Improve Obesity with Yoga
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.
“Yoga has an important role to play in the treatment of Obesity. Yoga techniques affect body, internal organs, endocrine glands, brain, mind and other factors concerning Body – Mind complex. Various Yoga techniques can be practiced effectively to reduce the weight and achieve normal healthy condition of Body and Mind.” – Prafulla Dorle
Obesity has become an epidemic in the industrialized world. In the U.S. the incidence of obesity, defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above has more than doubled over the last 35 years to currently around 35% of the population, while two thirds of the population is considered overweight or obese (BMI > 25). Although the incidence rates have appeared to stabilize, the fact that over a third of the population is considered obese is very troubling. This is because of the health consequences of obesity. Obesity has been found to shorten life expectancy by eight years and extreme obesity by 14 years. This occurs because obesity is associated with cardiovascular problems such as coronary heart disease and hypertension, stroke, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and others.
Obviously, there is a need for effective treatments to prevent or treat obesity. But, despite copious research and a myriad of dietary and exercise programs, there still is no safe and effective treatment. Mindfulness is known to be associated with lower risk for obesity, alter eating behavior and improve health in obesity. This suggests that mindfulness training may be an effective treatment for overeating and obesity alone or in combination with other therapies. Yoga practice has been shown to have a myriad of physical and psychological benefits. These include significant loss in weight and body mass index (BMI), resting metabolism, and body fat in obese women with Type 2 diabetes and improve health in the obese. Hence it would seem reasonable to investigate the benefits of yoga therapy on the weight and body composition of the obese.
In today’s Research News article “Effect of Integrated Approach of Yoga Therapy on Male Obesity and Psychological Parameters-A Randomised Controlled Trial.” See:
or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5121695/
Rshikesan & Subramanya recruited overweight and obese males with Body Mass Indexes (BMIs) between 23 to 35 and randomly assigned them to either a treatment as usual control group or a yoga therapy group. The yoga therapy was administered 90 minutes per day, five days per week for 14 weeks and consisted of postures, breathing exercises, relaxation, and meditation. The participants were measured both before and after the treatment for height, weight, circumferences of the upper arm, waist, and hips, skin fold thicknesses, weight related acceptance and action, and perceived stress.
They found that in comparison to before treatment, the yoga therapy group had modest but significant reductions in weight, BMI, front skinfold thickness, arm and hip circumferences, perceived stress, and weight related acceptance and action while the control group did not. But, the differences between yoga and control groups were only significantly different for arm circumference and skinfold thickness. The yoga group consistently had better results on the average than the control group. This suggests that the study did not have large enough groups to statistically detect modest differences between groups. In addition, there was not an alternate exercise control condition, e.g. walking exercise. So, it cannot be concluded that yoga specifically and not any form of light exercise produced the benefits.
The results are encouraging but not spectacular and suggest that yoga therapy can produce modest improvements in overweight and obese males. Yoga, being a light exercise, can contribute to energy expenditure and improve body composition, shifting weight from fat to muscle mass. Yoga also has a wide variety of other physical and psychological benefits. So, the present study may underestimate the value of yoga practice for overweight and obese individuals.
So, improve obesity with yoga.
“Yoga is an excellent exercise and spiritual discipline for people of any size. For some fat students, simply being made aware of body mechanics differences and being made welcome in a class are enough to bolster their confidence and allow them to progress.” – Kay Erdwinn
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
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Study Summary
Rshikesan, P. B., & Subramanya, P. (2016). Effect of Integrated Approach of Yoga Therapy on Male Obesity and Psychological Parameters-A Randomised Controlled Trial. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research : JCDR, 10(10), KC01–KC06. http://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2016/21494.8727
Abstract
Introduction: Obesity is a growing global epidemic and cause of non-communicable diseases. Yoga is one of the effective ways to reduce stress which is one of the causes of obesity.
Aim: To assess the effect of Integrated Approach of Yoga Therapy (IAYT) yoga module on adult male obesity in an urban setting.
Materials and Methods: RCT (Randomized Controlled Trial) was conducted for 14 weeks on obese male subjects with yoga and control groups. Total number of subjects were 72 and they were randomized into two groups (Yoga n=37, Control n=35). The subjects were from an urban setting of Mumbai and were doing yoga for the first time. Special yoga training of IAYT was given to yoga group for one and half hour for 5 days in a week for 14 weeks. The control group continued regular physical activities and no specific physical activity was given. The assessments were anthropometric parameters of weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), MAC (Mid Upper Arm Circumferences) of Left and Right Arm, Waist Circumference (WC), HC (Hip Circumference), WHR (Waist Hip Ratio), SKF(Skin Fold Thickness of Biceps, Triceps, Sub scapular, suprailiac and cumulative), Percentage body fat based on SKF and Psychological Questionnaires of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and AAQW (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire for Weight Related Difficulty). These were taken before and after intervention for both yoga and control groups. Within and between group analysis & correlation of differences from post to pre readings among the variables, were carried out using SPSS 21.
Results: The anthropometric and psychological parameters were improved in both the groups but changes were significant in yoga group.
Conclusion: Incorporating the IAYT for obese male in urban setting will be effective for obesity treatment and for reducing the obesity related problems.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5121695/