Yoga is being used by a growing number of youth and adults as a means of improving overall health and fitness. There is also a progressive trend toward use of yoga as a mind-body complementary and alternative medicine intervention to improve specific physical and mental health conditions. To provide clinicians with therapeutically useful information about yoga, the evidence evaluating yoga as a...

BACKGROUND Yoga and meditation have been shown to be effective in alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety in healthy volunteers and psychiatric populations. Recent work has also indicated that yoga can improve cognitive-behavioural performance and control. Although there have been no controlled studies of the effects of yoga in a prison population, we reasoned that yoga could have benefi...

Background It has been suggested that yoga may be effective in the management of mental health disorders including addictions. Objective To critically evaluate the evidence of effectiveness of yoga as a treatment for addictions. Methods Fourteen electronic databases were searched from inception to January 2013. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated any type of yoga against any type...

BACKGROUND Recent studies suggest that yoga practice may improve cognitive functioning. Although preliminary data indicate that yoga improves working memory (WM), high-resolution information about the type of WM subconstructs, namely maintenance and manipulation, is not available. Furthermore, the association between cognitive enhancement and improved mindfulness as a result of yoga practice re...

We aimed to determine the effects of an 8 wk Hatha yoga training on blood glucose, insulin, lipid profiles, endothelial microparticles (EMPs), and inflammatory status in healthy, lean, and female Chinese subjects. A total of 30 healthy, female Chinese subjects were recruited and randomized into control or yoga practice group. The yoga practice included 8 wks of yoga practice (2 times/wk) for a ...

BACKGROUND Yoga, an ancient Indian system of exercise and therapy is an art of good living or an integrated system for the benefit of the body, mind, and inner spirit. Regular practice of yoga can help to increase blood flow to the brain, reduce stress, have a calming effect on the nervous system, and greatly help in reducing hypertension. AIM Aim of the present study is to evaluate the effec...

OBJECTIVE To study the efficacy of yoga on pregnancy outcomes. DESIGN AND SETTING Three hundred thirty five (335) women attending the antenatal clinic at Gunasheela Surgical and Maternity Hospital in Bangalore, India, were enrolled between 18 and 20 weeks of pregnancy in a prospective, matched, observational study; 169 women in the yoga group and 166 women in the control group. METHODS Wome...

OBJECTIVES Chronic low back pain (CLBP) affects millions of people worldwide, and appears to be increasing in prevalence. It is associated not only with pain, but also with increased disability, psychological symptoms, and reduced quality of life. There are various treatment options for CLBP, but no single therapy stands out as being the most effective. In the past 10 years, yoga interventions ...

INTRODUCTION Interest in the application of yoga for health benefits in western medicine is growing rapidly, with a significant rise in publications. The purpose of this systematic review is to determine whether the inclusion of yoga therapy to the treatment of breast cancer can improve the patient's physical and psychosocial quality of life (QoL). METHODS A search of peer reviewed journal ar...

BACKGROUND A growing number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have investigated the therapeutic value of yoga interventions. This bibliometric analysis aimed to provide a comprehensive review of the characteristics of the totality of available randomized yoga trials. METHODS All RCTs of yoga were eligible. Medline/PubMed, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, IndMED, and the tables of content of...