Yoga’s TwoFer: Practice Relieves Back Pain And Depression

Call it two, two, two salves in one. Several studies have shown that yoga can ease lower back pain, but now comes a story in the Boston Globe reporting that it also does a number on depression. The paper reports first on research conducted at Boston Medical Center, in which a (small–30 patient) group attended a weekly 75-minute yoga class that included postures, deep breathing, and meditation, as well as instruction to practice 30 minutes a day at home. After 12 weeks, the yoga group reported one-third less pain and an 80 percent decrease in pain medications, while a control group that did not do yoga reported a decrease in pain of 5 percent and no change in medication use. Wait, there’s more. The Globe reports on another study, published in 2007 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, in which researchers at Boston University School of Medicine and McLean Hospital used sophisticated magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of participants before and after a yoga class. They found that levels of gamma-aminobutyric, typically low in people with depression or anxiety disorders, increased by 27 percent after yoga. And more. A follow-up study in 2010 comparing results with a control group that walked an hour on the treadmill three times a week found that those who spent the same amount of time doing yoga had greater increases in positive mood and a greater decrease in anxiety throughout the 12-week period. Read more in the Boston Globe.