Ambatchmasterpublisher Yoga jj May Help Treat Depression, Anxiety Disorders

ambatchmasterpublisher THURSDAY, June 7 ambatchmasterpublisher THURSDAY, June 7 (HealthDay News) -- ambatchmasterpublisher Yoga's postures, controlled breathing and meditation may work together to help ease brains plagued by anxiety or depression, a new study shows.
ambatchmasterpublisher anxiety or depression, a new study shows.
ambatchmasterpublisher scans ambatchmasterpublisher yoga practitioners showed a healthy boost in levels ambatchmasterpublisher the neurotransmitter gamma-aminoambatchmasterpublisher yric (GABA) immediately after a one-hour yoga session. Low ambatchmasterpublisher levels ambatchmasterpublisher GABA are associated with anxiety and depression, the researchers said.
"I am quite sure that this is the first study that's shown that there's a real, measurable change in a major neurotransmitter with a behavioral intervention such as yoga," said lead researcher Dr. Chris Streeter, assistant prambatchmasterpublisher essor ambatchmasterpublisher psychiatry and neurology at the Boston University School ambatchmasterpublisher Medicine.
She ambatchmasterpublisher yoga could prove a useful tool to help people battling depression and anxiety disorders. "We're not advocating that they chuck their medication, ambatchmasterpublisher I ambatchmasterpublisher advise that they could use it as an adjunct and see how they are doing," Streeter said.
Her ambatchmasterpublisher published its findings in the May issue ambatchmasterpublisher the Journal ambatchmasterpublisher Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
In the study, the Boston researchers used high-tech magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging to gauge levels ambatchmasterpublisher GABA in the ambatchmasterpublisher ambatchmasterpublisher eight long-time yoga practitioners and 11 non-practitioners. The participants were healthy, and none was diagnosed with a major psychiatric condition.
ambatchmasterpublisher scans were taken before the beginning ambatchmasterpublisher the experiment. Then, the yoga group was asked to engage in the meditative practice for 60 minutes, while the non-yoga group simply read. The researchers then re-scanned each participant's ambatchmasterpublisher , looking specifically at GABA levels.
"We showed a 27 percent increase in the ambatchmasterpublisher GABA levels ambatchmasterpublisher those doing yoga -- a really significant increase," Streeter said. No such change was noted in the non-practitioners who had just read.
She said the style or school ambatchmasterpublisher yoga practiced didn't seem to matter. "We had hatha, ashtanga, bikram, vinyasa, and kripalu" practitioners included in the yoga group, Streeter said, "and many had been trained in several different schools."
According to Streeter, "this all gives us one ambatchmasterpublisher the mechanisms by which yoga may be having a beneficial effect. There could be other mechanisms."
ambatchmasterpublisher another expert pointed to what he considered flaws in the research.
Zindel Segal, chairman ambatchmasterpublisher psychotherapy and a ambatchmasterpublisher r ambatchmasterpublisher psychology and psychiatry at the University ambatchmasterpublisher Toronto, has for years studied the use ambatchmasterpublisher behavioral interventions to alleviate psychological woes.
He said the Boston researchers were to be commended for using ambatchmasterpublisher scan imaging technologies to investigate the effectiveness ambatchmasterpublisher these techniques. ambatchmasterpublisher he questioned why the yoga group was simply compared to a sedentary reading group and not to another movement-based group.
"Exercise itself may have some effects on GABA, so I think in this study, you'd really want that comparison," he said. Including such a control group ambatchmasterpublisher make it clear that it was yoga and not just an hour ambatchmasterpublisher physical exertion that was responsible for the ambatchmasterpublisher changes.
He also pointed out that all ambatchmasterpublisher the people in the study were mentally healthy, and clinical depression and anxiety disorders involve more than the "daily fluctuations in stress and tension" that healthy individuals are prone to.
"We know that yoga can have a prambatchmasterpublisher ound effect" on smoothing out life's daily ups and downs, Segal said. "ambatchmasterpublisher so does working out on a Stairmaster for an hour."
Segal also questioned the role ambatchmasterpublisher GABA in depression. While it may play a role in anxiety disorders, "GABA is not one ambatchmasterpublisher the main neurotransmitters that seems to be a part ambatchmasterpublisher the depression story," he said. Other neurochemicals -- most notably serotonin -- play much bigger roles in the disorder, he said.
None ambatchmasterpublisher this means that the study's findings are without merit, Segal said. "In fact," he said, "we have a ambatchmasterpublisher called 'mindfulness-based cognitive therapy,' where we do use yoga, as well as mindfulness meditation," as therapeutic tools. Streeter's findings "suggest the need for more study ambatchmasterpublisher these practices," he said.
Streeter agreed that her study is probably just a beginning.
"I think what's important about this study is that it shows that by using really cutting-edge neuroimaging technology, we can measure real changes in the ambatchmasterpublisher with behavioral interventions -- changes that are similar to those that we see with pharmacologic treatments," she said.
ambatchmasterpublisher other mind-body practices -- Tai Chi, for example -- produce similar effects?
" ambatchmasterpublisher I think that's very possible," Streeter said. "I suspect that all roads lead up the mountain."

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