|
Health Benefits of
Yoga Two of the most common inquiries we receive from professional
members preparing presentations on Yoga and from journalists and students writing
about Yoga are: • What are the health benefits of Yoga?
Following are answers drawn from various sources and provided
in a succinct format. I wish to especially thank the following three individuals:
First, A. Malathi, M.D. (amalathi@vsnl.net),
for her presentation in November 2000 on the benefits of Yoga at Health Benefits This information is grouped into three
categories—physiological benefits, psychological benefits, biochemical
effects—and is based on the regular practice of traditional âsana, prânâyâma,
and meditation. Please note that while pulse rate, etc., may increase during
the practice of various âsanas, some forms
of prânâyâma, and some stages of meditation,
but overall benefits to general health are as listed below. For information
on the physiological changes that occur during the practice of specific âsanas, etc., please see James Funderburk’s
Science Studies Yoga and other resources cited at the end of this
article. Physiological Benefits • Stable autonomic nervous system equilibrium, with a tendency
toward parasympathetic nervous system dominance rather than the usual
stress-induced sympathetic nervous system dominance Psychological Benefits • Somatic and kinesthetic awareness increase • Psychomotor functions improve: • Grip strength increases • Cognitive function improves:
Biochemical Effects The biochemical profile improves, indicating an antistress and antioxidant effect, important in the
prevention of degenerative diseases. • Glucose decreases
Yoga Exercise Parasympathetic nervous system dominates Sympathetic nervous
system dominates Low caloric consumption Moderate to high caloric consumption Noncompetitive, process-oriented Competitive, goal-oriented Limitless possibilities for growth in self-awareness Boredom
factor Select General References Anantharaman, V., and Sarada Subrahmanyam.
Physiological benefits in hatha yoga training. The
Yoga Review, 3(1):9-24. Arpita. Physiological and psychological
effects of Hatha yoga: A review of the literature.
The Journal of The International Association of Yoga Therapists, 1990,
1(I&II):1-28. Bhole, M. V. Some neuro-physiological
correlates of yogasanas. Yoga-Mimamsa, April
1977, 19(1):53-61. Cole, Roger. Physiology of yoga. Iyengar
Yoga Institute Review, Oct 1985. Davidson, Julian M. The physiology of meditation and mystical
states of consciousness. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Spring
1976, 19:345-379. Delmonte, M. M.
Physiological concomitants of meditation practice. International Journal
of Psychosomatics, 1984, 31(4):23-36. ___________. Physiological responses during meditation and
rest. Biofeedback Self Regulation, Jan 1984, 9(2):181-200. ___________. Biochemical indices associated with meditation
practice: A literature review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral
Reviews, Winter 1985, 9(4):557-561. Dostaleck, C. Physiological
bases of yoga techniques in the prevention of diseases. CIANS-ISBM Satellite
Conference Symposium, Ebert, Dietrich. Yoga from the point of view of
psychophysiology. Yoga-Mimamsa, 28(4):10-21.
Elson, Barry D., Peter Hauri,
and David Cunis. Physiological changes in yoga
meditation. Psychophysiology, January 1977, 14:52-57. Engel, K. Meditation, Vol. 2: Empirical Research and Theory.
Funderburk, James. Science
Studies Yoga: A Review of Physiological Data. Gopal, K. S., O. P. Bhatnagar,
N. Subramanian, and S. D. Nishith.
Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacy, 1973, 17(3):273-276. Jevning, R., R. K. Wallace, and M. Beidebach. The physiology of meditation: A review. A
wakeful hypometabolic integrated response. Neuroscience
and Biobehavioral Reviews, Fall 1992,
16(3):415-424. King, Roy, M.D., and Ann Brownstone. Neurophysiology
of Yoga meditation. International Journal of Yoga Therapy, 1999,
9:9-17. Kuvalayananda, Swami. Some
physiological aspects of meditative poses. Yoga-Mimamsa,
1928, 3(3):245-250. ___________. Physiology of pranayama. Kalyana-Kalpataru,
1940, 7(1):219-228. Majmundar, Matra. Physiology of Yoga Therapeutics (working
title). Forthcoming. Malathi, A., Neela
Patil, Nilesh Shah, A. Damodaran, and S. K. Marathe. Promotive, prophylactic benefits of yogic practices in
middle-aged women. International Journal of Yoga Therapy, forthcoming
2001, no. 11. Motoyama, Hiroshi. A Psychophysiological Study of Yoga. Murphy, M., and S. Donovan. The Physiological and
Psychological Effects of Meditation: A Review of Contemporary Research with a
Comprehensive Bibliography 1931-1996. 2d ed. Pero, G., and G. Spoto.
Study on the anatomy of yoga asana and their neurological effect: A
comparative study. Yoga-Mimamsa, 1985,
24(3):17-18. Roney-Dougal, S. M. On a
possible psychophysiology of the yogic chakra
system. Journal of Indian Psychology, Jul 1999, 17(2). Sahu, R. J., and M. V. Bhole. Effect of 3 weeks yogic training programme on psycho-motor performance. Yoga-Mimamsa, 1983, 22(1&2):59-62. Santha, Joseph, K. Shridharan,
S. K. B. Patil, M. L. Kumaria,
W. Selvamurthy, and H. S. Nayar.
Neurohumoral and metabolic changes consequent to
yogic exercises. Indian Journal of Medical Research, 1981, 74:120-124.
___________, K. Shridharan, S. K. B.
Patil, M. L. Kumaria, W. Selvamurthy, N. T. Joseph, and H. S. Nayar.
Study of some physiological and biochemical parameters in subjects undergoing
yogic training. Indian Journal of Medical Research, July 1981,
74:120-124. Schell, F. J., B. Allolio, and O. W.
Schonecke. Physiological and psychological effects
of Hatha-Yoga exercise in healthy women. International
Journal of Psychosomatics, 1994, 41(1-4):46-52. Selvamurthy, W., H. S. Nayar, N. T. Joseph, and S. Joseph. Physiological effects
of yogic practices. NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences of Singh, R. H., R. M. Shettiwar, and
K. N. Udupa. Physiological and therapeutic studies
on yoga. The Yoga Review, 1982, 2(4):185-209. ___________, and K. N. Udupa. Psychobiological studies on some hatha-yogic practices. Quarterly Journal of Surgical
Sciences, 1977, 13(3-4):290-293. Udupa, K. N., R. H. Singh, and R. M. Shettiwar. Studies on physiological, endocrine and
metabolic responses to the practice of ‘yoga’ in young normal volunteers. Journal
of Research in. Indian Medicine, 1971, 6(3):345-353. ___________. Studies on physiological and metabolic response
to the practice of yoga in young normal volunteers. Journal of Research in
Indian Medicine, 1972, 6(3):345-353. ___________. Physiological and biochemical changes following
the practice of some yogic and non-yogic exercises. Journal of Research
in. Indian Medicine, 1975, 10(2):91-93. ___________. Physiological and biochemical studies on the
effect of yoga and certain other exercises. Indian Journal of Medical
Research, 1975, 63(4):620-625. ___________. A comparative study on the effect of some
individual yogic practices in normal persons. Indian Journal of Medical
Research, 1975, 63(8):1960-1971. ___________, R. H. Singh, and R. A. Yadav.
Certain studies on psychological and biochemical responses to the practice of
hatha yoga in young normal volunteers. Indian
Journal of Medical Research, 1973, 61(2):231-244. Wallace, Robert, and H. Benson. The physiology of meditation. Scientific
American, February 1972, 226:84-90. Wenger, M. A., and B. K. Bagchi.
Studies of autonomic functions in practitioners of Yoga in West, Michael A. Physiological effects of meditation: A
longitudinal study. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology,
June 1979, 18:219-226. Woolfolk, Robert L. Psychophysiological correlates of meditation. Archives
of General Psychiatry, Oct 1975, 32:1326-1333. For additional references, see the extensive bibliography “Psychophysiological Effects” at the IAYT website, www.iayt.org/biblio.html. To view abstracts in the Medline database for some of the
cited articles, go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
and in the search box enter the complete title of the article. If this
generates too many hits or no hits, try entering the names of the article’s
authors using the following format: Delmonte MM (no
comma, no periods following the initials, and no space between the initials;
if there is more than one author, separate the names by comma, e.g.: Corby JC, Roth WT, etc.; capitalization is not required).
Copyright (c) 2001,
2003, 2004 Trisha Lamb Feuerstein. Reprinted from
Yoga |