3 Ways Yoga Helps Improve Depression

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3 Ways Yoga Helps Improve Depression
Yoga is a great tool for reducing stress and improving depressive symptoms. Those who practice it know it and more and more studies corroborate it and explain why.
3 Ways Yoga Helps Improve Depression

After practicing yoga most people feel better. If you have tried it, you will know that the combination of asanas, work with breathing and relaxation, allow you to recover even for a while the tranquility, the ability to be more present in what happens around you and the feeling of being more centered and comfortable in your body.

But these positive effects on mood aren’t just a sensation. There are numerous studies that relate the practice of yoga of different styles with better mental health and even with the reduction of depressive symptoms.

Some of these studies point to changes that yoga induces in the body and in our way of responding to stress, and that translate into an improvement in mood. Here are some of those changes:

YOGA INCREASES GABA LEVELS ASSOCIATED WITH BETTER MOOD

This is one possible avenue by which yoga might help reduce symptoms of depression. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a brain neurotransmitter that acts on the central nervous system by inhibiting it and reducing excitability. Low levels of GABA are associated with insomnia and different mood disorders, such as anxiety, sadness and depression. They have also been associated with schizophrenia.

According to a study from Boston University, published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicinepracticing yoga increases GABA levels for several days in people suffering from depression. Researchers believe that the increase is produced by the stimulation of the parasympathetic system that is achieved with the combination of asanas and breath work of yoga.

To conduct the study, 30 patients diagnosed with depression were divided into two groups. Both groups practiced Iyengar yoga asanas combined with breathwork in 90-minute sessions and then 30-minute sessions at home.

One group conducted three guided sessions per week and four sessions at home, while the other conducted only two guided sessions and three at home, in both cases for three months in a row. Specifically, the practice they carried out was:

  • In guided sessions (90 minutes): 60 minutes of hatha yoga asanas + 10 minutes of relaxation + 20 minutes of audio-guided mindful breathing (5 breaths per minute, no air retention, equalizing inspiration and expiration)
  • In the sessions at home (30 minutes): 15 minutes of hatha yoga asanas + 15 minutes of guided mindful breathing (the same pattern as in the guided session)

Participants underwent MRIs at the beginning and end of the study period and were asked to answer questionnaires to assess their depressive symptoms. MRI examinations revealed that GABA levels increased in both groups, with no significant differences between them.

What was seen is that the increase was maintained until 4 days after the last session practiced, but that after 8 days the increase ceased to be significant. The bottom line, according to the researchers, is that regular yoga practice can help raise GABA levels, but that regular practice is needed to keep them elevated. Of course, a yoga session of 90 minutes per week is enough to achieve it.

In a previous study, published in the journal Neuropsychiatry, the same researchers had also found that GABA levels in people with depression are comparable to those of people without depression after a similar intervention of three months of yoga with breathing techniques.

REDUCES CORTISOL LEVELS THAT INCREASE WITH STRESS

Stress is closely linked to depressive symptoms. In people diagnosed with depression, it is common for cortisol levels, known as the stress hormone, to be elevated. Several studies relate the practice of yoga with a reduction in cortisol levels.

According to a study by the University of Chettinad, in Chenai (India), yoga not only decreases cortisol levels but also increases those of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which is usually low in people with stress and depression.

For three months, the researchers measured cortisol and BDNF levels in 51 patients with depression divided into three groups: some took only antidepressants, others practiced yoga and those in the third group combined medication with yoga practice.

The results were clear: a correlation between reduced cortisol levels and increased BDNF was observed both in the group of participants who only practiced yoga and in those who took medication and practiced yoga, but not in those who only took medication, which opens the door to considering yoga as a valid tool to address depression both in people who They take medication as in those who do 

REDUCES THE SIZE OF THE RIGHT AMYGDALA, RELATED TO NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

The amygdala is an almond-shaped structure of the brain located in the anterior part of the temporal lobes. It is part of the limbic system, is responsible for activating the fight-flight response in stressful situations and plays an essential role in the regulation of emotions and emotional memory.

To fulfill these functions, one of the tasks of the amygdala is to be attentive to possible dangers. The right amygdala is responsible for external stimuli; the left, of the inmates. In people with depression, it has been observed that the right tonsil usually has an increased size.

From the data collected for the famous Rotterdam Study initiated in the nineties, which analyzes multiple health variables of more than 15,000 people over 45 years, a group of researchers led by Rinske A. Gotink looked at a subgroup of 3,742 participants who practiced yoga and meditation and who not only provided information about this practice but, in addition, they had undergone different MRIs over the years.

What they found was that, regardless of the style of yoga and how often they practiced, practicing yoga and meditation regularly was associated in these people with a smaller size of the right amygdala and a better ability to manage stress.

Other ways that have been pointed out by which yoga could contribute to improving depressive states is by decreasing the inflammatory processes associated with depression or reversing the harmful effects of stress on genes.

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