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Stress, Inflammation, and Yoga Practice
Abstract
To address the mechanisms underlying hatha yoga's potential stress-reduction benefits, we compared inflammatory and endocrine responses of novice and expert yoga practitioners before, during, and after a restorative hatha yoga session, as well as in two control conditions. Stressors before each of the three conditions provided data on the extent to which yoga speeded an individual's physiological recovery.
A total of 50 healthy women (mean age, 41.32 years; range, 30-65 years), 25 novices and 25 experts, were exposed to each of the conditions (yoga, movement control, and passive-video control) during three separate visits.
The yoga session boosted participants' positive affect compared with the control conditions, but no overall differences in inflammatory or endocrine responses were unique to the yoga session. Importantly, even though novices and experts did not differ on key dimensions, including age, abdominal adiposity, and cardiorespiratory fitness, novices' serum interleukin (IL)-6 levels were 41% higher than those of experts across sessions, and the odds of a novice having detectable C-reactive protein (CRP) were 4.75 times as high as that of an expert. Differences in stress responses between experts and novices provided one plausible mechanism for their divergent serum IL-6 data; experts produced less lipopolysaccharide-stimulated IL-6 in response to the stressor than novices, and IL-6 promotes CRP production.
The ability to minimize inflammatory responses to stressful encounters influences the burden that stressors place on an individual. If yoga dampens or limits stress-related changes, then regular practice could have substantial health benefits.
... Next, we provide qualitative summaries of the results for each yoga component, followingthe structure of the evidence maps (i.e., yoga component, outcome category, study design), to facilitate information retrieval. In summary, although somewhat heterogeneous, neural results from long-term meditative and postural studies reveal structural and functional changes in brain regions related to sensorimotor, interoceptive, [55,57,59]. ...
... Another two studies investigated emotional interference in behavioral tasks and their neurophysiological correlates. During an affective Stroop, the behavioral performance of long-term practitioners was not different from that of controls, but practitioners had lower cardiovascular reactivity during the task [59]. Similarly, another study revealed no differences in affective Stroop performance between practitioners and controls, but identified a greater recruitment of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during negative (vs. neutral) distractors, which might suggest the use of frontal executive-dependent regulatory strategies [57]. ...
... Accordingly, Lee et al. [78] described metabolic parameters consistent with vigorous physical activity levels during high-intensity hatha yoga, which included fast-paced sun salutations (> 6 metabolic equivalents). Another study reported that more experienced practitioners exhibited greater heart rate variability in an Iyengar yoga session than in a relaxation control condition [65], and lower interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels [59]. ...
Background
Compared with short-term practices, long-term yoga might promote differential qualitative and quantitative outcomes. Following JBI’s and PRISMA-ScR guidelines, this scoping review followed an apriori and systematic protocol to document the long-term effects of yoga on neural, cognitive, psychological, and physiological outcomes, provide evidence maps for each yoga component, and summarize results identifying knowledge gaps and promising directions.
Methods
Four databases (PubMed, Cochrane, LILACS, and PubPsych) were last searched in March 2023. Studies were included if they evaluated adults with > 1 year of practice, specified yoga-based practice(s) of interest, measured neural, cognitive, psychological, and/or physiological outcomes, were written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, presented original data, and mentioned search terms in the title/abstract. Evidence maps for each yoga component followed a 4-level structure of outcome category, method, study design and literature size. Qualitative summaries followed the same structure, to facilitate information retrieval.
Results
Out of 2270 screened studies, 65 were included (meditative studies = 36, predominantly postural studies = 25, breathing practice studies = 8). Physiologicaland neural outcomes were the most common, followed by psychological and cognitive outcomes. Although heterogeneous, neural results reveal structural and functional changes related to sensorimotor, interoceptive, emotion regulation, and executive functions. Physiologically, most studies have associated long-term practice with parasympathetic-driven autonomic, hormonal and immune responses, but some studies revealed sympathetic-driven or mixed responses, maybe due to the specific technique or individual differences. Psychological outcomes included lower levels of negative affect, psychopathological symptoms, and emotional reactivity. Cognitive measures have shown improved memory/cognition for older adults, but mixed or null effects for other constructs. Commonly, however, long-term practitioners demonstrated improved neural or physiological efficiency while performing cognitive tasks.
Conclusions
Future research should provide clear descriptions of the investigated yoga practice, employ more experimental paradigms, and refine statistical reports and models. We encourage researchers to work with specific overarching theoretical frameworks to refine research predictions, such as the neurovisceral integration model or predictive coding models; to consider motivational, cultural, and contextual factors that might influence long-term outcomes; and to develop systematic reviews and meta-analyses as next steps of evidence summary.
... Various MBTs, including yoga, modulate the central nervous system directly or indirectly by invoking the whole body, neural and peripheral neural connections, and alterations in neurotransmitters in the central nervous system, resulting in increased calm; decreased stress, anxiety, and depression; and regulation of circadian rhythms. [17][18][19] Yoga has been used as a successful complementary therapy for recent and long-standing psychological disturbances, anxiety, insomnia, PTSD, and general well-being in various patient populations. [17][18][19][20] Also, a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials for behavioral modification involving yoga with either usual care or psychological/educational interventions showed yoga to be as safe as usual care. ...
... [17][18][19] Yoga has been used as a successful complementary therapy for recent and long-standing psychological disturbances, anxiety, insomnia, PTSD, and general well-being in various patient populations. [17][18][19][20] Also, a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials for behavioral modification involving yoga with either usual care or psychological/educational interventions showed yoga to be as safe as usual care. 21 Yoga nidra is the state of yogic sleep, also called psychic sleep, sleeping consciously, or deep relaxation with inner awareness. ...
... These validated scales are copyright-free, free to use, and include instructions on measurement. The PHQ-9 (range 0-27) was interpreted as normal/minimal (0-4), mild (5-9), moderate (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), moderately severe (15)(16)(17)(18)(19), or severe (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27) depression. 34 The GAD-7 (range 0-21) was interpreted as normal/minimal (0-4), mild (5-9), moderate (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), or severe (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21) anxiety. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge of mental health disturbances and the subsequent use of various mind-body therapies. Although evidence supports the benefits of yoga for mental health in a variety of disease states, information on its effects among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 epidemic is scarce. Therefore, this study evaluated and compared the efficacy of relaxation to music and yoga nidra on the mental health of frontline healthcare workers during the pandemic. This open-label randomized trial was conducted at a Level III COVID-19 care center. In the Relaxation-to-Music Group, participants received deep relaxation music, whereas those in the Yoga Nidra Group performed yoga nidra practices; both interventions were delivered through a YouTube platform and were to be done daily for 30 minutes during the healthcare workers' 2-week duty periods. The primary outcomes were measured using scores of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)-7 scale, and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) at the end of the duty period. A total of 79 healthcare workers were randomly divided into two groups: (1) Relaxation-to-Music (n = 40) and (2) Yoga Nidra (n = 39). Demographics; clinical characteristics; and PHQ-9, GAD-7, and ISI scores of the two groups were comparable at baseline. In the Yoga Nidra Group, PHQ-9 scores decreased significantly (5.17 ± 4.25 to 3.03 ± 2.40, p = 0.002) compared to the Relaxation-to-Music Group (5.68 ± 4.73 to 4.34 ± 2.90, p = 0.064). Similarly, GAD-7 scores decreased significantly in the Yoga Nidra Group (4.93 ± 3.27 to 2.33 ± 2.56, p < 0.001) compared to the Relaxation-to-Music Group (4.84 ± 3.94 to 4.03 ± 3.56, p = 0.123). ISI scores also decreased significantly in the Yoga Nidra Group (6.10 ± 3.53 to 3.03 ± 2.88, p < 0.001) compared to the Relaxation-to-Music Group (6.09 ± 5.37 to 5.93 ± 5.95, p = 0.828). In this study, yoga nidra practice was more helpful than relaxation to music in reducing depression, anxiety, and insomnia among frontline COVID-19 healthcare workers during their duty periods.
... A variety of stress-reduction techniques have demonstrated beneficial effects for reducing stress and improving mental health and quality of life, including cognitive behavioral therapy (Antoni et al. 2009), mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions (Gallegos et al. 2015), meditation (Rosenkranz et al. 2016), and yoga (Kiecolt-Glaser et al. 2010). Moreover, psychological interventions including cognitive behavioral stress management (Antoni et al. 2009;Gallegos et al. 2015), meditation (Rosenkranz et al. 2016), and yoga (Kiecolt-Glaser et al. 2010) have been demonstrated to improve immune function in diverse populations, including healthy individuals, women exposed to trauma, and cancer patients. ...
... A variety of stress-reduction techniques have demonstrated beneficial effects for reducing stress and improving mental health and quality of life, including cognitive behavioral therapy (Antoni et al. 2009), mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions (Gallegos et al. 2015), meditation (Rosenkranz et al. 2016), and yoga (Kiecolt-Glaser et al. 2010). Moreover, psychological interventions including cognitive behavioral stress management (Antoni et al. 2009;Gallegos et al. 2015), meditation (Rosenkranz et al. 2016), and yoga (Kiecolt-Glaser et al. 2010) have been demonstrated to improve immune function in diverse populations, including healthy individuals, women exposed to trauma, and cancer patients. These stress-reduction interventions seem to result in a healthy balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic arousal (Chaoul et al. 2014). ...
___________________________________________________________ The effects of psychological stress on clinically important human immune system outcomes, such as inflammatory processes, wound healing, responses to infectious agents, and other immunological challenges, have been conclusively demonstrated by research over the last three to four decades (e.g., vaccinations, autoimmunity, cancer). Individuals differ in their capacity to handle stressful life events, as well as in how they perceive stress and how they feel. The degree to which stressors have a negative impact on immune function can be altered by depressive symptoms, unfavorable life events, and stressors. Key research connecting common stressors to immune function and health is summarized in this presentation. Additionally, a complex plausible mechanism that explains how persistent stress and high levels of inflammation might have detrimental effects on people's health, including cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease is outlined. Understanding the impacts of more extreme stressors, such as those faced during space travel, a complex environmental, physiological, and psychological challenge with numerous negative effects on human health, depends heavily on research analyzing stresses in daily life.
... There are reverberatory neural connections between CRH and noradrenergic neurons. There is reduction in levels of IL-6 in meditation practitioners and also it is found to be less in yoga experts in comparison to new yoga practitioners (4,12). Hence, Yoga may also help in immunomodulation (4,13). ...
... Yoga has been linked to improvements in mental and physical health through mechanistic theories that emphasise decreases in SNS tone (18 ,19) and rise in vagal activity (19). These changes may have positive effects on the immune system and endocrine system, including decreased inflammation (12). Though yoga offers so many benefits it is not suggested by modern medicine practitioners. ...
Introduction: Yoga is a science that dates back thousands of years to India. Yoga practise may assist to reduce the physical and mental stress that medical students experience during their coursework, which can help them perform better in class. Therefore, the study was undertaken to assess undergraduate medical student’s knowledge, attitudes, and yoga practise, as well as their awareness of yoga's health advantages. Methods: Using a predesigned questionnaire/Google form, the current study was carried out among medical undergraduate students at a tertiary care educational hospital. After taking their informed consent to participate in the study, a total of 305 partakers were recruited. One sample proportion Z test, using normal distribution (two tailed) was applied to percentage of knowledge, positive attitude and good practice based on answers given by respondents to the questions. Results: Knowledge about yoga was 73.44%; 71.11% students had positive attitude towards yoga. Good practice of yoga was followed by 85.24% of medical students. Higher percentage shows knowledge (p=< 0.001), good practice (p<0.001) positive attitude (p<0.001) to be statistically significant. Conclusion: Results indicate that medical students had good knowledge, attitudes, and practises about yoga. We suggest some part of theoretical and practical knowledge regarding yoga practice to be inculcated in the curriculum of medical students. This will help these future budding doctors to guide the patients with chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes mellitus etc. in respect of non-pharmacological measures like yoga.
... The practice of HY is associated with reduced stress levels in the body. [24] Both the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) are downregulated by yoga, preventing the release of the stress chemicals cortisol and catecholamines. [25] The practice of Sudarshan Kriya Yoga is known to help patients with depression. ...
... [22] Yoga helps to combat the negative effects of chronic stress on the cardiovascular system by boosting relaxation and lowering the body's stress response. [24] Yoga also has an effect on the immune system, which is important in the formation and progression of CVDs. It has been discovered that regular practice increases the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines while decreasing the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. ...
Cardiovascular morbidity is the leading cause of death worldwide. Physical activity, including aerobic, balance, flexibility, and muscle and bone strengthening, can prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) at lower cost. Yoga is a natural treatment option that does not involve taking medications or other artificial substances, which may be appealing to some people who prefer to use natural remedies whenever possible. In addition to lowering blood pressure, yoga has many other health benefits, such as improving flexibility, strength, and stress management. This paper aims to discuss the role of yoga in preventing various CVDs. We aimed to review the studies on the various forms of yoga and the mechanisms that lead to cardioprotective advantages. We also discussed some of yoga's harmful side effects. We have covered two types of yoga in depth: Hatha Yoga (HY) and pranayama . We have done a thorough review of the literature using a PubMed search. Different keywords such as Yoga, cardiovascular disease (CVD), pranayama , Hatha Yoga (HY), Kapālabhāti , stress, anxiety, hypertension, coronary artery disease, asana, rate pressure product (RPP), and Double Product (DoP) were used to write the review. Yoga is a form of physical exercise that involves a series of postures, breathing techniques, and meditation practices. Recent research suggests that practicing it has potential benefits for cardiovascular health, including reducing blood pressure, improving heart rate variability, and reducing cholesterol levels. This may make it a more attractive option for people who want to improve their health and well-being. Here, we report that, according to current evidence, yoga has reduced mortality by preventing conditions that lead to the development of CVDs. However, further study is necessary to provide more convincing evidence for the widespread implementation of yoga as a treatment for CVDs.
... (4) High-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and interleukin 10 (IL-10) reflect the degree of inflammation in the body, and high levels of hs-CRP (≥2.78 mg/L) and IL-6 (≥3.19 pg/mL) have been associated with increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular events and death. (5)(6)(7)(8)(9) Yoga presents an effective method of treating hypertension that is nonpharmacologic and therefore there are no adverse effects and there are other valuable health benefits including decreasing the levels of oxidative stress in hypertensive patients. (10,11) Some studies suggest that yoga practice lowers the levels of hs-CRP and IL-6 (6,12) and increases levels of antiinflammatory proteins that in turn increases IL-10 levels. ...
... (5)(6)(7)(8)(9) Yoga presents an effective method of treating hypertension that is nonpharmacologic and therefore there are no adverse effects and there are other valuable health benefits including decreasing the levels of oxidative stress in hypertensive patients. (10,11) Some studies suggest that yoga practice lowers the levels of hs-CRP and IL-6 (6,12) and increases levels of antiinflammatory proteins that in turn increases IL-10 levels. (13) Further yoga decreases levels of salivary cortisol, (14,15) blood glucose, (16,17) as well as plasma rennin levels, and 24-h urine nor-epinephrine and epinephrine levels. ...
Introduction: Numerous studies have shown an increase in the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality with raised blood pressure above 130/90 mm Hg. Good control of hypertension is very important to prevent its complications. Few studies suggested that yoga practice lowers the levels of inflammatory markers like hs-CRP, IL-6 as well as plasma renin levels, and blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Aim of the present study was to assess the changes in high sensitive CRP levels, plasma renin activity and blood pressure among hypertensive patients practicing yoga exercises. Materials and Method: Forty five hypertensive patients involved, were subjected for six months of yoga exercises. Blood pressure, plasma renin and high sensitive CRP levels were estimated before the starting and at the end of six months study period. The data obtained were analyzed using MedCalc Statistical Software version 12.7.8 with t-test for paired data and P value was considered significant below 0.05. Results: There was statistically significant decrease in both systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure and hs-CRP with p<0.05, however no significant change was observed in plasma renin activity. Conclusion: Six months of yoga practice has significant effects by causing decrease in both systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure and hs-CRP, but no change was observed in plasma rennin activity and hence yoga can be used as adjunctive treatment with drug therapy.
... The pro-inflammatory markers include IL-6, while the anti-inflammatory markers include IL-17 [38]. It has been found that those who practice yoga regularly had decreased levels of inflammatory markers CRP, ESR, and IL-6 than those new to yoga [39][40][41][42]. This makes it plausible to suggest that the regular practice of yoga decreases these inflammatory markers and thus indicates it as a treatment option for autoimmune pathologies involving these markers. ...
Yoga has been explored as a health modality to maintain mental and physical health and as a complementary therapy for managing various medical conditions. It has been most recently researched for its ability to decrease inflammatory markers responsible for various ailments. This opens the door for its potential role as an adjunct therapy in inflammatory-led dysfunctions such as autoimmune disorders. Although there has been a robust amount of data on yoga and autoimmune conditions, previous reviews have mostly been limited to the physical improvements that patients experience rather than the mental health changes. This scoping review aims to address the role of yoga as an effective therapy choice in treatment and management options for the mental health symptoms associated with autoimmune disorders. The initial search revealed 211 relevant studies, but following an extensive review, 11 articles were included in the final analysis. Yoga interventions ranged from six weeks to up to six months and included Iyengar yoga, Hatha yoga, and generalized yoga practices that did not fit into a specific subtype. Eight articles analyzed patients with multiple sclerosis, two focused on rheumatoid arthritis and one assessed irritable bowel disease. Between the 11 studies included in this review, the key markers analyzed were stress level, anxiety, sleep, self-efficacy, depression, and emotional fatigue. Significant improvement was found in all these subtypes. Yoga is a viable, non-pharmaceutical treatment for both the physical and mental health components of patients with autoimmune disorders.
... [49] Of note, a more balanced immune function was found in yoga experts than novices, [36] thus supporting the evidence that constant practice can lead to long-lasting beneficial effects. [50] On the other hand, the potential side effects of yoga should be taken into account, especially when this practice is applied to patients affected by AN. Actually, a study reported that long-term practitioners could show a high prevalence of orthorexia as well as more concerns for physical appearance than beginners. ...
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychiatric condition associated with high disability and mortality. The purpose of the present manuscript is to critically summarize evidence about the effectiveness of yoga for this condition. A bibliographic search was conducted in the main database sources (PubMed, Embase, and Scopus). Articles in English about the effectiveness of yoga in AN were included. Two hundred thirty-three articles were initially identified and 5 articles were included in the present review. With the exception of one study, all had several methodological limitations such as the presence of confounding factors (e.g., psychiatric comorbidity) or a too limited sample of patients. However, globally yoga seems to ameliorate AN symptoms, especially those regarding emotional dysregulation. Yoga is a candidate complementary treatment for the management of AN, but more randomized controlled studies with larger samples and limited bias are necessary to draw robust conclusions. It would be also interesting to verify in comparative trials the effectiveness of yoga with respect to other treatments such as psychotherapy or the administration of pharmacological compounds. Finally, the practice should be modified adapting to the specific needs of this type of patient.
... Such stimulation results in the normalisation of blood pressure and heart rate (Janet and Gowri 2017;Joshi et al. 2016) and modulation of HRV (heart rate variability) values (Kromenacker et al. 2018). Alongside these neurovegetative adjustments, reductions in blood (Kiecolt-Glaser et al. 2010) and salivary cortisol (Perciavalle et al. 2017) levels have been observed following DB. Interestingly, cortisol changes also correlate with alterations in cytokines patterns (Twal, Wahlquist, and Balasubramanian 2016). ...
We examined the feasibility of using the neofunctional deep breathing (NDB) technique to reduce the allostatic load following the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Forty‐four healthy subjects were randomised into experimental and control groups. Following the TSST procedure, participants underwent either a single session of NDB or an attention control intervention. The Procomp Infinity Biofeedback system measured breath per minute (BPM), respiratory amplitude, HRV linear domains, skin conductance, and trapezius muscle electromyographic activity. Cortisol and cytokine salivary concentrations, perceived stress, and anxiety levels were also assessed. These parameters were combined into an allostatic load index (ALI) to measure the intervention's effect. This pilot RCT demonstrated the feasibility of the study design and practicality of the intervention. The NDB group showed reduced ALI, increased respiratory abdominal amplitude, decreased BPM, increased HRV indicating parasympathetic activation, and decreased cortisol and inflammatory cytokines. This study highlighted the feasibility of testing the NDB technique in reducing allostatic load through a neurobiological and anti‐inflammatory response after exposure to psychosocial stress. This protocol can represent a non‐invasive therapeutic adjutant in disorders related to a dysregulation of the HPA axis or to an inflammatory state.
Trial Registration: NCT04102813
... These mechanisms encompass both psychological and biological processes. Psychological processes, such as enhanced mindfulness (Brisbon & Lowery, 2011;Shelov et al., 2009), and increased positive affect (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2010), self-compassion (Braun et al., 2012), and self-awareness (Arora & Bhattacharjee, 2008), have been proposed as mechanisms of action. Biological processes including decreased blood pressure (Harinath et al., 2004), cortisol activity (Hopkins et al., 2016), heart rate variability (Pascoe et al., 2017; and oxidative stress (Gordon et al., 2008) have also been demonstrated to play a role in diminishing perceived stress. ...
... 62 Improves Brains cognitive potential such as P300 auditory 63-65 decreased chemical reflex of hypoxic and hypercapnic responses and enhanced baroreflex actions has been reported 66 Practice of some specific Yogic practices (Bandh and Kumbhaka) improved adaptation to hypoxic conditions of different receptors such as peripheral, central chemoreceptors and pulmonary stretch receptors with decreases inflammatory markers. 67 Hence, Yoga therapy might be a capable strategy to understand the intrinsic capability of the body in handling hypoxia which may improves overall skin health. ...
Aging is the continuous loss of homeostasis in a cell, tissue, organ, and whole body. Over time, skin, the biggest organ in the body, may age and become more susceptible to injury. In this study, we thoroughly examined signs of ageing skin. A challenge in front is the fast aging of the people with this finding a lifestyle intervention or strategy to improve skin as well overall health with negligible harmful effects. Yoga is an inclusive program that includes dietary, lifestyle, behavioral, and psychological involvements to re-establish the system's homeostasis and works simultaneously at the body, mind, and spirit levels. Yoga is an auspicious lifestyle intervention that has exposed antiaging effects to extend healthspan by reducing the nine hallmarks of skin aging and related disorder and diseases.
To evaluate the impact of yogic practices on hallmarks of skin aging leading to improved healthspan and lifespan.
This article evaluates that Yoga is a promising tool in controlling nine hallmarks of biological skin aging which increases both health span as well as lifespan. There is a need to verify its application and find a modest, appropriate, and costless substitute to improve longevity and health span.
... This may lead to a reduction in inflammatory markers and oxidative stress. [97,98] Yoga and relaxation techniques have been shown to reduce the expression of inflammatory genes by directly inhibiting them. In a study by Buric et al., the practice of relaxation techniques leads to reduced expression of the NF-κB gene. ...
Yoga is an ancient Indian practice that involves the mind and body. It is a combination of physical exercises and postures with a focus on deep breathing and meditation. Yoga thereby promotes a healthy lifestyle which is one of the key factors in the prevention of various cardiovascular diseases. The practice of yoga might hence be effective in preventing the onset of these diseases. Yoga exerts its beneficial effects by favorable modulation of the autonomic system, reduction in oxidative stress, decreased inflammatory stress, improved endothelial function, and epigenetic changes. These changes might contribute not only to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases but also to delaying and preventing the onset of various modifiable cardiovascular risk factors. This review aims to delineate the possible mechanisms of the effect of yoga on cardiovascular health and its potential beneficial effects.
... She initially evaluated 25 novice and 25 expert female practitioners. She reported that novices' serum IL-6 were 41 % higher than those of experts across sessions, and the odds of a novice having detectable CRP were almost 5 times as high as that of an expert [56]. ...
Dr. Janice Kiecolt-Glaser as an undergraduate obtained a major in psychology and a minor in biological sciences which was an early indication of her budding interest in how the brain talks to a variety of physiologic systems. Early in her research career Jan began to build a research team that eventually consisted of scientists with expertise in a variety of disciplines including virology, immunology, endocrinology, nutrition science, biostatistics, genetics, and the microbiome. Additionally, Jan enlisted the aid of a group of bright energetic pre- and post-doctoral graduate students, obtained numerous NIH grants, and utilized an excellent Clinical Research Center. Over many years Jan directed these teams to help with understanding some of the biologic consequences of common life stressors such as loneliness, academic examinations, marital discord, breast cancer survivorship, and dementia caregiving. In this survey of her accomplishments, I will present some of the highlights of her prolific contributions which have encouraged many to enter the field of psychoneuroimmunology.
... Few studies have proven the beneficial role of yoga in managing pain and lymphedema. [31][32][33][34] As such, only one case reports the beneficial role of yoga for CVI. The study reported a reduction in CVI symptoms following yoga practices, indicated by improvement of venous return, calf muscle pump function, and physical and mental health of the patient. ...
Background and objective: Prolonged standing is one of the significant contributors to chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) in industry workers. Yoga is proven to be an effective therapy in treating occupational hazards. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of yoga on CVI among industry workers. Methodology: Male workers (n = 100) from machinery manufacturing industries in Bangalore meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited for the study. The yoga group received a specifically designed yoga module for 6 days a week for 12 weeks, and the control group was offered lifestyle suggestions. Plasma homocysteine was used as the primary outcome variable, whereas Venous Clinical Severity Score, ankle brachial pressure index (ABPI), ankle and calf circumference, CVI questionnaire, and Chalder fatigue scale were assessed as secondary variables at baseline and the end of 12 weeks of intervention. Results: Eighty-eight participants (yoga = 43, control = 45) completed the study. A one-way analysis of covariates (ANCOVA) was used to determine the significant differences between groups in the post-values. A significant difference was found between groups in plasma homocysteine (partial eta squared = 0.34, p < 0.001). All variables, except for ABPI, calf circumference, and ankle circumference, had shown statistically significant differences between the yoga and control groups after 12 weeks of intervention, with moderate to high effect sizes. There were no significant adverse events associated with the intervention. Conclusions: Yoga practices can reduce the symptoms of CVI along with vascular inflammation as indicated by reduced plasma homocysteine. Overall, yoga practices are found to be safe and efficacious for managing CVI.
... Of these, 68 full texts were screened and 31 studies were included (See Flow Diagram). Although studies such as Chafin et al. (2008), Jin (1992), and Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (2010) examined acute exercise and stress, they measured stress recovery rather than stress reactivity. Notably, we chose to focus on stress reactivity as there is a larger literature providing physiological mechanisms underlying a blunting effect acutely, rather than accelerated recovery. ...
Psychological stress is associated with numerous deleterious health effects. Accumulating evidence suggests acute exercise reduces stress reactivity. As stressors activate a wide array of psychological and physiological systems it is imperative stress responses are examined through a multidimensional lens. Moreover, it seems prudent to consider whether stress responses are influenced by exercise intervention characteristics such as modality, duration, intensity, timing, as well as participant fitness/physical activity levels. The current review therefore examined the role of acute exercise on stress reactivity through a multidimensional approach, as well as whether exercise intervention characteristics and participant fitness/physical activity levels may moderate these effects. Stress reactivity was assessed via heart rate, blood pressure, cortisol, catecholamines, and self-report. A systematic search following PRISMA guidelines of five databases was updated in November 2022. Reviewed studies met the following criteria: English language, participants aged ≥ 18, use of acute exercise, use of a validated stress-inducing task, and assessment(s) of stress reactivity. Thirty-one studies (1386 participants) were included. Acute exercise resulted in reliable reductions to blood pressure and cortisol. Acute exercise yielded mostly negligible effects on heart rate reactivity and negligible effects on self-report measures. As for exercise intervention characteristics, intensity-dependent effects were present, such that higher intensities yielded larger reductions to reactivity measures, while limited evidence was present for duration, modality, and timing-dependent effects. Regarding participant fitness/physical activity levels, the effects on stress reactivity were mixed. Future work should standardize the definitions and assessment time points of stress reactivity, as well as investigate the interaction between physiological and psychological stress responses in real-world contexts.
... A reabilitação baseada em tarefas, na qual os pacientes repetem as tarefas que desejam melhorar, é uma maneira eficaz de promover a neuroplasticidade após o AVC (Nudo, 2011 (Sharma, 2014), melhoria da função imunológica (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2010) e aumento do bem-estar geral (Woodyard, 2011). ...
Este artigo explora a aplicabilidade da NeuroYoga, uma abordagem integrativa que combina yoga e neurociência, na reabilitação do cérebro pós-Acidente Vascular Cerebral (AVC). Inicialmente serão abordadas as caractrísticas do AVC, e os princípios da neuroplasticidade, essenciais para o processo de recuperação. Em seguida, apresentaremos brevemente o conceito de NeuroYoga, discutindo sua importância emergente na promoção da neuroplasticidade e na regulação do estresse. Revistaremos estudos e casos existentes que exemplificam a eficiência do Yoga na reabilitação de AVC e estabeleceremos diretrizes práticas para a integração segura do Yoga na reabilitação dos pacientes. Finalmente, serão discutidas as lacunas nos estudos atuais e as possíveis direções para pesquisas futuras, afirmando o potencial inexplorado do NeuroYoga na melhoria da condição pós-AVC e na qualidade de vida do paciente. A orientação de um profissional qualificado para a prática de NeuroYoga é enfatizada para garantir a segurança do paciente.
... Mindfulness interventions have been associated with alterations in brain activity patterns and structural changes in brain regions linked to emotional processing and self-awareness [26,29]. Similarly, investigations into the effects of meditation and yoga reveal changes in autonomic nervous system activity, cortisol levels, and immune responses, indicative of their impact on stress regulation and overall health [28,30,31]. ...
Mindfulness practices have demonstrated the potential to positively impact various aspects of human health associated with telomere length (TL) - a recognized marker of healthy aging and susceptibility to age-related diseases. This review seeks to conduct an in-depth comparative analysis, examining methodological variations, outcome assessments, strengths, weaknesses, and gaps across mindfulness-focused studies concerning TL and attrition rates. While emerging data tentatively suggest a positive connection between mindfulness practices and TL, a notable research gap pertains to establishing the clinically recommended dosage of yoga/meditation and mindfulness interventions to effectively influence TL. To address this gap, upcoming research should prioritize meticulous structuring, pedagogical precision, and vigilant monitoring of mindfulness interventions to yield psychological and physiological benefits across an appropriate timeframe and intensity. The amalgamation of yoga/meditation or mindfulness emerges as a promising avenue for enhancing the quality of life while counteracting the influence of telomere attrition in the spectrum of age-related diseases. The core objective of this review is to meticulously investigate the interplay between yoga/meditation and mindfulness practices and their potential impact on TL - an essential biomarker indicative of age-related health and well-being. To achieve this, our study methodically compares various methodological approaches, outcome measures, strengths, and limitations within relevant research endeavors focused on TL and attrition rates. Through this scrutiny, we highlight prevailing research gaps. Our analysis underscores the need for comprehensive research efforts aimed at establishing the optimal therapeutic regimen for yielding significant clinical effects on TL and overall health. In summation, our exploration emphasizes the urgency of further studies to unravel the most effective approaches for positively influencing TL and its implications for holistic health.
... Yoga incorporates mindfulness and relaxation techniques that can significantly reduce stress levels. Meditation and deep breathing exercises (pranayama) can help patients manage their emotions, enhance mental clarity, and promote a sense of calm and well-being [7]. ...
Yoga Benefits in Patients Recovering from Serious Spinal Injuries:
... Existing methods for practicing GBE, including meditation, yoga, physiological training, and wearable devices, have demonstrated potentials to improve relaxation [7], [8]. However, these approaches require professional assistance and complex instruments and do not provide real-time vital signal analysis, such as heart rate (HR) and respiration rate (RR). ...
... Yoga can aid in post-exercise recovery and relaxation. A study by Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (2010) demonstrated that yoga interventions led to improvements in immune function and stress reduction, facilitating recovery processes in athletes. The emphasis on breath control, mindfulness, and relaxation in yoga promotes parasympathetic activation, aiding in recovery and reducing the negative impact of stress on the body. ...
... (i) Stress reduction: One of the most widely accepted explanations for the mental health benefits of yoga is its ability to reduce stress. Yoga has been found to reduce levels of cortisol, the primary stress hormone, and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body's relaxation response (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2010). By reducing stress, yoga may help alleviate symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions. ...
Yoga has become increasingly popular as a form of exercise and relaxation in recent years, and its advantages for both physical and mental health are well known. This study examines yoga's impacts on mental health, including how it lowers stress and improves emotional stability. The study gives a general summary of yoga's theoretical and practical underpinnings, the medical research supporting its health advantages, and the difficulties and restrictions related to its application. The implications of these findings for the promotion of yoga as a complementary therapy are covered in the paper's conclusion.
... Yoga is a mind-body practice that involves physical postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation or relaxation (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2010;Sharma & Haider, 2014;Kamraju, 2022). While yoga is not typically thought of as a weight loss program, it may be a useful tool for weight management (Hagins et al., 2007;Chiesa & Serretti, 2009). ...
Yoga is an ancient practice that originated in India over 5,000 years ago. It combines physical postures, breathing techniques, meditation, and mindfulness practices to promote physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. This research paper explores the impact of yoga on physical health, especially weight management. The paper provides an overview of the theoretical and practical foundations of yoga, the scientific evidence for its health benefits, and the challenges and limitations associated with its use.
... convidada pelos pesquisadores conduziu e proporcionou um diálogo sobre autoconhecimento e posteriormente promoveu uma prática de iniciação ao Yoga. Para Silva (2013) a inserção da prática de yoga na escola tem como preocupação melhorar a qualidade de vida dos professores oferecendo uma ampliação do nível de consciência através do autoconhecimento.Kiecolt-Glaser et al., (2010) relatam que a prática do yoga traz benefícios para a redução do estresse, trazendo benefícios substanciais à saúde. Ressalta-se que todos os protocolos de segurança foram atendidos para a atividade realizada presencialmente na escola. Ao tratar sobre autoconhecimento e a prática de yoga, os professores responderam a seguinte questão:"Co ...
A pandemia trouxe a imposição aos profissionais em educação desenvolverem novos conhecimentos e habilidades para lidar com os desafios impostos. A necessidade de se reinventar, provocou em muitos professores uma sensação de mal-estar, e intervenções no campo da saúde mental tornaram-se imprescindíveis na atuação docente. Esse estudo investiga como à pandemia impactou na prática pedagógica e a na saúde dos docentes, de uma escola pública. Assim, buscou-se por meio dessa investigação corroborar com possíveis melhorias das condições apresentadas, além de apresentar contribuições científicas para o campo do bem-estar e qualidade de vida dos docentes. As ações formativas contemplaram as demandas emergentes do cotidiano escolar, como forma de apoiar os professores, e incluir a escuta e o diálogo sobre saúde mental no âmbito das formações continuadas. Foi possível identificar os reflexos do ensino remoto emergencial na prática docente, e as implicações que impactaram a qualidade de vida dos educadores.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Ensino. Docência. Saúde mental.
... [21] Yoga has been shown to prevent and aid in burnout among doctors and nurses; there was an improvement in self-care, emotional exhaustion, sleep quality, de-personalization, and mindfulness. [22][23][24] effect of yogA on the rIsK fActors for PerIodontAl dIseAses ...
Objectives:
The association between various systemic diseases and periodontitis has been explored extensively. A sedentary lifestyle plays a significant role in systemic and periodontal disease progression. Therefore, lifestyle modification has been considered a component of therapeutic aspects for periodontal disease and systemic disease. This review focuses on how yoga may reduce chronic gingival inflammation by improving the body's defense, which can act more efficiently on periodontal bacteria and help maintain healthy gingiva.
Materials and methods:
A literature search was performed in PubMed/MEDLINE CINAHL, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for all the published articles related to yoga and its systemic benefits and potential role in reducing periodontal breakdown, and the findings were summarized.
Results:
The practice of yoga therapy has been proven to show several benefits, such as reduced stress levels, anxiety and depression, increased antioxidant levels, reduced insulin resistance, and improved respiratory function. It also helps to improve the immune system.
Conclusion:
Yoga can be used as a potential treatment modality adjunct to conventional periodontal therapy as it has been shown to have a potential benefit in controlling systemic risk factors.
... A significant role for inflammation has been identified in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and insulin resistance [47]. Studies have shown that yoga reduces inflammation, including lowering levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines [48,49] and increasing levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines [50]. As a result of yoga's anti-inflammatory effects, cognitive function may be improved [49]. ...
Aims:
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) alters brain functional and structural connectivity leading to cognitive dysfunction. This study examined the effect of a 12-week yoga intervention on prefrontal cortex (PFC) oxygenation and working memory in patients with T2DM.
Methods:
Fifty participants were randomized into yoga and waitlist control groups. The yoga protocol specific to T2DM was followed. The pre- (day 1), mid- (6 weeks) and post-intervention (12 weeks) assessments included measurement of PFC oxygenation while performing working memory tasks (n-back) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy.
Results:
Following a 12-week intervention, the yoga group showed improved performance in working memory [accuracy (geometric mean difference of 3.15%, 95% CI [2.33,3.96], p = 0.001) and reaction time (mean difference of 100.8 milliseconds,95% CI [- 166.6, - 35.1], p = 0.002] in the high task load (2-back) associated with higher oxygenation in dorsolateral PFC (β coefficient mean difference of 95.6, 95% CI [0.23,191], p = 0.049) and ventrolateral PFC (β coefficient mean difference of 53.4, 95% CI [7.8,98.9], p = 0.018) regions. Higher oxygenation in dorsolateral PFC during 2-back task was positively correlated with accuracy (r(23) = 0.65, p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with reaction time (r(23) = - 0.47,p = 0.017).
Conclusion:
Integrated yoga practice may improve working memory performance associated with higher PFC oxygenation in patients with T2DM. As 12 weeks of yoga intervention improved working memory performance, the regular practice of yoga may have the potential to prevent decline of cognitive functions in clinical conditions.
... In contrast, subjects who were new to the practice of yoga or have been practicing yoga for a shorter duration were found to have 41% higher serum IL-6 and therefore, a 4.75 times higher amount of detectable CRP. [4] In addition, more years of yoga practice are found to be associated with lower leptin levels and lower adiponectin-to-leptin ratio. This is not to say that yoga does not have any immediate effects on inflammatory markers. ...
... The purifying action of hath yogic practices on the brain cells enhances the capacity of the brain centres, allowing them to function at their optimum capacity (Verma et al., 2016) [30] . Long-term yoga practice is associated with less serum IL-6 production in response to stressors so yoga is a healthy coping mechanism for stress (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2010) [13] . Adopting yoga as a holistic mind-body intervention fosters the development of several personal, sport and performance-relevant psychological skills where goal-oriented behaviour and automatic goal-focused processes are facilitated (Harinath et al., 2004) [10] . ...
Background: Cricket is one such sport that tests the sport abilities, mental strength, stamina and physical endurance as well to attain their personal best, they have to play the maximum amount attention to fitness as they are doing to the perfection of batting, bowling and fielding skills. Yoga incorporates a great sense of sports community hooked up to it. Adopting yoga as a holistic mind-body intervention fosters the development of many personal, sport and performance-relevant physical, physiological and psychological skills.
Materials and Methods: First phase- IYM for sport of cricket was designed based on the literature review of classical texts and research articles. Second phase – Designed IYM was validated by 31 subject matter (yoga) experts. Content-validity ratio (CVR) was analysed using Lawshe's formula.
Results: Yoga practices were designed for Integrated Yoga Module for Sport of Cricket. Yoga practices with CVR ≥0.355 and which were validated by 31 yoga experts were included in final Integrated Yoga Module.
Conclusion: Previous research studies on yoga, sports, cricket and other related researches helped in formulating yoga module for the sport of cricket. However, till date there is no former attempt has been made to validate an integrated yoga module for sport of cricket, which can be used as cross-training. Therefore, this study has been carried out to design and validate IYM for Sport of Cricket. Result shows that among the 74 practices, 46 found to be essential (CVR ≥ 0.355) for sport of cricket. This integrated yoga module is a valid module for Cricket players.
... Interestingly, positive affectivity and satisfaction with life were not impacted by the yoga intervention. Contrary to the findings supporting the existence of a positive association between yoga and positive affectivity (Impett et al., 2006;Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2010;Tihanyi et al., 2016a), West et al. (2004) also found no increase in positive affectivity after yoga practice. In their study, positive affect increased in people practicing African dance, but did not change in the yoga group, while negative affect decreased in both conditions. ...
Background
Yoga based interventions were found to have a positive impact on various indicators of psychological functioning, such as perceived stress, satisfaction with life, positive and negative affectivity. Additionally, such interventions improved bodily or interoceptive awareness and spirituality.
Methods
The present study assessed the effects of a 3-month long complex yoga-based intervention compared to a passive control group in a Hungarian community sample. The final sample consisted of 44 intervention (Mage = 47.5, SD = = 8.76) and 29 control participants (Mage = 47.4, SD = 9.47). The aforementioned constructs were measured 1 week before and after the intervention.
Results
The intervention reduced participants’ perceived stress (p = <0.001, ηp² = 0.153) and negative affectivity (p = 0.019, ηp² = 0.113), improved spirituality (p = 0.048, ηp² = 0.054) and various aspects of interoceptive awareness such as noticing (p = <0.001, ηp² = 0.169) attention regulation (p = <0.001, ηp² = 0.211), self-regulation (p = 0.002, ηp² = 0.190) body listening (p = 0.010, ηp² = 0.097), trusting (p = 0.026, ηp² = 0.070), but did not impact positive affectivity and satisfaction with life.
Conclusion
A 3-months long complex yoga-based intervention has a positive impact on many aspects of healthy psychological functioning.
... 4 Evidence suggests that practice of yoga is effective in reducing disease activity, 1,4,5 inflammatorycytokines, 1,4,6,7 oxidative stress, DNA damage, 4 pain, 5,6 disability, 4 early morning stiffness, 6 joint inflammation, 5,6 joint tenderness, fatigue, 5 pulse rate, and blood pressure, 6 andimprovinganti-inflammatorycytokines,telomerase activity, 4 mitochondrial health and integrity, 8 mind-body communicative markers, and health-related quality of life. 1 Moreover, practice of yoga has reported to be feasible and safe (no adverse effects) adjunctive treatment for people with RA. 1,[4][5][6][7][8] Thecommonestfindingamongtheimmune-mediatedinflammatory diseases including RA is intestinal inflammation 2 produced by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) (a cytokine, released by activated macrophages, dendritic cells, and other cells in the mucosa) due to food antigens or pathogens or other injurious stimuli that lead to gut microbiota dysbiosis or vice versa. 9 Thus, reduction in inflammation and the modulation of the gut microbiota may gradually adjust the physiological condition as well as immunological response in RA patients and that might help in improving disease conditions. 3 There is a dysregulation in the essential neuroendocrine pathway, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis that modulates the inflammatory response in RA patients. ...
... Asanas boost metabolism, lymphatic circulation, and hormonal secretions, and bring about a chemical balance in the body. Yoga not only helps in attaining physical fitness but also helps in reduction of the sympathetic nervous system tone and increases vagal activity, both of which could have favorable endocrine and immune consequences, including lowering inflammation [6,7] . Most of the studies show that Yoga is an effective intervention for alleviating menstrual pain in women with primary dysmenorrhea. ...
Many women are familiar with the experience of spasmodic dysmenorrhoea, one of the commonest gynaecological conditions that affects the quality of life of many in their reproductive years. This condition manifested as painful menstruation, is the most frequently encountered gynaecological complaint and it can be included under Udavartha yonivyapat, caused by Apanavata vaigunya described in Ayurvedic classics. This situation not only has a significant effect on quality of life and personal health but also resulting in loss of work hours and depression. Scholastic backwardness and work absenteeism as a result of dysmenorrhoea is common nowadays. Most of the medical therapies for painful periods like analgesics, antispasmodics, NSAID, and anti-prostaglandins are having many side effects. Hormonal and surgical therapies are also not advisable to all type of patients, especially teenagers as it may harm their future reproductive capacity. Here comes the importance of Yoga, which provides good approach to treat primary dysmenorrhea. Yoga asanas helps in stretching muscles of pelvic cavity and increases the blood circulation to the pelvic organs and also helps to neutralize Apana vayu, which help in normal menstrual flow. The practice of Asanas has a beneficial impact on the whole body systems and helps in relaxation of both body and mind. This study is undertaken to find out the Yogasanas having pain relieving capacity in spasmodic dysmenorrhoea as it doesn’t cause any side effects but improve the quality of life. A thorough literary survey was done in Yogic classics especially Asanas for women’s health, Asanas for reproductive health and tried to compile the Asanas together having the pain relieving capacity in primary dysmenorrhoea.
... This study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic and it is possible that participants exhibited elevated depression, anxiety, and stress levels. However, other studies have reported no significant differences in these, and similar constructs prior to the pandemic (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2010;Vollbehr et al., 2018;Papp et al., 2019). These results stand in contrast with those that showed decreased depression and anxiety scores in individuals who practice yoga (e.g., Khalsa et al., 2009;Telles et al., 2015;Snaith et al., 2018). ...
Introduction
Previous research has identified numerous physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits associated with the practice of yoga. Indeed, yoga has been linked with improved quality of life, reduced stress, and numerous markers of psychological well-being. In the current research, a cross-sectional design was used to examine whether the psychological benefits associated with yoga only apply to long-term practitioners or whether more “casual,” intermittent yoga experience could produce positive outcomes.
Methods
An American population of long-term practitioners (n = 129), intermittent practitioners (n = 161), and non-practitioners (n = 164) completed online self-report measures of emotional regulation, trait mindfulness, self-compassion, interoceptive awareness, and spiritual intelligence variables.
Results
The results indicated that long-term (LT) practitioners scored higher than intermittent experience (IE) practitioners on measures of mindfulness (MLT = 137.3; MIE = 127.6), interoceptive awareness (MLT = 3.4; MIE = 3.1), self-compassion (MLT = 3.4; MIE = 3.1), and spiritual intelligence (MLT = 63.5; MIE = 55.5; all p-value < 0.05). Intermittent practitioners scored higher than no-experience (NE) group on interoceptive awareness (MIE = 3.1; MNE = 2.7) and spiritual intelligence (MIE = 55.5; MNE = 46.6; both p-value < 0.05). Contrary to our hypotheses, yoga experience had no effect on depression, anxiety, or stress levels. Separate mediation analyses demonstrated that interoceptive awareness, spiritual intelligence, mindfulness, and self-compassion each mediated the relationship between yoga experience and emotion dysregulation. Furthermore, emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between yoga experience and depression, anxiety, and stress.
Discussion
Taken together, the results of this study suggest that long-term practitioners experience more benefits compared to intermittent and non-practitioners, and that the mechanisms underlying these benefits are multi-faceted.
Background
Hypothyroidism (HT) is the most prevalent endocrine disorder, affecting approximately one in 10 out of 35 adults, with a higher prevalence in females and the elderly.
Purpose
This systematic review (SR) aimed to discuss the effects of yoga on markers and comorbid conditions of HT.
Methods
The SR was registered with the PROSPERO (PROSPERO 2022 CRD42022312990). Google Scholar, PubMed, Cochrane, and EMBASE were searched for the relevant English language interventional studies published from 31 December 1947 to 31 December 2023 by using the keywords ‘meditation OR breath regulation OR yoga OR yoga nidra AND hypothyroidism OR hypothyreosis OR underactive thyroid OR low thyroid’. Of the 4078 screened studies, eight eligible studies (three RCTs, two pilot studies, two pre-post trials, and one case study) with 421 HT patients (392 females and 29 males) and three to six-month yoga interventions were included. Two independent review authors extracted study characteristics and synthesised them descriptively. RCTs and NRSIs were assessed for risk-of-bias (RoB) using Cochrane tools RoB2 and ROBINS-1.
Results
The findings suggest that yoga effectively improves the thyroid profile, lipid profile, heart rate variability, pulmonary functions, anxiety, depression, and quality of life among HT patients.
Conclusion
Yoga may be an inexpensive add-on preventive and therapeutic option for HT. The clinical and methodological heterogeneity among the studies did not allow for meta-analysis (MA). Well-designed MAs are warranted by including rigorous RCTs to draw valid conclusions and defined mechanisms regarding the efficacy of yoga practices/interventions on HT.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Pilates exercise versus yoga on primary dysmenorrhea in adolescent girls. The study was designed as a randomized controlled trial and was conducted with adolescent girls at an experimental school in Cairo. Sixty adolescent girls, aged 12 to 16 years, who were all diagnosed with primary dysmenorrhea, participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to one of two groups: Group (A) (Pilates exercise) with 30 participants, and Group (B) (Yoga exercise) with 30 participants. Participants were assessed before and after the treatment period. Group (A) performed Pilates exercises for 30 minutes, three days per week, for three months, while Group (B) engaged in yoga exercises for 30 minutes, three days per week, for three months. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to rate the intensity of pain, and the Verbal Multidimensional Scoring System (VMS) was used to assess the severity of menstrual symptoms. Data analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The study revealed a statistically significant improvement in VAS and VMS measures following Pilates exercise in Group A (p < 0.05). Similarly, a statistically significant improvement in VAS and VMS measures was observed following yoga exercise in Group B (p < 0.05). Both Pilates and yoga exercises demonstrated a significant impact on managing primary dysmenorrhea. The findings indicate that these mind-body interventions are effective in alleviating the severity of menstrual pain and related symptoms.
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complex condition marked by severe exhaustion that lasts at least 6 months. The global prevalence of CFS ranging between 0.4% and 2.5% is growing. Women are affected by CFS more often than men. It is considered a common condition in developed countries. There is no approved treatment for CFS but symptoms can be managed and controlled persistent exhaustion causes significant impairment in daily routine activities. Lowered ATP synthesis, mitochondrial impairment, decreased oxidative phosphorylation, disruption of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, and an imbalance of brain neurotransmitters play a major role in the pathophysiology of CFS. The purpose of the present study is to figure out the several plants that are used as a source of medication in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and its current therapeutic approach. The Indian medicinal herbs described in this article are very efficacious in the management of chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms due to the presence of phytochemicals. This review article also covers the current therapeutic approach for chronic fatigue syndrome in a concise form that comprises CBT (Cognitive based therapy), GET (Graded exercise therapy), usage of immunoglobins, psychodynamic counseling, and yoga therapy that includes isometric yoga and yoga nidra are very beneficial in alleviating the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome. Antidepressants, immunomodulatory agents, and corticosteroids come under conventional medication for CFS. This article explores different Indian medicinal herbs, their pharmacological properties, and their potential role and current treatments for reducing the severity of symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Ageing can be described as decline at molecular, cellular and physiological levels in a progressive fashion and is a risk factor for diseases like cancer and cardiovascular and neurological disorders. Brain ageing parallels the ageing of other organs with a gradual decline in memory, learning, motor coordination and attention impairment. Evidence suggests that oxidative stress may considerably contribute to the ageing process. Such oxidative stress may have some residual epigenetic effect and impact neural function at the molecular level. Considerable evidence has shown better health through Yoga and endurance exercises at physiological and psychological levels. Yet, not much is known about the exact molecular mechanism or pathway that operates in the induction of beneficial effects of either exercise or Yoga on human health. This chapter traverses the impact of exercise and Yoga at the neuro-molecular level and discusses the similarities and dissimilarities between the two regimes.
The study aimed to explore the impact of Yoga on psychological well-being, life enhancement and quality of life among adults in Islamabad. For this purpose, 30 respondents aged between 18-30 were selected as a sample and approached in the two Yoga Centers. A questionnaire was given to the participants of the study to get answers to the research objectives. The results show that yoga was effective in daily life, increasing the range of positivity and reducing the level of any other illness but new trainers were found to produce significant results of yoga among adults with psychological well-being, life enhancement, and quality of life.
La práctica de técnicas de meditación, incluyendo entre ellas el yoga, está relacionada a mejores condiciones de salud general y a resultados más elevados en diferentes medidas psicológicas, además de más reducidos niveles de estrés entre los practicantes. El objetivo de la investigación fue evaluar el nivel de mindfulness, la satisfacción con la vida y la salud general de practicantes de alguna técnica de meditación, comparados a no practicantes. Participaron 224 personas adultas. Los participantes contestaron pruebas de mindfulness, satisfacción con la vida y salud general. Se encontraron diferencias entre los dos grupos para todas las medidas evaluadas, presentando mejores resultados los practicantes de meditación. No obstante, el tamaño del efecto fue distinto para las medidas de mindfulness, salud general y satisfacción con la vida. Se encontró correlación moderada entre el tiempo de la práctica de meditación y la medida de mindfulness. Los resultados señalan la fuerte relación entre la práctica de alguna técnica de meditación y el mindfulness. Se confirman los resultados de estudios previos que sugieren que la práctica de meditación puede contribuir a mejores condiciones de salud psicológica. Es interesante observar que en la muestra evaluada el tamaño del efecto para la medida de satisfacción con la vida es más bajo que los demás, lo que indica que, en esta situación, otros aspectos de la vida pueden estar más relacionados al resultado de satisfacción que no especialmente la práctica de meditación.
This systematic review synthesises the evidence for the effectiveness of a single session of yoga or its components including meditation and breathing techniques in reducing acute stress reactivity in healthy adults. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we searched Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane, CINAHL, and PsycINFO on 30th July 2023 for randomised controlled or crossover trials of yoga components and reporting physiological and/or psychological outcome measure(s) related to stress reactivity. Risk of bias (ROB) was assessed using the Cochrane ROB 2 tool. Data were synthesised narratively. Twenty‐one out of 28 eligible studies (n = 2574) relating to 31 interventions (meditation [n = 22], breathing [n = 4] and yoga [n = 5]) reported outcomes in favour of the intervention. Stress reactivity was reported to be reduced by 71% of studies measuring physiological outcomes and 65% of studies measuring psychological outcomes. These studies show that a single session of yoga components is effective in reducing acute stress reactivity in adults and could be recommended for stress management. Future studies with larger populations and a more equal representation of genders and age groups are warranted.
Context:
Pollution-related health hazards are very common among people living and/or working in industrial areas, particularly near industries and metro cities. These air pollutants contribute to allergens, increase inflammation, and affect lung function.
Aim:
The present study aimed to examine the effect of yoga training on lung functions and inflammation in terms of soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) in people working and living in a polluted area.
Settings and design:
This is a randomized controlled interventional pilot study.
Methods and materials:
Forty-eight male volunteers from the industrial area, aged 20-50 years, were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group. Each group comprises 24 study participants. Lung function and sIL-2R were studied at the baseline and post-yoga intervention period of 16 weeks.
Statistical analysis used:
Study data were analyzed using descriptive methods, a one-tailed t-test, a paired t-test, and an independent t-test.
Result:
Study results showed directional and significant improvements in forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in the first second, and peak expiratory flow rate compared to the control group participants. The results pertaining to sIL-2R showed a directional and significant decrease in the experimental group compared to the control group.
Conclusion:
The present study showed that yoga helps to promote better health, improve lung function and reduce inflammation among people residing in polluted environments.
A significant number of COVID-19 patients suffer from SARS-CoV-2 post-acute chronic sequelae, also known as post-COVID syndrome or long COVID. These patients report a broad range of persistent and debilitating symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, pain, breathlessness, and dysrhythmias. These chronic symptoms are believed to be a consequence of excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), inflammation, tissue damage, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Patients at higher risk of long-term sequelae are those who experienced severe COVID-19 infection, are immunocompromised and likely have depleted reserves of biological factors and micronutrients necessary for prompt recovery. Based on biochemical principles and studies in conditions that share common traits with long COVID patients such as chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, symptom relief and sustained recovery can be expected by administering an orthomolecular protocol consisting of a combination of precursors, cofactors, and biological response modifiers.
Collegiate athletes are valuable assets of the University. Their athletic performance requires a high level of competitiveness to achieve commendable record standing; thus, nutrition plays an important role. Their dietary habits and how knowledgeable they are about proper nutrition are the primary concern of this study that will probably affect their performance. The purpose of the study is to determine if there is a relationship between Dietary Habits and Nutritional Knowledge. Also, to investigate if these two variables serve as a predictor of Athletic Performance among selected UST collegiate athletes. The descriptive- Correlational design was used in the study. Respondents were identified using the purposive sampling technique and stratified random sampling. 100 Team A selected collegiate athletes from the University of Santo Tomas who participated in the UAAP Season '80 were surveyed and completed a Dietary Habits and Nutritional Knowledge Questionnaire developed by Paugh (2005). Data were analyzed using Regression and Pearson Correlation Coefficient at an alpha level of .05. The results revealed that respondents practiced good dietary habits and had a good knowledge of nutrition with a General Weighted Mean of 2.70 and 3.02, respectively. There is a significant relationship between dietary habits and nutritional knowledge. Dietary habit predicts athletic performance while nutritional knowledge does not predict athletic performance.The researchers highly recommend the full support/assistance of Coaches/Athletic Trainers/ Sports Conditioning Coach, and Parents in guiding the nutritional diet of student-athlete and the availability of Sport Dietician to implement a dietary plan for student-athletes to reach their optimal athletic performance.
Keywords: Dietary Habits, Nutritional Knowledge, Athletic Performance, Collegiate Athletes, Nutrition
Trauma is an everyday event which is natural and widespread in
the modern era. It is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity,
especially during the productive age and has been projected to be
the third most common cause of death by 2010.
Trauma is a major cause of chest injury around the world. In developed nations, trauma usually occurs as a result of industrial
accidents, farming accidents, or motor vehicle accidents, which
include automobiles, motorcycles and trains.
The complexity of injury in trauma patients makes it challenging
to provide an optimal oxygenation while protecting the lung from
further ventilator-induced injury to it. Health care personnel can
help people with Chest trauma, their families and communities to
understand the care that is needed following chest injury and the
process of rehabilitation that can reduce the impact.
We measured arterio-venous differences in concentrations of tu- mor necrosis factor-a (TNFa) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) across a sc adipose tissue bed in the postabsorptive state in 39 subjects (22 women and 17 men; median age, 36 yr (interquartile range, 26 - 48 yr); body mass index, 31.8 kg/m2 (range, 22.3- 38.7 kg/m2); percent body fat, 28.7% (range, 17.6 -50.7%)). A subgroup of 8 subjects had arterio- venous differences measured across forearm muscle. Thirty subjects were studied from late morning to early evening; 19 ate a high car- bohydrate meal around 1300 h, and 11 continued to fast. We found a greater than 2-fold increase in IL-6 concentrations across the adipose tissue bed (arterial, 2.27 pg/mL (range, 1.42-3.53 pg/mL); venous, 6.71 pg/mL (range, 3.36 -9.62 pg/mL); P , 0.001), but not across forearm muscle. Arterial plasma concentrations of IL-6 correlated significantly with body mass index (Spearman's r 5 0.48; P , 0.01) and percent body fat (Spearman's r 5 0.49; P , 0.01). Subcutaneous adipose tissue IL-6 production increased by the early evening (1800 - 1900 h) in both subjects who had extended their fasting and those who had eaten. Neither deep forearm nor sc adipose tissue consistently released TNFa (across adipose tissue: arterial, 1.83 pg/mL (range, 1.36 -2.34 pg/mL); venous, 1.85 pg/mL (range, 1.44 -2.53 pg/mL); P 5 NS: across forearm muscle: arterial, 1.22 pg/mL (range, 0.74 -2.76 pg/mL); venous, 0.99 pg/mL (range, 0.69 -1.70 pg/mL); P 5 NS). Al- though both IL-6 and TNFa are expressed by adipose tissue, our results show that there are important differences in their systemic release. TNFa is not released by this sc depot. In contrast, IL-6 is released from the depot and is thereby able to signal systemically. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 82: 4196 - 4200, 1997)
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated selective processing of emotional information in anxiety and depression using a modified Stroop color naming task. 19 anxious, 18 depressed, and 18 normal control Ss were required to name the background colors of anxiety-related, depression-related, positive, categorized, and uncategorized neutral words. Half of the words were presented supraliminally, half subliminally. Anxious Ss, compared with depressed and normal Ss, showed relatively slower color naming for both supraliminal and subliminal negative words. The results suggest a preattentive processing bias for negative information in anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Chronic stress is estimated to increase the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events two-fold. Although stress reduction has been linked to a reduction in CV events, little is known regarding its exact mechanism of benefit.
Yoga and meditation will improve parameters of endothelial function.
We examined the effects of yoga and meditation on hemodynamic and laboratory parameters as well as on endothelial function in a 6-week pilot study. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures, heart rate, body mass index (BMI), fasting glucose, lipids, hs C-reactive protein (CRP), and endothelial function (as assessed by brachial artery reactivity) were all studied at baseline and after 6 weeks of yoga practice.
A course in yoga and meditation was given to the subjects for 1.5 h three times weekly for 6 weeks and subjects were instructed to continue their efforts at home. This prospective cohort study included 33 subjects (mean age 55 +/- 11 years) both with (30%) and without (70%) established coronary artery disease (CAD). There were significant reductions in blood pressure, heart rate, and BMI in the total cohort with yoga. None of the laboratory parameters changed significantly with yoga. For the total cohort there was no significant improvement in endothelial-dependent vasodilatation with yoga training and meditation compared with baseline (16.7% relative improvement from 7.2-8.4%; p = 0.3). In the group with CAD, endothelial-dependent vasodilatation improved 69% with yoga training (6.38-10.78%; p = 0.09).
Yoga and meditation appear to improve endothelial function in subjects with CAD.
L.A. Clark and D. Watson (1991) proposed a tripartite model that groups symptoms of depression and anxiety into 3 subtypes: symptoms of general distress that are largely nonspecific, manifestations of somatic tension and arousal that are relatively unique to anxiety, and symptoms of anhedonia and low Positive Affect that are specific to depression. This model was tested in 5 samples (3 student, 1 adult, and 1 patient sample) using the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ; D. Watson & L. A. Clark, 1991), which was designed to assess the hypothesized symptom groups, together with other symptom and cognition measures. Consistent with the tripartite model, the MASQ Anxious Arousal and Anhedonic Depression scales both differentiated anxiety and depression well and also showed excellent convergent validity. Thus, differentiation of these constructs can be improved by focusing on symptoms that are relatively unique to each.
Recent studies have shown that psychological stress can influence cutaneous barrier function, suggesting that this form of stress could trigger or aggravate skin disease. In the present study, we demonstrate that transfer of hairless mice to a different cage delays barrier recovery rates. Pretreatment with a phenothiazine sedative, chlorpromazine, before transfer of animals restored the kinetics of barrier recovery toward normal, suggesting that psychological stress is the basis for this alteration in barrier homeostasis. To determine the mechanism linking psychological stress to altered barrier recovery, we first demonstrated that plasma corticosterone levels increase markedly after transfer of animals to new cages and that pretreatment with chlorpromazine blocks this increase. Second, we demonstrated that the systemic administration of corticosterone delays barrier recovery. Finally, we demonstrated that pretreatment with the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU-486 blocks the delay in barrier recovery produced by systemic corticosterone, change of cage, or immobilization. These results suggest that psychological stress stimulates increased production of glucocorticoids, which, in turn, adversely affects permeability barrier homeostasis.
It was hypothesized that people's appraisals both of themselves and of other objects in the world are more efficient when the emotional dimension underlying their appraisals fits their regulatory concerns. Regulatory focus theory distinguishes 2 such fundamental concerns: promotion concerns with accomplishment that relate to cheerfulness- and dejection-related emotions, and prevention concerns with security that relate to quiescence- and agitation-related emotions. Five studies found that individuals with stronger promotion concerns were faster in appraising how cheerful or dejected the object made them feel, whereas individuals with stronger prevention concerns were faster in appraising how quiescent or agitated the object made them feel. These greater appraisal efficiencies were found for both chronic and situationally induced promotion and prevention concerns and were independent of both the valence and the extremity of the appraisals.
Total sleep restriction in humans is associated with increased daytime sleepiness, decreased performance, and hormonal/metabolic disturbances. The effects of mild chronic sleep restriction that mimic real life are not known. To assess the effects of modest sleep restriction from 8 to 6 h/night for 1 wk, 25 young, healthy, normal sleepers (12 men and 13 women) were studied for 12 consecutive nights in the sleep laboratory. After 1 wk of sleep restriction, although subjects' nighttime sleep was deeper, subjects were significantly sleepier (multiple sleep latency test) and performed worse in four primary variables of psychomotor vigilance test (both P < 0.01). Furthermore, 24-h secretion of IL-6 was increased by 0.8 +/- 0.3 pg/ml (P < 0.05) in both sexes, whereas TNFalpha was increased only in men. Also, the peak cortisol secretion was lower after sleep restriction than at baseline, and this difference was stronger in men (55.18 +/- 24.83 nmol/liter; P < 0.05) than in women (35.87 +/- 24.83 nmol/liter; P < 0.16). We conclude that in young men and women, modest sleep loss is associated with significant sleepiness, impairment of psychomotor performance, and increased secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. Given the potential association of these behavioral and physical alterations with health, well-being, and public safety, the idea that sleep or parts of it are optional should be regarded with caution.
Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years to improve physical and emotional well-being. Empirical research on yoga has been ongoing for several decades, including several recent studies conducted with cancer patients and survivors.
This review provides a general introduction to yoga and a detailed review of yoga research in cancer.
Nine studies conducted with cancer patients and survivors yielded modest improvements in sleep quality, mood, stress, cancer-related distress, cancer-related symptoms, and overall quality of life. Studies conducted in other patient populations and healthy individuals have shown beneficial effects on psychological and somatic symptoms, as well as other aspects of physical function.
Results from the emerging literature on yoga and cancer provide preliminary support for the feasibility and efficacy of yoga interventions for cancer patients, although controlled trials are lacking. Further research is required to determine the reliability of these effects and to identify their underlying mechanisms.
Yoga-based interventions may prove to be an attractive option for the treatment of depression. The aim of this study is to systematically review the research evidence on the effectiveness of yoga for this indication.
Searches of the major biomedical databases including MEDLINE, EMBASE, ClNAHL, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library were conducted. Specialist complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and the IndMED databases were also searched and efforts made to identify unpublished and ongoing research. Searches were conducted between January and June 2004. Relevant research was categorised by study type and appraised. Clinical commentaries were obtained for studies reporting clinical outcomes.
Five randomised controlled trials were located, each of which utilised different forms of yoga interventions and in which the severity of the condition ranged from mild to severe. All trials reported positive findings but methodological details such as method of randomisation, compliance and attrition rates were missing. No adverse effects were reported with the exception of fatigue and breathlessness in participants in one study.
No language restrictions were imposed on the searches conducted but no searches of databases in languages other than English were included.
Overall, the initial indications are of potentially beneficial effects of yoga interventions on depressive disorders. Variation in interventions, severity and reporting of trial methodology suggests that the findings must be interpreted with caution. Several of the interventions may not be feasible in those with reduced or impaired mobility. Nevertheless, further investigation of yoga as a therapeutic intervention is warranted.
Increasing amounts of data suggest that inflammatory responses have an important role in the pathophysiology of depression. Depressed patients have been found to have higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines, acute phase proteins, chemokines and cellular adhesion molecules. In addition, therapeutic administration of the cytokine interferon-alpha leads to depression in up to 50% of patients. Moreover, proinflammatory cytokines have been found to interact with many of the pathophysiological domains that characterize depression, including neurotransmitter metabolism, neuroendocrine function, synaptic plasticity and behavior. Stress, which can precipitate depression, can also promote inflammatory responses through effects on sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system pathways. Finally, depression might be a behavioral byproduct of early adaptive advantages conferred by genes that promote inflammation. These findings suggest that targeting proinflammatory cytokines and their signaling pathways might represent a novel strategy to treat depression.
We investigated whether markers of inflammation, including a cytokine (IL-6), acute-phase reactants [C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen], and white blood cell (WBC) count are associated with maximal O(2) consumption (Vo(2 max)) in men without coronary heart disease (CHD). In asymptomatic men (n = 172, 51 +/- 9.3 yr old), Vo(2 max) was measured during a symptom-limited graded treadmill exercise test. Physical activity level was assessed by a standardized questionnaire. IL-6 and CRP were measured by immunoassays, fibrinogen by the Clauss method, and WBC count with a Coulter counter. IL-6 and CRP were logarithmically transformed to reduce skewness. Multivariable regression was used to assess whether markers of inflammation were associated with Vo(2 max) after adjustment for age, body mass index, CHD risk factors, and lifestyle variables (physical activity level, percent body fat, and alcohol intake). Vo(2 max) was 34.5 ml.kg(-1).min(-1) (SD 6.1). Log IL-6 (r = -0.38, P < 0.001), log CRP (r = -0.40, P < 0.001), fibrinogen (r = -0.42, P < 0.001), and WBC count (r = -0.22, P = 0.004) were each correlated with Vo(2 max). In separate multivariable linear regression models that adjusted for age, body mass index, CHD risk factors, and lifestyle variables, log IL-6 [beta-coeff = -1.66 +/- 0.63 (SE), P = 0.010], log CRP [beta-coeff = -0.99 +/- 0.33 (SE), P = 0.003], fibrinogen [beta-coeff = -1.51 +/- 0.44 (SE), P = 0.001], and WBC count [beta-coeff = -0.52 +/- 0.30 (SE), P = 0.088] were each inversely associated with Vo(2 max). In conclusion, higher circulating levels of IL-6, CRP, and fibrinogen are independently associated with lower Vo(2 max) in asymptomatic men.
It is now recognized that contracting skeletal muscle may synthesize and release interleukin-6 (IL-6) into the interstitium as well as into the systemic circulation in response to a bout of exercise. Although several sources of IL-6 have been demonstrated, contracting muscles contributes to most of the IL-6 present in the circulation in response to exercise. The magnitude of the exercise-induced IL-6 response is dependent on intensity and especially duration of the exercise, while the mode of exercise has little effect. Several mechanisms may link muscle contractions to IL-6 synthesis: Changes in calcium homeostasis, impaired glucose availability, and increased formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are all capable of activating transcription factors known to regulate IL-6 synthesis. Via its effects on liver, adipose tissue, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and leukocytes, IL-6 may modulate the immunological and metabolic response to exercise. However, prolonged exercise involving a significant muscle mass in the contractile activity is necessary in order to produce a marked systemic IL-6 response. Furthermore, exercise training may reduce basal IL-6 production as well as the magnitude of the acute exercise IL-6 response by counteracting several potential stimuli of IL-6. Accordingly, a decreased plasma IL-6 concentration at rest as well as in response to exercise appears to characterize normal training adaptation.
The study investigated selective processing of emotional information in anxiety and depression using a modified Stroop color naming task. Anxious (n = 19), depressed (n = 18), and normal control (n = 18) subjects were required to name the background colors of anxiety-related, depression-related, positive, categorized, and uncategorized neutral words. Half of the words were presented supraliminally, half subliminally. Anxious subjects, compared with depressed and normal subjects, showed relatively slower color naming for both supraliminal and subliminal negative words. The results suggest a preattentive processing bias for negative information in anxiety.
Recent data have revealed that the plasma concentration of inflammatory mediators, such as tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), is increased in the insulin resistant states of obesity and type 2 diabetes, raising questions about the mechanisms underlying inflammation in these two conditions. It is also intriguing that an increase in inflammatory mediators or indices predicts the future development of obesity and diabetes. Two mechanisms might be involved in the pathogenesis of inflammation. Firstly, glucose and macronutrient intake causes oxidative stress and inflammatory changes. Chronic overnutrition (obesity) might thus be a proinflammatory state with oxidative stress. Secondly, the increased concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6, associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes, might interfere with insulin action by suppressing insulin signal transduction. This might interfere with the anti-inflammatory effect of insulin, which in turn might promote inflammation.
Objective: To test whether rhythmic formulas such as the rosary and yoga mantras can synchronise and reinforce inherent cardiovascular rhythms and modify baroreflex sensitivity.
Design: Comparison of effects of recitation of the Ave Maria (in Latin) or of a mantra, during spontaneous and metronome controlled breathing, on breathing rate and on spontaneous oscillations in RR interval, and on blood pressure and cerebral circulation.
Setting: Florence and Pavia, Italy.
Participants: 23 healthy adults.
Main outcome measures: Breathing rate, regularity of breathing, baroreflex sensitivity, frequency of cardiovascular oscillations.
Results: Both prayer and mantra caused striking, powerful, and synchronous increases in existing cardiovascular rhythms when recited six times a minute. Baroreflex sensitivity also increased significantly, from 9.5 (SD 4.6) to 11.5 (4.9) ms/mm Hg, P<0.05.
Conclusion: Rhythm formulas that involve breathing at six breaths per minute induce favourable psychological and possibly physiological effects.
What is already known on this topic
What is already known on this topic Reduced heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity are powerful and independent predictors of poor prognosis in heart disease
Slow breathing enhances heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity by synchronising inherent cardiovascular rhythms
To assess the magnitude and direction of associations of depression with C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL)-1, and IL-6 in community and clinical samples.
Systematic review of articles published between January 1967 and January 2008 in the PubMed and PsycINFO electronic databases was performed. Effect sizes were calculated as stat d and meta-analyzed, using random-effects models.
Each inflammatory marker was positively associated with depression; CRP, d = 0.15 (95% CI = 0.10, 0.21), p < .001; IL-6, d = 0.25 (95% CI = 0.18, 0.31), p < .001; IL-1, d = 0.35 (95% CI = 0.03, 0.67), p = .03; IL-1ra, d = 0.25 (95% CI = 0.04, 0.46), p = .02. Associations were strongest in clinically depressed patient samples--but were also significant in community-based samples--and when clinical interviews were used. Studies adjusting for body mass index (BMI) had smaller associations, albeit significant. Relationships were inconsistent with respect to age, medication, and sex. Depression was related to CRP and IL-6 among patients with cardiac disease or cancer.
Depression and CRP, IL-1, and IL-6 are positively associated in clinical and community samples and BMI is implicated as a mediating/moderating factor. Continuity in clinic- and community-based samples suggests there is a dose-response relationship between depression and these inflammatory markers, lending strength to the contention that the cardiac (or cancer) risk conferred by depression is not exclusive to patient populations. Available evidence is consistent with three causal pathways: depression to inflammation, inflammation to depression, and bidirectional relationships.
Allergic rhinitis (AR) is the fifth most common chronic disease, and the association between allergic disorders and anxiety is well-documented. To investigate how anxiety and stressors modulate skin prick test (SPT) responses and associated inflammatory responses, 28 men and women with AR were selected by clinical history and skin test responses. The participants were admitted twice to a hospital research unit for 4h in a crossover trial. Changes in SPT wheals were assessed before and after a standardized laboratory speech stressor, as well as again the following morning; skin responses assessed twice during a lab session without a stressor and again the following morning served as the contrast condition. Anxiety heightened the magnitude of allergen-induced wheals following the stressor. As anxiety increased, SPT wheal diameters increased after the stressor, compared to a slight decrease following the control task. Anxiety also substantially enhanced the effects of stress on late phase responses: even skin tests performed the day after the stressor reflected the continuing impact of the speech stressor among the more anxious participants. Greater anxiety was associated with more IL-6 production by Con A-stimulated leukocytes following the stressor compared to the control visit. The data suggest that stress and anxiety can enhance and prolong AR symptoms.
Skeletal muscle has recently been identified as an endocrine organ. It has, therefore, been suggested that cytokines and other peptides that are produced, expressed, and released by muscle fibers and exert paracrine, autocrine, or endocrine effects should be classified as "myokines." Recent research demonstrates that skeletal muscles can produce and express cytokines belonging to distinctly different families. However, the first identified and most studied myokine is the gp130 receptor cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). IL-6 was discovered as a myokine because of the observation that it increases up to 100-fold in the circulation during physical exercise. Identification of IL-6 production by skeletal muscle during physical activity generated renewed interest in the metabolic role of IL-6 because it created a paradox. On one hand, IL-6 is markedly produced and released in the postexercise period when insulin action is enhanced but, on the other hand, IL-6 has been associated with obesity and reduced insulin action. This review focuses on the myokine IL-6, its regulation by exercise, its signaling pathways in skeletal muscle, and its role in metabolism in both health and disease.
Meditation practices may impact physiological pathways that are modulated by stress and relevant to disease. While much attention has been paid to meditation practices that emphasize calming the mind, improving focused attention, or developing mindfulness, less is known about meditation practices that foster compassion. Accordingly, the current study examined the effect of compassion meditation on innate immune, neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress and evaluated the degree to which engagement in meditation practice influenced stress reactivity. Sixty-one healthy adults were randomized to 6 weeks of training in compassion meditation (n=33) or participation in a health discussion control group (n=28) followed by exposure to a standardized laboratory stressor (Trier social stress test [TSST]). Physiologic and behavioral responses to the TSST were determined by repeated assessments of plasma concentrations of interleukin (IL)-6 and cortisol as well as total distress scores on the Profile of Mood States (POMS). No main effect of group assignment on TSST responses was found for IL-6, cortisol or POMS scores. However, within the meditation group, increased meditation practice was correlated with decreased TSST-induced IL-6 (r(p)=-0.46, p=0.008) and POMS distress scores (r(p)=-0.43, p=0.014). Moreover, individuals with meditation practice times above the median exhibited lower TSST-induced IL-6 and POMS distress scores compared to individuals below the median, who did not differ from controls. These data suggest that engagement in compassion meditation may reduce stress-induced immune and behavioral responses, although future studies are required to determine whether individuals who engage in compassion meditation techniques are more likely to exhibit reduced stress reactivity.
Despite the prevalence of sleep complaints among psychiatric patients, few questionnaires have been specifically designed to measure sleep quality in clinical populations. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is a self-rated questionnaire which assesses sleep quality and disturbances over a 1-month time interval. Nineteen individual items generate seven "component" scores: subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances, use of sleeping medication, and daytime dysfunction. The sum of scores for these seven components yields one global score. Clinical and clinimetric properties of the PSQI were assessed over an 18-month period with "good" sleepers (healthy subjects, n = 52) and "poor" sleepers (depressed patients, n = 54; sleep-disorder patients, n = 62). Acceptable measures of internal homogeneity, consistency (test-retest reliability), and validity were obtained. A global PSQI score greater than 5 yielded a diagnostic sensitivity of 89.6% and specificity of 86.5% (kappa = 0.75, p less than 0.001) in distinguishing good and poor sleepers. The clinimetric and clinical properties of the PSQI suggest its utility both in psychiatric clinical practice and research activities.
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented.
Restricted maximum likelihood (REML) is now well established as a method for estimating the parameters of the general Gaussian linear model with a structured covariance matrix, in particular for mixed linear models. Conventionally, estimates of precision and inference for fixed effects are based on their asymptotic distribution, which is known to be inadequate for some small-sample problems. In this paper, we present a scaled Wald statistic, together with an F approximation to its sampling distribution, that is shown to perform well in a range of small sample settings. The statistic uses an adjusted estimator of the covariance matrix that has reduced small sample bias. This approach has the advantage that it reproduces both the statistics and F distributions in those settings where the latter is exact, namely for Hotelling T2 type statistics and for analysis of variance F-ratios. The performance of the modified statistics is assessed through simulation studies of four different REML analyses and the methods are illustrated using three examples.
We measured arterio-venous differences in concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) across a sc adipose tissue bed in the postabsorptive state in 39 subjects [22 women and 17 men; median age, 36 yr (interquartile range, 26-48 yr); body mass index, 31.8 kg/m2 (range, 22.3- 38.7 kg/m2); percent body fat, 28.7% (range, 17.6-50.7%)]. A subgroup of 8 subjects had arteriovenous differences measured across forearm muscle. Thirty subjects were studied from late morning to early evening; 19 ate a high carbohydrate meal around 1300 h, and 11 continued to fast. We found a greater than 2-fold increase in IL-6 concentrations across the adipose tissue bed [arterial, 2.27 pg/mL (range, 1.42-3.53 pg/mL); venous, 6.71 pg/mL (range, 3.36-9.62 pg/mL); P < 0.001], but not across forearm muscle. Arterial plasma concentrations of IL-6 correlated significantly with body mass index (Spearman's r = 0.48; P < 0.01) and percent body fat (Spearman's r = 0.49; P < 0.01). Subcutaneous adipose tissue IL-6 production increased by the early evening (1800-1900 h) in both subjects who had extended their fasting and those who had eaten. Neither deep forearm nor sc adipose tissue consistently released TNF alpha [across adipose tissue: arterial, 1.83 pg/mL (range, 1.36-2.34 pg/mL); venous, 1.85 pg/mL (range, 1.44-2.53 pg/mL); P = NS: across forearm muscle: arterial, 1.22 pg/mL (range, 0.74-2.76 pg/mL); venous, 0.99 pg/mL (range, 0.69-1.70 pg/mL); P = NS]. Although both IL-6 and TNF alpha are expressed by adipose tissue, our results show that there are important differences in their systemic release. TNF alpha is not released by this sc depot. In contrast, IL-6 is released from the depot and is thereby able to signal systemically.
Using the cold pressor test, three experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of water temperature and labeling on three dependent measures in college women: behavioral pain tolerance (BPT), a sensory rating of the pain experience (SR) and a parallel affective rating of the experience (AR). Temperature of the cold pressor was varied as the physical factor; labels (discomfort, pain, vasoconstriction pain) were varied as the psychological factor. Experiment I varied only water temperature; colder temperatures led to significantly lower BPT scores and significantly higher SR and AR scores. Experiment 2 varied only labeling and demonstrated that BPT decreased and AR increased as labels became more painful-sounding; in contrast, SR was unaffected by labeling. In Experiment 3 both the psychological and physical factors were varied simultaneously. Results indicated significantly higher BPT scores as the water temperature increased and the pain label became more benign. In addition, both SR and AR were sensitive to changes in temperature, whereas only AR was affected by changes in labeling.
The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) is the largest research program ever initiated in the United States with a focus on diet and health. Therefore, it is important to understand and document the measurement characteristics of the key dietary assessment instrument: the WHI food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).
Data are from 113 women screened for participation in the WHI in 1995. We assessed bias and precision of the FFQ by comparing the intake of 30 nutrients estimated from the FFQ with means from four 24-hour dietary recalls and a 4-day food record.
For most nutrients, means estimated by the FFQ were within 10% of the records or recalls. Precision, defined as the correlation between the FFQ and the records and recalls, was similar to other FFQs. Energy adjusted correlation coefficients ranged from 0.2 (vitamin B12) to 0.7 (magnesium) with a mean of 0.5. The correlation for percentage energy from fat (a key measure in WHI) was 0.6. Vitamin supplement use was common. For example, almost half of total vitamin E intake was obtained from supplements. Including supplemental vitamins and minerals increased micronutrient correlation coefficients, which ranged from 0.2 (thiamin) to 0.8 (vitamin E) with a mean of 0.6.
The WHI FFQ produced nutrient estimate, that were similar to those obtained from short-term dietary recall and recording methods. Comparison of WHI FFQ nutrient intake measures to independent and unbiased measures, such as doubly labeled water estimates of energy expenditure, are needed to help address the validity of the FFQ in this population.
A single-slice computed tomography (CT) scan provides a criterion measure of total abdominal fat (TAF) and abdominal visceral fat (AVF), but this procedure is often prohibitive due to radiation exposure, cost, and accessibility. In the present study, the utility of anthropometric measures and estimates of trunk and abdominal fat mass by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to predict CT measures of TAF and AVF (cross-sectional area, cm2) was assessed.
CT measures of abdominal fat (at the level of the L4-L5 inter-vertebral space), DXA scans, and anthropometric measures were obtained in 76 Caucasian adults ages 20-80 years.
Results demonstrated that abdominal sagittal diameter measured by anthropometry is an excellent predictor of sagittal diameter measured from a CT image (r=0.88 and 0.94; Total Error [TE]=4.1 and 3.1 cm, for men and women, respectively). In both men and women, waist circumference and abdominal sagittal diameter were the anthropometric measures most strongly associated with TAF (r=0.87 to 0.93; Standard Error of Estimate (SEE)=60.7 to 75.4 cm2) and AVF (r=0.84 to 0.93; SEE=0.7 to 30.0 cm2). The least predictive anthropometric measure of TAF or AVF was the commonly used waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). DXA estimates of trunk and abdominal fat mass were strongly associated with TAF (r=.94 to 0.97; SEE=36.9 to 50.9 cm2) and AVF (r=0.86 to 0.90; SEE=4.9 to 27.7 cm2).
The present results suggest that waist circumference and/or abdominal sagittal diameter are better predictors of TAF and AVF than the more commonly used WHR. DXA trunk fat and abdominal fat appear to be slightly better predictors of TAF but not AVF compared to these anthropometric measures. Thus DXA does not offer a significant advantage over anthropometry for estimation of AVF.
Although adverse effects of severe chronic stress on immunocompetence and physical well-being in older adults have been reported, the immune response to less severe life stress among healthy older adults, particularly among women, is not well understood. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been considered a good overall indicator of immune functioning in older adults because of its contribution to the pathogenesis of several age-related conditions such as osteoporosis. Regulation of IL-6 is impaired in elderly adults, and levels of IL-6 increase with stress and depression. This research cross-sectionally examined levels of IL-6 in three groups of healthy older women with varying levels of life stress and mood disturbance and a healthy group of young women.
Subjects included 18 caregivers of Alzheimer's patients, 17 older women assessed one month before relocation of their residence, 15 nonmoving and noncaregiving older women, and 20 younger women. Subjects completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and had early morning blood draws.
Alzheimer's caregivers reported significantly greater distress than women of all other groups. IL-6 levels in caregivers were significantly higher than those of all other women. The older women had significantly higher IL-6 than young controls, but there were no significant differences in IL-6 between movers and older controls. Among all women, greater depression and distress were related to higher levels of IL-6.
These findings suggest that in older women, chronic stressors are associated with significant elevations in IL-6 over and above the elevations associated with normal aging, but that moderate stressors may not be related to appreciable elevations in IL-6.
Despite clear exacerbation of several skin disorders by stress, the effect of psychologic or exertional stress on human skin has not been well studied. We investigated the effect of three different stressors, psychologic interview stress, sleep deprivation, and exercise, on several dermatologic measures: transepidermal water loss, recovery of skin barrier function after tape stripping, and stratum corneum water content (skin conductance). We simultaneously measured the effects of stress on plasma levels of several stress-response hormones and cytokines, natural killer cell activity, and absolute numbers of peripheral blood leukocytes. Twenty-five women participated in a laboratory psychologic interview stress, 11 women participated in one night of sleep deprivation, and 10 women participated in a 3 d exercise protocol. The interview stress caused a delay in the recovery of skin barrier function, as well as increases in plasma cortisol, norepinephrine, interleukin-1beta and interleukin-10, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and an increase in circulating natural killer cell activity and natural killer cell number. Sleep deprivation also decreased skin barrier function recovery and increased plasma interleukin-1beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and natural killer cell activity. The exercise stress did not affect skin barrier function recovery, but caused an increase in natural killer cell activity and circulating numbers of both cytolytic T lymphocytes and helper T cells. In addition, cytokine responses to the interview stress were inversely correlated with changes in barrier function recovery. These results suggest that acute psychosocial and sleep deprivation stress disrupts skin barrier function homeostasis in women, and that this disruption may be related to stress-induced changes in cytokine secretion.
To test whether rhythmic formulas such as the rosary and yoga mantras can synchronise and reinforce inherent cardiovascular rhythms and modify baroreflex sensitivity.
Comparison of effects of recitation of the Ave Maria (in Latin) or of a mantra, during spontaneous and metronome controlled breathing, on breathing rate and on spontaneous oscillations in RR interval, and on blood pressure and cerebral circulation.
Florence and Pavia, Italy.
23 healthy adults.
Breathing rate, regularity of breathing, baroreflex sensitivity, frequency of cardiovascular oscillations.
Both prayer and mantra caused striking, powerful, and synchronous increases in existing cardiovascular rhythms when recited six times a minute. Baroreflex sensitivity also increased significantly, from 9.5 (SD 4.6) to 11.5 (4.9) ms/mm Hg, P<0.05.
Rhythm formulas that involve breathing at six breaths per minute induce favourable psychological and possibly physiological effects.
Negative emotions can intensify a variety of health threats. We provide a broad framework relating negative emotions to a range of diseases whose onset and course may be influenced by the immune system; inflammation has been linked to a spectrum of conditions associated with aging, including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, Alzheimer's disease, frailty and functional decline, and periodontal disease. Production of proinflammatory cytokines that influence these and other conditions can be directly stimulated by negative emotions and stressful experiences. Additionally, negative emotions also contribute to prolonged infection and delayed wound healing, processes that fuel sustained proinflammatory cytokine production. Accordingly, we argue that distress-related immune dysregulation may be one core mechanism behind a large and diverse set of health risks associated with negative emotions. Resources such as close personal relationships that diminish negative emotions enhance health in part through their positive impact on immune and endocrine regulation.
Overproduction of IL-6, a proinflammatory cytokine, is associated with a spectrum of age-related conditions including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, periodontal disease, frailty, and functional decline. To describe the pattern of change in IL-6 over 6 years among older adults undergoing a chronic stressor, this longitudinal community study assessed the relationship between chronic stress and IL-6 production in 119 men and women who were caregiving for a spouse with dementia and 106 noncaregivers, with a mean age at study entry of 70.58 (SD = 8.03) for the full sample. On entry into this portion of the longitudinal study, 28 of the caregivers' spouses had already died, and an additional 50 of the 119 spouses died during the 6 years of this study. Levels of IL-6 and health behaviors associated with IL-6 were measured across 6 years. Caregivers' average rate of increase in IL-6 was about four times as large as that of noncaregivers. Moreover, the mean annual changes in IL-6 among former caregivers did not differ from that of current caregivers even several years after the death of the impaired spouse. There were no systematic group differences in chronic health problems, medications, or health-relevant behaviors that might have accounted for caregivers' steeper IL-6 slope. These data provide evidence of a key mechanism through which chronic stressors may accelerate risk of a host of age-related diseases by prematurely aging the immune response.
Depression is associated with enhanced production of proinflammatory cytokines that influence a spectrum of conditions associated with aging, including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, certain cancers, periodontal disease, frailty, and functional decline. In this prospective community study, we assessed the relationship between depressive symptoms and changes in inflammatory response after an influenza virus vaccination.
To study the dynamics of interleukin (IL) 6 levels in plasma in response to an immunological challenge, we obtained blood samples in 119 older adults (mean age, 71.21 +/- 8.68 years [SD]) immediately before an annual influenza vaccination and again 2 weeks later. The short form of the Beck Depression Inventory, completed at these same times, provided information on depressive symptoms.
The number of depressive symptoms in this sample was low on average before vaccination (mean +/- SD number of symptoms, 3.07 +/- 3.09) and did not change significantly after vaccination. Participants with more depressive symptoms had higher levels of IL-6 before and after vaccination than did those who reported fewer symptoms; moreover, individuals reporting more depressive symptoms also showed an increase in plasma IL-6 levels 2 weeks later, while there was little change in IL-6 levels among those reporting few or no symptoms.
Even a modest number of depressive symptoms may sensitize the inflammatory response system in older adults and produce amplified and prolonged inflammatory responses after infection and other immunological challenges. Sustained and/or amplified inflammatory responses could accelerate a range of age-related diseases.
Recent data have revealed that the plasma concentration of inflammatory mediators, such as tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), is increased in the insulin resistant states of obesity and type 2 diabetes, raising questions about the mechanisms underlying inflammation in these two conditions. It is also intriguing that an increase in inflammatory mediators or indices predicts the future development of obesity and diabetes. Two mechanisms might be involved in the pathogenesis of inflammation. Firstly, glucose and macronutrient intake causes oxidative stress and inflammatory changes. Chronic overnutrition (obesity) might thus be a proinflammatory state with oxidative stress. Secondly, the increased concentrations of TNF-alpha and IL-6, associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes, might interfere with insulin action by suppressing insulin signal transduction. This might interfere with the anti-inflammatory effect of insulin, which in turn might promote inflammation.
Yoga teachers and students often report that yoga has an uplifting effect on their moods, but scientific research on yoga and depression is limited.
To examine the effects of a short-term Iyengar yoga course on mood in mildly depressed young adults.
Young adults pre-screened for mild levels of depression were randomly assigned to a yoga course or wait-list control group.
College campus recreation center.
Twenty-eight volunteers ages 18 to 29. At intake, all participants were experiencing mild levels of depression, but had received no current psychiatric diagnoses or treatments. None had significant yoga experience.
Subjects in the yoga group attended two 1-hour Iyengar yoga classes each week for 5 consecutive weeks. The classes emphasized yoga postures thought to alleviate depression, particularly back bends, standing poses, and inversions.
Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Profile of Mood States, morning cortisol levels.
Subjects who participated in the yoga course demonstrated significant decreases in self-reported symptoms of depression and trait anxiety. These effects emerged by the middle of the yoga course and were maintained by the end. Changes also were observed in acute mood, with subjects reporting decreased levels of negative mood and fatigue following yoga classes. Finally, there was a trend for higher morning cortisol levels in the yoga group by the end of the yoga course, compared to controls. These findings provide suggestive evidence of the utility of yoga asanas in improving mood and support the need for future studies with larger samples and more complex study designs to more fully evaluate the effects of yoga on mood disturbances.
Physical fitness has a protective effect with regard to the risk of developing coronary disease or diabetes. C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are directly related to increased risk of coronary disease and diabetes. However, data on the association between physical fitness and CRP are sparse.
Physical fitness was assessed in a population-based cross-sectional study (n = 892; age 50 +/- 9 years) using the Bruce treadmill protocol. CRP was measured using a high-sensitivity assay.
Geometric mean CRP levels were calculated across quartiles of physical fitness after adjustment for age, gender, body mass index, smoking habit, presence of diabetes and hypertension, HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and use of hormone replacement therapy, statins, and aspirin. CRP levels decreased with increasing quartiles of fitness (P for trend <0.0001). When used as a continuous variable in a stepwise linear regression model, the geometric mean of CRP decreased by 0.061 mg/L (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.034-0.089 mg/L) for each 1 unit increase in metabolic equivalents (METs). Multivariate logistic regression models showed that compared to subjects in the lowest fitness quintile, subjects in the highest fitness quintile had significantly lower adjusted odds of having a high-risk (>3 mg/L) CRP level (OR 0.53; 95% CI 0.39-0.71, P = 0.007).
CRP concentration decreases continuously with increasing levels of physical fitness. The health-related salutary effects of physical fitness may be mediated, in part, through an antiinflammatory mechanism.
Folk wisdom has long suggested that stressful events take a toll on health. The field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is now providing key mechanistic evidence about the ways in which stressors--and the negative emotions that they generate--can be translated into physiological changes. PNI researchers have used animal and human models to learn how the immune system communicates bidirectionally with the central nervous and endocrine systems and how these interactions impact on health.
Physical activity is associated with a reduced incidence of coronary disease, but the mechanisms mediating this effect are not defined. There has been considerable recent interest in inflammation in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. Some of the beneficial role of physical activity may result from its effects on the inflammatory process. We searched PubMed for articles published between 1975 through May 2004 using the terms exercise, physical activity, or physical fitness combined with C-reactive protein, inflammation, inflammatory markers, or cytokines. The review revealed 19 articles on the acute inflammatory response to exercise, 18 on cross-sectional comparisons of subjects by activity levels, and 5 examining prospectively the effects of exercise training on the inflammatory process. Exercise produces a short-term, inflammatory response, whereas both cross-sectional comparisons and longitudinal exercise training studies demonstrate a long-term "anti-inflammatory" effect. This anti-inflammatory response may contribute to the beneficial effects of habitual physical activity.
Although inflammation has long been known as a localized protective reaction of tissue to irritation, injury, or infection, characterized by pain, redness, swelling, and sometimes loss of function, there has been a new realization about its role in a wide variety of diseases, including cancer. While acute inflammation is a part of the defense response, chronic inflammation can lead to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular, pulmonary, and neurological diseases. Several pro-inflammatory gene products have been identified that mediate a critical role in suppression of apoptosis, proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis. Among these gene products are TNF and members of its superfamily, IL-1alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-8, IL-18, chemokines, MMP-9, VEGF, COX-2, and 5-LOX. The expression of all these genes are mainly regulated by the transcription factor NF-kappaB, which is constitutively active in most tumors and is induced by carcinogens (such as cigarette smoke), tumor promoters, carcinogenic viral proteins (HIV-tat, HIV-nef, HIV-vpr, KHSV, EBV-LMP1, HTLV1-tax, HPV, HCV, and HBV), chemotherapeutic agents, and gamma-irradiation. These observations imply that anti-inflammatory agents that suppress NF-kappaB or NF-kappaB-regulated products should have a potential in both the prevention and treatment of cancer. The current review describes in detail the critical link between inflammation and cancer.
Inflammatory processes contribute to disease pathways and may be affected by behavioral lifestyle factors. The relative contributions of fatness and cardiorespiratory fitness to inflammatory factors remain unclear. The present review examines the hypothesis that the association between fitness and inflammatory factors is independent of fatness.
Data were examined from 40 observational studies on the association between fitness/physical activity and inflammatory factors after making statistical adjustment for measures of fatness, and from 12 randomized controlled trials that considered the impact of improved fitness and weight loss.
Two thirds of the observational studies report an inverse relationship between inflammatory factors and fitness after adjustment for fatness. Evidence from randomized controlled trials does not consistently support the hypothesis. Inconsistencies in the literature may be related to various factors such as age, gender, and disease status.
Both fitness and fatness appear to contribute to inflammatory factors, although it is unclear whether fatness is a mediator or if both fitness and fatness share the same causal pathways. Lifestyle interventions for primary prevention in the general public should therefore focus on both increasing physical activity and the prevention of excess adiposity, although the optimal exercise dose and body composition for preventing chronic inflammatory processes is not well established.
Aging is associated with increases of sympathetic nervous system activation implicated in the onset of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the practice of Tai Chi Chih (TCC), a movement-based relaxation practice, would acutely promote decreases of sympathetic activity in elderly persons.
The sample included two groups of older men and women (age > or = 60 years): TCC practitioners (n = 19) and TCC-naïve participants (n = 13). Participants were recruited after completing a 25-week randomized trial of TCC or health education. TCC practitioners performed TCC for 20 minutes, and TCC-naïve participants passively rested. Preejection period, blood pressure, and heart rate were measured before and after the task. A subsample (n = 8) returned for a second evaluation and performed videotape-guided stretching for 20 minutes to evaluate the effects of slow-moving physical activity on sympathetic activity.
Results showed that TCC performance significantly decreased sympathetic activity as indexed by preejection period (p =.01). In contrast, there was no change in preejection period following passive rest or slow-moving physical activity. Neither blood pressure nor heart rate changed after TCC performance.
This study is the first to our knowledge to assess the acute effects of TCC practice on sympathetic activity in older adults. TCC performance led to acute decreases in sympathetic activity, which could not be explained by physical activity alone. Further study is needed to determine whether the acute salutary effects of TCC on autonomic functioning are sustained with ongoing practice in older adults.
Stress influences circulating inflammatory markers, and these effects may mediate the influence of psychosocial factors on cardiovascular risk and other conditions such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. Inflammatory responses can be investigated under controlled experimental conditions in humans, and evidence is beginning to emerge showing that circulating inflammatory factors respond to acute psychological stress under laboratory conditions. However, research published to date has varied greatly in the composition of study groups, the timing of samples, assay methods, and the type of challenge imposed. The purpose of this review is to synthesize existing data using meta-analytic techniques. Thirty studies met inclusion criteria. Results showed robust effects for increased levels of circulating IL-6 (r=0.19, p=0.001) and IL-1beta (r=0.58, p<0.001) following acute stress, and marginal effects for CRP (r=0.12, p=0.088). The effects of stress on stimulated cytokine production were less consistent. Significant variation in the inflammatory response was also related to the health status of participants and the timing of post-stress samples. A number of psychobiological mechanisms may underlie responses, including stress-induced reductions in plasma volume, upregulation of synthesis, or enlargement of the cell pool contributing to synthesis. The acute stress-induced inflammatory response may have implications for future health, and has become an important topic of psychoneuroimmunological research.
Physical fitness may attenuate the increased atherosclerotic risk in patients with systemic hypertension. We investigated the association of screening blood pressure (BP) and cardiorespiratory fitness with baseline levels and exercise-induced changes in levels of soluble atherosclerotic risk markers.
Twenty-six otherwise healthy and unmedicated subjects with elevated BP (systolic BP and/or diastolic BP > or =130/85 mm Hg) and 40 subjects with normal BP underwent 20-min treadmill exercise at 65% to 70% of predetermined peak oxygen consumption (VO(2peak)). Interleukin (IL)-6, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (sICAM)-1, von Willebrand factor (VWF) antigen, and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 antigen were measured at baseline (ie, pre-exercise), early postexercise, and late postexercise (ie, 25 min after exercise).
At baseline, higher screening mean arterial BP (MAP) independently predicted higher sICAM-1 levels (P = .031), and lower VO(2peak) independently predicted higher IL-6 (P = .016) and PAI-1 (P < .001) levels. Early and late postexercise lower VO(2peak) was associated with higher mean PAI-1 (P < or = .072) and IL-6 (P < or = .026) levels, and higher screening MAP was associated with higher mean sICAM-1 levels (P < or = .035). Higher VO(2peak) was associated with a greater PAI-1 increase from baseline to early postexercise in subjects with elevated BP (P = .045) but not in those with normal BP.
Circulating levels of some atherosclerotic risk markers at baseline and with exercise were higher with elevated BP and lower with better fitness. Greater fitness did not particularly protect subjects with elevated BP from potentially harmful responses of atherosclerotic risk markers to acute physical exercise.
Despite aromatherapy's popularity, efficacy data are scant, and potential mechanisms are controversial. This randomized controlled trial examined the psychological, autonomic, endocrine, and immune consequences of one purported relaxant odor (lavender), one stimulant odor (lemon), and a no-odor control (water), before and after a stressor (cold pressor); 56 healthy men and women were exposed to each of the odors during three separate visits. To assess the effects of expectancies, participants randomized to the "blind" condition were given no information about the odors they would smell; "primed" individuals were told what odors they would smell during the session, and what changes to expect. Experimenters were blind. Self-report and unobtrusive mood measures provided robust evidence that lemon oil reliably enhances positive mood compared to water and lavender regardless of expectancies or previous use of aromatherapy. Moreover, norepinephrine levels following the cold pressor remained elevated when subjects smelled lemon, compared to water or lavender. DTH responses to Candida were larger following inhalation of water than lemon or lavender. Odors did not reliably alter IL-6 and IL-10 production, salivary cortisol, heart rate or blood pressure, skin barrier repair following tape stripping, or pain ratings following the cold pressor.