Long-term effect of yogic practices on diurnal metabolic rates of healthy subjects

Deep rest: An integrative model of how contemplative practices combat stress and enhance the body's restorative capacity

Engaging in contemplative practice like meditation, yoga, and prayer, is beneficial for psychological and physical well-being. Recent research has identified several underlying psychological and biological pathways that explain these benefits. However, there is not yet consensus on the underlying overlapping physiological mechanisms of contemplative practice benefits. In this article, we integrate divergent scientific literatures on contemplative practice interventions, stress science, and mitochondrial biology, presenting a unified biopsychosocial model of how contemplative practices reduce stress and promote physical health. We argue that engaging in contemplative practice facilitates a restorative state termed "deep rest," largely through safety signaling, during which energetic resources are directed toward cellular optimization and away from energy-demanding stress states. Our model thus presents a framework for how contemplative practices enhance positive psychological and physiological functioning by optimizing cellular energy consumption. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Traditional Nostril Yoga Breathing Practices and Oxygen Consumption: A Randomized, Cross-over Study

Background

Traditional yoga texts describe "cross nostril breathing," with inhalation and exhalation through different nostrils. Previous research reported no clear differences in oxygen consumption during uninostril breathing (i.e., inhalation and exhalation through the same nostril), hence not supporting right and left uninostril breathing as activating or relaxing, respectively, with no research on oxygen consumed in "cross nostril breathing."

Methods

Oxygen consumed during "cross nostril breathing" was measured in healthy participants (n = 47, males, 26.3 ± 6.4 years). Five sessions (viz., right nostril inspiration yoga breathing [RNIYB], left nostril inspiration yoga breathing [LNIYB], alternate nostril yoga breathing [ANYB], breath awareness (BAW), and quiet rest (QR) were conducted on separate days in random order. Sessions were 33 min in duration with pre, during, and post states.

Results

Volume of oxygen consumed (VO2) and carbon dioxide eliminated (VCO2) increased during RNIYB (9.60% in VO2 and 23.52% in VCO2), LNIYB (9.42% in VO2 and 21.20% in VCO2) and ANYB (10.25% in VO2 and 22.72% in VCO2) with no significant change in BAW and QR. Diastolic blood pressure decreased during BAW and QR and after all five sessions (P < 0.05; in all cases). All comparisons were with the respective preceding state.

Conclusion

During the three yoga breathing practices, the volume of oxygen consumed increased irrespective of the nostril breathed through, possibly associated with (i) conscious regulation of the breath; (ii) attention directed to the breath, and (iii) "respiration-locked cortical activation." Restriction of the study to males reduces the generalizability of the findings.

Yoga Intervention Improves the Metabolic Parameters and Quality of Life among Infertile Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in Indian Population

Background

The heterogenic manifestations of polycystic ovarian syndrome have led to various treatment approaches that include improving hormonal imbalance, weight management, and improving quality of life (QoL). Yoga therapy being a versatile treatment approach benefits physical and mental well-being and can be recommended to women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Objective

The objective of this study was to study the effect of structured yoga intervention on anthropometric, metabolic, hormonal, biochemical, ovarian morphology, and infertility-related QoL parameters among infertile women with PCOS.

Settings and Design

A prospective, controlled before and after study was conducted at a Multidisciplinary PCOS Clinic in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Methodology

Infertile women with PCOS (26 participants in each group which includes intervention and control arm) seeking treatment for infertility at the Multidisciplinary PCOS Clinic at National Institute for Research in Reproductive and Child Health. The intervention group received 90 min of structured yoga intervention for 3 months.

Statistical Analysis

The median change in parameters between baseline and after 12 weeks of intervention was analyzed using IBM SPSS software, version 26 to perform descriptive analyses and Wilcoxon test to analyze pre- and postintervention parameters in the intervention and control group.

Results

There was a significant difference in the weight, basal metabolic rate, postglucose insulin, anti-Müllerian hormone, cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, ultrasound parameters such as stromal thickness, follicle number per ovary, and QoL in infertility domain in the intervention group compared to the control group. Within 1 year of initiation of the study, 13 participants became pregnant in the yoga intervention group as compared to 7 participants in the control group.

Conclusion

The metabolic comorbidities of PCOS have adverse effects on the QoL and pregnancy outcome among infertile women with PCOS. This pilot study demonstrated that a 12-week yoga intervention brought overall improvement in anthropometric, hormonal, biochemical, ovarian morphology, and infertility-related QoL parameters compared to the control group. Integration of yoga in infertility management will help to improve the QoL and to optimize prepregnancy metabolic parameters among infertile women with PCOS.

Effects of one month of Common Yoga Protocol practice appear to be mediated by the angiogenic and neurogenic pathway: A pilot study

OBJECTIVE

To examine the molecular effects of mindful activities such as yoga and meditation DESIGN: This was an open label single arm exploratory yoga intervention study.

STUDY PARTICIPANTS

64 healthy individuals within the age of 18-60 years were recruited for this one month yoga intervention study.

INTERVENTION

Common Yoga Protocol (CYP) is a standardized yoga protocol released by Ministry of AYUSH, India for International Yoga Day. It includes all aspects of yoga i.e. asanas, pranayama and meditation. It is designed for adoption by all age groups for the health of community.

OUTCOME MEASURES

The participants were assessed for biochemical parameters including Fasting Sugar and Lipid profile. The molecular markers of neurogenesis (i.e. Brain derived Neurotropic Factor, BDNF) and Angiogenesis (i.e. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor, VEGF and Angiogenin) along with Amyloid β (marker related to neuro-degenerative diseases) were assessed. All the assessments were made at baseline and after one month of the intervention.

RESULTS

After one month of CYP practice High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) levels increased significantly (p<0.001), although other biochemical parameters i.e. fasting sugar and other lipid assessments were found to be unaltered. Angiogenesis marker, angiogenin was increased significantly (p<0.002), other angiogenesis marker VEGF did not show any change along with BDNF, marker of neurogenesis. Amyloid β levels were also unaltered. Even though individual levels of VEGF and Amyloid β did not show any change, proportion of VEGF to Amyloid β showed a significant increase (p<0.001) after one month of CYP intervention indicating that the change in VEGF levels was significantly higher than the change in Amyloid β levels.

CONCLUSION

CYP practice may influence cell survival pathways mediated by angiogenic and neurogenic cross talk. Hence, CYP can be considered as a preventive measure for diseases associated with impaired angiogenic and neurogenic mechanism. This is the first study to examine the effects of CYP at the molecular level.

Changes in Shape and Size Discrimination and State Anxiety After Alternate-Nostril Yoga Breathing and Breath Awareness in One Session Each

BACKGROUND Yoga breathing techniques like high-frequency yoga breathing (HFYB) and breath awareness (BAW) have been associated with improved performance in the shape and size discrimination task. A PubMed search of the literature revealed that alternate-nostril breathing has been shown to improve performance in attention tasks, but the effect on tactile perception has not been studied. Hence, the present study was designed to assess the immediate effects of alternate-nostril yoga breathing (ANYB) compared to breath awareness on shape and size discrimination and state anxiety. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifty healthy male volunteers ages 20-50 years (group mean ±S.D., 28.4±8.2 years) were recruited. Each participant was assessed in 3 sessions conducted on 3 separate days at the same time of day. The 3 sessions were (i) alternate-nostril yoga breathing (ANYB), (ii) breath awareness (BAW), and (iii) quiet sitting (QS), and the sequence of the sessions was randomly allocated. The shape and size discrimination task and state anxiety were assessed before and after all 3 sessions. Repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) followed by post hoc tests for multiple comparisons, which were Bonferroni-adjusted, were performed to compare data before and after all 3 sessions using SPSS version 18.0. RESULTS The errors scores in the shape and size discrimination task showed a significant reduction after the ANYB session (p<0.001). A significant reduction was found in the level of state anxiety after breath awareness (p<0.05) and quiet sitting sessions (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS The present results suggest that ANYB: (i) improves performance in a task which requires perceptual sensitivity and focused attention, but (ii) does not reduce state anxiety following this task.

Vendantic view on life and consciousness: BN Shanta is correct

The explanation for Vedanta offered by Bhakti Niskama Santa (BNS)¹ is valid from both scientific and philosophical grounds. It seems that the published critique of Gustavo Caetano-Anollés (GCA)² to Shanta's paper is purely emotional and does not have any valid scientific or philosophical justification. In his rebuttal to Caetano-Anollés's critique, Shanta³ highlighted how the concept of ‘Organic Whole’ in Vedanta is completely different than that of Creationist Movement and Intelligent Design. Thus Caetano-Anollé's attempt to equate Vedanta with Creationist Movement and Intelligent Design is merely superfluous. This article highlights the validity of the argument made by Bhakti Niskama Shanta¹ and thus also intends to clarify why the Caetano-Anollés critique is groundless.

Yoga: Managing overweight in mid-life T2DM

Background:

The dramatic rise in the prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with increased mortality, morbidity as well as public health care expenses worldwide. Previous research suggests that yoga holds promise for obesity and T2DM management.

Objective:

The objective of the present study was to assess the effect of intensive integrated approach of yoga therapy (IAYT) on body fat and body mass index (BMI) and resting metabolism in mid-life overweight patients with T2DM (BMI, Mean ± SD, 27.05 ± 4.51).

Materials and Methods:

Twenty-four mid-life patients (6 females) with T2DM (Age, Mean ± SD, 55.38 ± 7.96 years) participated in the study and practiced IAYT for 7 days. The IAYT works at five layers of human existence (physical, vital, mental, intellectual and bliss) to bring positive health. The body fat and BMI and resting metabolism were recorded before and after IAYT using Karada Scan body composition monitor HBF-375 from Omron Healthcare Singapore PTE LTD.

Statistical Analysis:

SPSS-16 was used to analyze the data. Shapiro-Wilk test showed that the data was not normally distributed. Further, the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test was used to analyze the change in means of pre- and post-measurements.

Results:

Data analysis showed that there was a significant decrease in body fat and BMI and resting metabolism (in all assessments, P < 0.001).

Conclusion:

The present study suggests that 7 days practice of IAYT has a great promise for the management of overweight in mid-life patients with T2DM. Additional well-designed studies are needed before a strong recommendation can be made.

An explorative study of metabolic responses to mental stress and yoga practices in yoga practitioners, non-yoga practitioners and individuals with metabolic syndrome

BACKGROUND

Stress places a metabolic burden on homeostasis and is linked to heightened sympathetic activity, increased energy expenditure and pathology. The yogic state is a hypometabolic state that corresponds with mind-body coherence and reduced stress. This study aimed to investigate metabolic responses to stress and different yoga practices in regular yoga practitioners (YP), non-yoga practitioners (NY) and metabolic syndrome patients (MS).

METHODS

YP (n = 16), NY (n = 15) and MS (n = 15) subjects underwent an experimental protocol that comprised of different 5-minute interventions including mental arithmetic stress test (MAST), alternate nostril breathing (ANB), Kapabhati breathing (KB) and meditation (Med) interspersed with 5 minutes of quiet resting (neutral condition (NC)). During the intervention periods continuous body weight adjusted oxygen consumption (VO2ml/min/kg) was measured using open circuit indirect calorimetry with a canopy hood.

RESULTS

This is the first study to report oxygen consumption (OC) in yoga practitioners during and after MAST and the first to report both within and between different populations. The results were analysed with SPSS 16 using 3X9 mixed factorial ANOVAs. The single between-subject factor was group (YP, NY and MS), the single within-subject factor was made up of the nine intervention phases (NC1, MAST, NC2, ANB, NC3, KB, NC4, Med, NC5). The results demonstrated that the regular YP group had significantly less OC and greater variability in their OC across all phases compared to the MS group (p = .003) and NY group (p = .01). All groups significantly raised their OC during the mental arithmetic stress, however the MS group had a significantly blunted post-stress recovery whereas the YP group rapidly recovered back to baseline levels with post stress recovery being greater than either the NY group or MS group.

CONCLUSIONS

Yoga practitioners have greater metabolic variability compared to non-yoga practitioners and metabolic syndrome patients with reduced oxygen requirements during resting conditions and more rapid post-stress recovery. OC in metabolic syndrome patients displays significantly blunted post-stress recovery demonstrating reduced metabolic resilience. Our results support the findings of previous randomised trials that suggest regular yoga practice may mitigate against the effects of metabolic syndrome.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER

ACTRN12614001075673; Date of Registration: 07/10/2014.

Effect of 11 months of yoga training on cardiorespiratory responses during the actual practice of Surya Namaskar

Background:

Surya Namaskar (SN), a popular traditional Indian yogic practice, includes practicing 12 physical postures with alternate forward and backward bending movement of the body along with deep breathing maneuvers. The practice of SN has become popular among yoga practitioners and other fitness conscious people. The long-term effect of practicing SN and other yogic practices on cardiorespiratory responses during SN are lacking.

Aim:

The present study was conducted to study the effect of yogic training on various cardiorespiratory responses during the SN practice in yoga trainees after a time interval of 3, 6, and 11 months.

Materials and Methods:

The present study was conducted on 9 healthy male Army soldiers who underwent training in various yoga postures including SN, meditation, and pranayama for 1 h daily for 11 months. First, second, and third phase of the study was conducted in the laboratory after completion of 3, 6, and 11 months of the yoga training. The participants performed SN along with other yogic practices in the laboratory as per their daily practice schedule. The cardiorespiratory responses of the volunteers were recorded during actual practice of SN.

Statistical Analysis:

One-way repeated measure ANOVA followed by Tukey HSD.

Results:

Oxygen consumption and heart rate during actual practice of SN was 0.794 ± 0.252, 0.738 ± 0.229, and 0.560 ± 0.165 L/min and 92.1 ± 11.6, 97.9 ± 7.3 and 87.4 ± 9.2 beats/min respectively at 1^st , 2^nd , and 3^rd phase of yoga training. Minute ventilation and tidal volume also reduced from 19.9 ± 4.65 to 17.8 ± 4.41 L/min and 1.091 ± 0.021 to 0.952 L/breath from 1^st phase to 3^rd phase of yoga training. However, respiratory parameters like breathing rate (f_R) did not show any reduction across the three phases.

Conclusion:

The results of the present study indicated that yogic training caused conditioning of cardiorespiratory parameters except f_R, which did not reduce across three phases of training.

Oxygen Consumption Changes With Yoga Practices

Oxygen consumption varies with physical and mental activity as well as pathological conditions. Although there is a strong relationship between yoga and metabolic parameters, the relationship between yoga and oxygen consumption has not yet been formally reviewed. This systematic review attempted to include all studies of yoga that also measured oxygen consumption or metabolic rate as an outcome. A total of 58 studies were located involving between 1 and 104 subjects (average 21). The studies were generally of poor methodological quality and demonstrated great heterogeneity with different experimental designs, yoga practices, time periods, and small sample sizes. Studies report yoga practices to have profound metabolic effects producing both increase and decrease in oxygen consumption, ranging from 383% increase with cobra pose to 40% decrease with meditation. Compared to nonpractitioners, basal oxygen consumption is reported to be up to 15% less in regular yoga practitioners, and regular yoga practice is reported to have a training effect with oxygen consumption during submaximal exercise decreasing by 36% after 3 months. Yoga breathing practices emphasize breathing patterns and retention ratios as well as unilateral nostril breathing, and these factors appear critical in influencing oxygen consumption. A number of studies report extraordinary volitional control over metabolism in advanced yoga practitioners who appear to be able to survive extended periods in airtight pits and to exceed the limits of normal human endurance. More rigorous research with standardized practices is required to determine the mechanisms of yoga’s metabolic effects and the relevance of yoga practices in different clinical populations.

Hatha yoga practices: energy expenditure, respiratory changes and intensity of exercise

The aim of this study was to critically observe the energy expenditure, exercise intensity and respiratory changes during a full yoga practice session. Oxygen consumption ([Formula: see text]), carbon dioxide output ([Formula: see text]), pulmonary ventilation ([Formula: see text]E), respiratory rate (Fr) and tidal volume (VT), were measured in 16 physical posture (asanas), five yoga breathing maneuvers (BM) and two types of meditation. Twenty male (age 27.3 ± 3.5 years, height 166.6 ± 5.4 cm and body weight 58.8 ± 9.6 kg) yoga instructors were studied. Their maximal oxygen consumption ([Formula: see text]) was recorded. The exercise intensity in asanas was expressed in percentage [Formula: see text] . In asanas, exercise intensity varied from 9.9 to 26.5% of [Formula: see text] . Highest energy cost was 3.02 kcal min(-1). In BM highest [Formula: see text]E was 53.7 ± 15.5 l min(-1). VT was 0.97 ± 0.59, 1.41 ± 1.27 and 1.28 ± l/breath with corresponding Fr of 14.0 ± 5.3, 10.0 ± 6.35, 10.0 ± 5.8 breaths/min. Average energy expenditure in asanas, BM and meditation were 2.29, 1.91 and 1.37 kcal min(-1), respectively. Metabolic rate was generally in the range of 1-2 metabolic equivalents (MET) except in three asanas where it was >2 MET. [Formula: see text] was 0.27 ± 0.05 and 0.24 ± 0.04 l min(-1) in meditation and Shavasana, respectively. Although yogic practices are low intensity exercises within lactate threshold, physical performance improvement is possible owing to both better economy of breathing by BM and also by improvement in cardiovascular reserve. Other factors such as psycho-physiological and better relaxation may contribute to it.