely due to lack of uniformity and standardization. Every yoga teacher seems to have an individualistic approach, lays claim to his being not just the best but often the only right way of doing it, and spares little effort in denigrating other teachers and methods, causing considerable confusion in the minds of aspirants.

It is time that Yoga gurus held a conference and thrashed out their claims and differences, and presented a unified realistic balanced picture of this precious Indian therapy to the world. I have seen several faithful followers suddenly stopping their blood pressure and diabetes medications on the exalted claims of their Yoga gurus that they can cure everything, and land up in the emergency in crisis.

To get the maximum benefit from Yoga, choose the right asanas that you need and pay due heed to its emphasis on breathing and focussing of the mind.It could be transformational experience!

As published in HT City ( Hindustan Times) dated 9th March, 2014.