Yoga Reduces Inflammation Implicated in Stress and Aging

While cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an important part of the body’s inflammatory response, it contributes to the inflammation associated with heart disease, stroke, type-2 diabetes, arthritis and a host of other age-related debilitating diseases.  As such, reducing inflammation is thought to have the potential to yield important health benefits.   Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, from Ohio State University (USA), and colleagues assembled a group of 50 women, average age 41 years, and divided them into two groups:  “novices,” who had either taken yoga classes or who practiced at home with yoga videos for no more than 6 to 12 sessions, and “experts,” who had practiced yoga one of two times weekly for at least two years and at least twice weekly for the last year.  The team asked each of the women to attend three study sessions held at the university, before which each participant completed questionnaires and psychological tests to gauge mood and anxiety levels. During the study session, blood samples were taken several times, and participants were deliberately stressed by physical discomfort or mental challenge, after which followed either the yoga session, a walk on treadmill set at a slow pace (.5 miles per hour), or watching boring videos (control group).  After examining the blood samples, the researchers determined that those women labeled as “novices” had levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 that were 41% higher than those in the study’s “experts.”  The team concludes that: “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.”