Study:Yoga May Help Treat Depression, Anxiety Disorders

[Guest guest]

HealthDay Reporter Thu Jun 7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THURSDAY, June 7 (HealthDay News) -- Yoga's postures, controlled

breathing and meditation may work together to help ease brains plagued by

anxiety or depression, a new study shows.

 

 

Brain scans of yoga practitioners showed a healthy boost in levels of

the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric (GABA) immediately after a

one-hour yoga session. Low brain levels of GABA are associated with

anxiety and depression, the researchers said.

 

 

" I am quite sure that this is the first study that's shown that there's

a real, measurable change in a major neurotransmitter with a behavioral

intervention such as yoga, " said lead researcher Dr. Chris Streeter,

assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology at the Boston University

School of Medicine.

 

 

She believes yoga could prove a useful tool to help people battling

depression and anxiety disorders. " We're not advocating that they chuck

their medication, but I would advise that they could use it as an adjunct

and see how they are doing, " Streeter said.

 

 

Her team published its findings in the May issue of the Journal of

Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

 

 

In the study, the Boston researchers used high-tech magnetic resonance

spectroscopic imaging to gauge levels of GABA in the brains of eight

long-time yoga practitioners and 11 non-practitioners. The participants

were healthy, and none was diagnosed with a major psychiatric

condition.

 

 

Brain scans were taken before the beginning of the experiment. Then,

the yoga group was asked to engage in the meditative practice for 60

minutes, while the non-yoga group simply read. The researchers then

re-scanned each participant's brain, looking specifically at GABA

levels.

 

 

" We showed a 27 percent increase in the brain GABA levels of those

doing yoga -- a really significant increase, " Streeter said. No such

change was noted in the non-practitioners who had just read.

 

 

She said the style or school of yoga practiced didn't seem to matter.

" We had hatha, ashtanga, bikram, vinyasa, and

kripalu " practitioners included in the yoga group, Streeter said,

" and many had been trained in several different schools. "

 

 

According to Streeter, " this all gives us one of the mechanisms by

which yoga may be having a beneficial effect. There could be other

mechanisms. "

 

 

But another expert pointed to what he considered flaws in the

research.

 

 

Zindel Segal, chairman of psychotherapy and a professor of psychology

and psychiatry at the University of Toronto, has for years studied the use

of behavioral interventions to alleviate psychological woes.

 

 

He said the Boston researchers were to be commended for using brain

scan imaging technologies to investigate the effectiveness of these

techniques. But he questioned why the yoga group was simply compared to a

sedentary reading group and not to another movement-based group.

 

 

" Exercise itself may have some effects on GABA, so I think in this

study, you'd really want that comparison, " he said. Including such a

control group would make it clear that it was yoga and not just an hour of

physical exertion that was responsible for the brain changes.

 

 

He also pointed out that all of the people in the study were mentally

healthy, and clinical depression and anxiety disorders involve more than

the " daily fluctuations in stress and tension " that healthy individuals

are prone to.

 

 

" We know that yoga can have a profound effect " on smoothing out life's

daily ups and downs, Segal said. " But so does working out on a Stairmaster

for an hour. "

 

 

Segal also questioned the role of GABA in depression. While it may play

a role in anxiety disorders, " GABA is not one of the main

neurotransmitters that seems to be a part of the depression story, " he

said. Other neurochemicals -- most notably serotonin -- play much bigger

roles in the disorder, he said.

 

 

None of this means that the study's findings are without merit, Segal

said. " In fact, " he said, " we have a program called 'mindfulness-based

cognitive therapy,' where we do use yoga, as well as mindfulness

meditation, " as therapeutic tools. Streeter's findings " suggest the need

for more study of these practices, " he said.

 

 

 

Streeter agreed that her study is probably just a beginning.

 

 

 

" I think what's important about this study is that it shows that by

using really cutting-edge neuroimaging technology, we can measure real

changes in the brain with behavioral interventions -- changes that are

similar to those that we see with pharmacologic treatments, " she said.

 

 

 

Would other mind-body practices -- Tai Chi, for example -- produce

similar effects?

 

 

 

" I think that's very possible, " Streeter said. " I suspect that all

roads lead up the mountain. "