Yoga

Improve Health with Yoga for the Obese

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By John M. de Castro

 

“Countless times I’ve been told that someone would do yoga, but only after they’ve lost weight. Unfortunately, this eliminates yoga as a tool for reclaiming their health based on their idea that yoga is only for the already thin and flexible. In fact, yoga can be done by everyone — lying in bed, sitting in a wheelchair or standing only for brief moments, the benefits of yoga can still be yours.” – Abby Lentz

 

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. This suggests that mindfulness training may be an effective treatment for overeating and obesity. 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. Hence it would seem reasonable to investigate the benefits of particular aspects of yoga practice on the obese.

 

In today’s Research News article “Comparison of Stretching and Resistance Training on Glycemia, Total and Regional Body Composition, and Aerobic Fitness in Overweight Women”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1201271889896735/?type=3&theater

or below, or for the full text:

http://journals.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/Documents/DocumentItem/Arciero_jpah.2015-0493-in%20press.pdf

Ruby and colleagues test yoga stretching for its effectiveness in treating obesity in women. They randomly assigned otherwise healthy overweight women to three groups, 10-week, 3-day per week, yoga stretching, 10-week, 3-day per week, resistance exercise, or diet only. “All participants consumed a protein-pacing, balanced diet (50% CHO, 25% PRO, 25% FAT) designed to meet 100% of their estimated energy needs throughout the intervention.”

 

They found that all three groups had improvements in waist circumference and total blood cholesterol levels. Both the yoga and resistance exercise groups also showed a significant improvement in aerobic fitness and also total and abdominal fat. The yoga group alone showed a reduction in their weight and body mass index and improvement in blood glucose levels. These effects are important as cholesterol levels are associated with cardiovascular disease and glucose levels with diabetes. Diet alone was helpful, but adding exercise produced further physical improvements in the women, and with yoga as the exercise the effects extended to weight, body mass, and blood glucose.

 

Yoga exercise is safe as there are very few reports of adverse consequences of engaging in supervised practice. In addition, yoga practice has been shown to have a myriad of physical and psychological benefits beyond its effects on the overweight and obese. This suggests that yoga may be an excellent exercise program for the treatment of overweight and obesity.

 

So, improve health with yoga for the obese.

 

“A healthy body can be a home to calm and receptive mind. It not only makes you look good but also adds confidence. It also takes you away from health risks so that you can enjoy life more freely. Yoga helps you gain all this by losing what harms your body. It’s a perfect win-win situation where you lose weight and gain back control of your body. So, roll out your yoga mat and take the natural route to fighting obesity today.”  – The Art of Living

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Study Summary

Ruby M, Repka CP, Arciero PJ. Comparison of Stretching and Resistance Training on Glycemia, Total and Regional Body Composition, and Aerobic Fitness in Overweight Women. J Phys Act Health. 2016 Feb 19. [Epub ahead of print] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2015-0493

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Yoga/Stretching (S) and functional resistance (R) training are popular exercise routines. A protein-pacing (P) diet is a common dietary regimen. Thus, we assessed the effectiveness of a P diet alone and in combination with either S or R to improve body composition and cardiometabolic health.

METHODS: Twenty seven overweight women (age= 43.2± 4.6 years) were randomized into three groups: yoga (S, n=8) or resistance (R, n=10) training (3 days/week) in conjunction with P diet (50% carbohydrate, 25% protein, and 25% fat) or P diet-only (P, n=9) throughout 12-week study. P maintained pre-existing levels of physical activity. Body weight (BW), total (BF) and abdominal (ABF) body fat, waist circumference (WC), plasma biomarkers, and aerobic fitness (VO2) were measured at baseline and 12 weeks.

RESULTS: WC and total cholesterol improved in all groups, whereas glycemia tended to improve (P=0.06) in S. BF, ABF, and VO2 increased significantly in S and R (P<0.05). Feelings of vigor increased in S and tension decreased in R (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: S training tended to decrease blood glucose compared to R and P and is equally effective at enhancing body composition, and aerobic fitness in overweight women providing a strong rationale for further research on S training.

 

Fight Osteoporosis with Yoga

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Yoga puts more pressure on bone than gravity does. By opposing one group of muscles against another, it stimulates osteocytes, the bone-making cells.” – Loren Fishman

 

Bone is living tissue that, like all living tissues, is constantly being broken down and replaced. Osteoporosis occurs when the creation of new bone doesn’t keep up with the removal of old bone. This results in a loss of bone mass, causing bones to become weak and brittle. It can become so brittle that a fall or even mild stresses like bending over or coughing can cause a fracture. These fractures most commonly occur in the hip, wrist or spine. Osteoporosis, particularly in its early stages, is difficult to diagnosis as there are typically no symptoms of bone loss. But once bones have been weakened, signs and symptoms may include: back pain, caused by a fractured or collapsed vertebra, loss of height over time, a stooped posture, or a bone fracture that occurs much more easily than expected.

 

Osteoporosis is estimated to affect 200 million women worldwide; approximately 10% of women aged 60, 20% of women aged 70, 40% of women aged 80 and 70% of women aged 90. In the United States 54 million adults over 50 are affected by osteoporosis and low bone mass; 16% of women and 4% of men. Worldwide, osteoporosis causes more than 8.9 million fractures annually, including 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men over age 50. Most fractures occur in postmenopausal women and elderly men. Osteoporosis takes a huge personal and economic toll. The disability due to osteoporosis is greater than that caused by cancers and is comparable or greater than that lost to a variety of chronic diseases, such as arthritis, asthma and high blood pressure related heart disease.

 

The most common treatments for osteoporosis are drugs which slow down the breakdown of bone, combined with exercise. The side effects of the drugs are mild, including upset stomach and heartburn. But, there is a major compliance problem as the drugs must be taken over very long periods of time. In fact, only about a third of patients continue to take their medications for at least a year. Even when drugs are taken, exercise is recommended to improve bone growth.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of Yogasanas on osteoporosis in postmenopausal women”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1198346906855900/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728958/

Motorwala and colleagues studied the effects of yoga practice on bone density of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The women were treated with a 1-hour yoga practice, 4-days per week for 6-months, including postures and breathing exercises. Bone density was measured before and again after treatment with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). They found that yoga practice resulted in a significant improvement in bone density. Without treatment, bone density generally becomes worse over this period of time. So, it would appear that yoga practice improves bone density in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

 

This is an important outcome, but it probably understates the benefits of yoga practice for these postmenopausal women. It has been shown that yoga practice produces a number of physical and psychological benefits that were not measured in the present study. In addition, yoga is a generally safe treatment with few adverse consequences. Hence, various weight bearing as well as nonweight bearing yoga postures along with breathing exercises are effective in improving bone density and integrated yoga exercises should be an important component of any osteoporosis treatment exercise regime.

 

So, fight osteoporosis with yoga.

 

“We often consider the frailty and disability associated with osteoporosis and osteopenia (bone loss that is not as severe as osteoporosis) as a normal part of aging. Medical research shows, however, that it’s not aging, but inactivity that causes bones to weaken and easily break. Although medications may be necessary to treat severe osteoporotic conditions, the best preventative strategy is to engage in bone-strengthening exercise, like yoga” – Gary Kaplan

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Improve Psychological and Physical Effects of HIV with Yoga

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Yoga is not just about the physical side, it’s also about the mind-body connection. I think having that awareness and accepting their condition can help them when they go out into the world, and lift up their self-esteem. Life is fast – yoga can help them be calm and still.” – Surang Sengsamran

 

HIV is a virus that gradually attacks the immune system. It destroys a type of white blood cell called a T-helper cell (CD4 Cell). This isn’t a problem unto itself, but the immune system is our body’s natural defense against illness. Hence, HIV infection makes it harder to combat other infections and diseases. If HIV is untreated, these secondary infections produce chronic illness and eventually death. It is important, then, in treating HIV infection to strengthen the immune system and increase the levels of CD4 in the blood to fight off disease.

 

More than 35 million people worldwide and 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection. In 1996, the advent of the protease inhibitor and the so-called cocktail changed the prognosis for HIV. Since this development a 20 year-old infected with HIV can now expect to live on average to age 69. Hence, living with HIV is a long-term reality for a very large group of people.

 

People living with HIV infection experience a wide array of physical and psychological symptoms which decrease their perceived quality of life. The symptoms include muscle aches, anxiety, depression, weakness, fear/worries, difficulty with concentration, concerns regarding the need to interact with a complex healthcare system, stigma, and the challenge to come to terms with a new identity as someone living with HIV. Hence, patients with HIV infection, even when controlled with drugs, have a reduction in their quality of life.  There is thus a need to find methods to improve the quality of life in people who are living with HIV infection.

 

Mindfulness has been shown to strengthen the immune system. It also improve psychological and physical well-being in people suffering from a wide range of disorders including depression and anxiety. It has also been shown that mindfulness is associated with psychological well-being and lower depression in patients with HIV infection. Integrated Yoga is a contemplative practice that includes postures, breathing practices, relaxation techniques, and meditation. It has been shown to increase mindfulness, and reduce anxiety and depression. So, it would stand to reason that Integrated Yoga would be beneficial for people who are living with HIV infection.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effect of Integrated Yoga (IY) on psychological states and CD4 counts of HIV-1 infected patients: A randomized controlled pilot study”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1183625434994714/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4728960/

Naoroibam and colleagues randomly assigned patients with HIV infection to either a one-hour per day, six-days per week Integrated Yoga practice for one-month or to a treatment as usual condition. Compared to before treatment and the control group, they found that the Integrated Yoga practice produced a significant reduction in anxiety and depression levels and an increase in T-helper cell (CD4 Cell) counts in the blood. It should be kept in mind that there was not an active control condition. So, it is unclear if the effectiveness of Integrated Yoga practice was due to exercise effects or perhaps to expectancy effects, researcher bias effects, etc. It will remain for future research to sort out exactly what is responsible to the improvement in the HIV patients.

 

Regardless, these are exciting and potentially important results suggesting that Integrated Yoga practice may not only improve the psychological well-being of HIV infected patients but also strengthen the immune system. This would make them better able to combat other infections and diseases.

 

So, improve psychological and physical effects of HIV with yoga.

 

“As you become more adept at yoga, you learn which poses can help you, depending on how you are feeling physically. There are certain poses that assist in relieving fatigue, diarrhea, anxiety, depression. You do learn about the nature of self, but you also learn that so much is beyond your control. It helps you realize, somehow, to trust in a higher being.” – Steve McCeney

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are available at the Contemplative Studies Blog http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/

 

Calm Anxiety with Yoga

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“Yoga helps our entire system slow down. Our bodies are programmed to heal naturally, and what stops that healing are all the stressors of daily life. Yoga dissolves those stressors for the time during practice and usually the effects last for hours after.” – Elena Brower

 

Yoga practice is multifaceted. It is a physical exercise that strengthens the body. It is also a spiritual practice which can bring insights and understanding. But, it also a mind practice which can bring profound psychological changes. (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/contemplative-practice/yoga-contemplative-practice/). These psychological changes can be positive enhancing the current state. But they can also be beneficial for the treatment of negative states, mental illness.

 

Everyone experiences occasional anxiety and that is normal. But, frequent or very high levels of anxiety can be quite debilitating. These are termed anxiety disorders and they are the most common psychological problem. In the U.S., they affect over 40 million adults, 18% of the population, with women accounting for 60% of sufferers One out of every three absences from work are caused by high levels of anxiety and it is the most common reason for chronic school absenteeism. In addition, people with an anxiety disorder are three-to-five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than non-sufferers, making it a major burden on the healthcare system.

 

Anxiety disorders typically include feelings of panic, fear, and uneasiness, problems sleeping, cold or sweaty hands and/or feet, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, an inability to be still and calm, dry mouth, and numbness or tingling in the hands or feet. They have generally been treated with drugs. It has been estimated that 11% of women in the U.S. are taking anti-anxiety medications. But, there are considerable side effects and these drugs are often abused. Although, psychological therapy can be effective it is costly and not available to large numbers of sufferers. So, there is a need to investigate alternative treatments.

 

Contemplative practices appear to be a viable alternative (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/anxiety/). Indeed, yoga practice has been shown to be a safe and effective method to reduce anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/?s=yoga+anxiety). There are many variations of yoga practice. In order to understand which types of practice and which components are most affective against anxiety, there is a need to compare the effectiveness of different types of yoga practice for the treatment of anxiety disorders.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effect of Integrated Yoga Module on Selected Psychological Variables among Women with Anxiety Problem”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1176415959048995/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4655636/

Parthasarathy and colleagues compared 8-weeks, 45 minutes per day, of Yoga practice, Integrated Yoga practice, and no treatment for the treatment of patients with anxiety disorders. The Yoga practice consisted of training in breath control, yoga postures, and relaxation. The Integrated Yoga practice consisted of training in loosening exercises, breath control, yoga postures, and guided meditation (Yoga Nidra). They found that both types of yoga practice reduced anxiety, but the Integrated Yoga practice produced the greatest reduction in anxiety levels. Interesting the reverse was found when measuring reactions to frustration with both yoga practices reducing reactions to frustration but with the Yoga practice superior to the Integrated Yoga practice.

 

These findings support the prior findings that yoga practice is a safe and effective method to treat anxiety disorders. In addition, they extend previous findings by showing that yoga practice can also improve the individual’s reaction to frustration. Since frustration often leads to emotionality, this yoga produced reduction in reactivity to frustration may be one of the mechanisms by which yoga is effective for emotional issues including anxiety.

 

It appears from the results that the addition of guided meditation (Yoga Nidra) practice to the yoga practice may add additional anxiety reduction to that produced by the yoga practice alone. It has been shown previously that yoga practice reduces anxiety. It has also been shown that meditation reduces anxiety levels (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/?s=meditation+anxiety). The current results suggest that the effects of yoga and meditation may be additive. By combining the two a significantly better treatment for anxiety is produced.

 

So, calm anxiety with yoga.

 

“Continual focus and obsession with thoughts of fear and worry will only create additional levels of anxiety. Yoga and meditation allow us to have control over our thoughts through mental detachment and the ability to focus the mind on the present experience.” – Timothy Burgin

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

Reduce Stress in Kids with Yoga

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“Yoga is about exploring and learning in a fun, safe and playful way. Yoga and kids are a perfect match.” – PBS Parents

 

Childhood can be a wonderful time of life. But, it is often fraught with problems that can stress the child. Grammar school aged children are exposed to many stressors including problems at home. These can vary from simple disciplinary problems to physical and sexual abuse to familial economic stresses. At school they can be discriminated against, teased, bullied, or laughed at. In addition, modern testing programs insure that these children are constantly exposed to high stakes testing. All of these stresses can occur while the child has yet developed adequate strategies and mechanisms to cope with the stress. So, there is a need to develop methods to assist young children, perhaps even more so than adults, to cope with stress.

 

Yoga practice has many positive physical and psychological benefits including reducing the physical and psychological responses to stress in adults (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/contemplative-practice/yoga-contemplative-practice/). It has even been shown to benefit high school students (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/10/24/keep-grades-up-with-downward-dog/). It is known that mindfulness training has positive effects on 4th and 5th grade children (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/08/building-a-better-adult-with-elementary-school-mindfulness-training/) and even with preschool children (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/building-a-better-adult-preschool-mindfulness-training/).  This suggests that there it is reasonable to further explore the effects of yoga practice on stress at earlier ages.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of a Classroom-Based Yoga Intervention on Cortisol and Behavior in Second- and Third-Grade Students: A Pilot Study”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1174408595916398/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4410873/

Butzer and colleagues conduct an uncontrolled trial of 10 weeks of yoga training for 2nd and 3rd grade students and measured salivary cortisol levels, a marker of stress, and obtained teacher behavioral ratings. The children received instruction in the classroom in all components of yoga practice, including breathing exercises, physical exercises and postures, meditation techniques, and relaxation. They practiced twice a week for 30-minutes for the 10 weeks. Measures were taken before and after the 10-week yoga practice period.

 

They found that the 2nd graders showed a significant decrease in salivary cortisol levels from the beginning of the 10-week training period to the end. This suggests that there was a decrease in stress levels in these children. The teacher rating again revealed significant improvement in the 2nd grade children in social interactions with classmates, attention span, ability to concentrate on work, ability to stay on task, academic performance, ability to deal with stress/anxiety, confidence/self-esteem, and overall mood. This suggests that there was an increase in academic, social, and emotional abilities in the 2nd grade children over the testing period. Unfortunately, they did not observe similar benefits in the 3rd grade children.

 

These are encouraging results. But, it must be kept in mind that this was an uncontrolled pilot trial. Without a control group there is no way to tell if the children simply improved due to their maturing, growing more accustomed to their environment, or learning from the normal instruction over the 10-week period. There is also the possibility of a bias effect as the teachers who taught the yoga were the same ones doing the ratings. In addition, the fact that the 3rd grade students did not show similar responses as the 2nd graders, limits the generalizability of the results and questions their validity. It is possible, though that the differences between the 2nd and 3rd grade were due to differences in the teachers or the classroom environments rather than the yoga training.

 

Regardless, these pilot results provide support for implementing a larger randomized control trial of the application of yoga to grammar school children and, perhaps, demonstrate a safe and effective method to reduce stress in kids.

 

“We can learn so much from how children respond to uncertainty with a sense of curiosity and adventure. Rather than fearing that we’ll fail to meet an expectation, we can adopt a child’s practice of letting go, and so much more becomes possible. We can create more magic, inspiration, happiness, love, joy, and laughter both on and off the mat.” –  Kali Love

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Reduce Healthcare Costs with Mindfulness

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“If we want to lower the costs of healthcare, we need to reduce the demand for healthcare services – not increase supply.” – Charles A. Francis

 

“Mindfulness is now more relevant than ever as an effective and dependable counterbalance to strengthen our health and well-being, and perhaps our very sanity.”  ― Jon Kabat-Zinn

 

In the United States the costs of healthcare are out of control. We pay more per capita by far than any other country in the world and yet our healthcare outcomes are mediocre at best. Healthcare spending per person in the U.S. is over $10,000 per year, 17% of the Gross Domestic Product, over $3 Trillion. Increasingly, Americans are having problems paying for care — 26 percent report they or a family member had problems paying medical bills in the past year. Fifty-eight percent of Americans reported foregoing or delaying medical care in the past year. Many patients stop taking medications or never fill prescriptions due to unaffordability.

 

Costs are putting a strain on the finances of individuals and the entire country. Obviously there is a need to somehow control costs while improving the quality of healthcare services. One strategy is to attempt to reduce the costs of providing care. This, however, has proved to be extremely challenging. Another tactic is to work toward reducing the need for services. This can include methods to prevent illness and shorten or dampen illnesses when they do occur. Mindfulness practices have been shown to do just that, preventing illness, decreasing symptoms, and improving recovery as a stand-alone treatment or as an adjunct to conventional treatments (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/health/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/well-being/).

 

In today’s Research News article “The low risk and high return of integrative health services”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1170859096271348/?type=3&theater

Russo and colleagues review the studies of the effects of alternative treatments including mindfulness practices on costs for healthcare services. They found that the use of mindfulness techniques reduced overall hospital costs. This occurred due to reduced length of stay in the hospital prior to and immediately following surgery, decreased use of prescription drugs which in turn further reduced length of stay, post-operative co-morbidities, and drug dependence, while increasing patient self-care. The use of mindfulness practices also decreased anxiety, pain, and narcotic use and improve patient satisfaction.

 

The exact amount of money saved depends upon many complex factors such as the interventions used, the practices used, the structure of the program, and facilities used. But, some examples can highlight the magnitude of the savings. The application of yoga training to cancer treatment resulted in cost savings of $156 per day, nearly $300,000 annually. Application of mindfulness techniques to diabetes care resulted in estimated savings of $31,000 per person per year. These savings were calculated after all of the costs associated with running the programs were subtracted. Obviously, considerable savings can be obtained by hospitals with the use of mindfulness techniques.

 

To my knowledge, there have not been any estimates of the savings produced by mindfulness practices with outpatient and non-hospital healthcare cost reductions and by disease prevention. So, the actual impact of the use of mindfulness techniques on healthcare costs is unknown but logic suggests that the savings are huge.

 

These are important findings and underscore the economic consequences of the application of mindfulness techniques to healthcare. Unfortunately, in the American healthcare system there is no incentives to reduce the number of treatments employed as the providers are paid according to the number of services provided rather than value and effectiveness of the services. The move toward outcomes-based payments may help in this regard. But, clearly there is a need to change the incentives in the system to promote wellness and reduced costs. Mindfulness practices have been proven to do just that.

 

Regardless, it is clear that we can reduce healthcare costs with mindfulness.

 

“People don’t actually want to think about their own health and don’t take action until they are sick. Yet employers are very motivated to get their employees healthy, since they bear most of the burden of their health care costs.” – Clayton Christensen

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Improve Caregiver Quality of Life with Yoga

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“Caring for someone with dementia is made up of an infinite number of small moments where we can go either way, adding more stress or bringing more ease. The problem when we are not mindful is our words come out and our actions unfold too quickly for us to have a chance to choose the wisest, most beneficial route. Mindfulness practice slows us down and takes some of the edge off our reactive tendencies.” – Marguerite Manteau-Rao

 

Caregiving for dementia patients is a daunting and all too frequent task. It is estimated that over 15 million Americans are dementia caregivers. It is an intense experience that can go on for four to eight years with increasing responsibilities as the loved one deteriorates. In the last year, 59% of the caregivers report that they are effectively on duty 24/7. It is sad that 72% report relief when their loved one passes away.

 

This long and difficult process can take a major toll on the caregiver. On a practical level they frequently experience financial problems from lost income and have their careers interrupted. But, the greatest problems occur due to the intense levels of stress experienced by the caregivers. Around 2/3rd of caregivers report high emotional stress and over 1/3rd report high physical stress. This stress, in turn can have emotional consequences with over 1/3rd of caregivers reporting depression and many report family problems. In addition, dementia caregivers are more likely to have physical issues such as high levels of stress hormones, reduced immune function, increased hypertension, and coronary heart disease. Needless to say caregivers need care for themselves.

 

Reducing stress is very important for dementia caregivers. Stress not only jeopardizes their own health but also the quality of care they provide for their loved ones. Since mindfulness training has been shown to be effective in reducing both the psychological and physical responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/), it would seem be potentially useful for the relief of caregiver stress. Indeed, mindfulness training has been shown to reduce stress and depression, improve the quality of caregiving, and improve the quality of life for the caregiver (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/caregiving/). Hence, it would seem reasonable to further explore mindfulness practices to care for the caregiver.

 

In today’s Research News article “Yoga and compassion meditation program improve quality of life and self-compassion in family caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease patients: A randomized controlled trial”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1170247206332537/?type=3&theater

Danucalov and colleagues applied an 8-week program of yoga and compassion meditation to a group of female Alzheimer’s caregivers and compared their response to those of a wait-list control group. At the end of yoga and compassion meditation training in comparison to before training and to the control group, the yoga group reported significant improvements in their quality of life including physical, psychological, environmental, and social domains. They showed increased mindfulness, improved vitality both immediately and in general, and increased self-compassion and self-kindness.

 

These findings are remarkable and potentially important. Yoga and compassion meditation training markedly improved the psychological and physical conditions for the caregivers producing a major improvement in quality of life. Training also increased their vitality which is critical given the intense fatigue that the caregiving can produce. How this practice might produce these benefits was not explored. But, the documented ability of yoga practice in reducing stress responses would seem a likely explanation. In addition, the compassion meditation may be a useful component as Loving Kindness Meditation has been shown to improve self-compassion and kindness toward others (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/contemplative-practice/loving-kindness/).

 

Regardless of the explanation, it appears clear that mindfulness training is effective in improving the physical and psychological problems experienced by dementia caregivers.

 

So, improve caregiver quality of life with yoga.

 

“Many of us follow the commandment ‘Love One Another.’ When it relates to caregiving, we must love one another with boundaries. We must acknowledge that we are included in the ‘Love One Another.” ― Peggi Speers

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Age Healthily: Improve Cellular Health with Mindfulness

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“Simply responding to the physical symptoms of disease might make sense for treating an acute infection or fixing a broken leg, but to beat chronic age-related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and dementia, we will need to embrace the fuzzy, subjective domain of the mind.” – Jo Marchant

 

Aging seems inevitable. But, different species age at different rates. Everyone knows for example that dogs’ life span is about 1/6th of the human life span. This suggests that there must be some biological mechanism that regulates aging. Recent genetic research is starting to uncover that mechanism. It has been found that the genes, coded on the DNA molecule, govern cellular processes in our bodies. One of the most fundamental of these processes is cell replication. Cells are constantly turning over. Dying cells or damaged are replaced by new cells. The cells turn over at different rates but most cells in the body are lost and replaced between every few days to every few months. Needless to say were constantly renewing ourselves.

 

As we age the tail of the DNA molecule called the telomere shortens. When it gets very short cells have a more and more difficult time reproducing and become more likely to produce defective cells. On a cellular basis this is what produces aging. As we get older the new cells produced are more and more defective. The shortening of the telomere occurs each time the cell is replaced. So, slowly as we age it gets shorter and shorter. This has been called a “mitotic clock.” This is normal. But, telomere shortening can also be produced by oxidative stress, which can be produced by psychological and physiological stress. This is mediated by stress hormones and the inflammatory response. So, chronic stress can accelerate the aging process. In other words, when we’re chronically stressed we get older faster.

 

Fortunately, there is a mechanism to protect the telomere. There is an enzyme in the body called telomerase that helps to prevent shortening of the telomere. It also promotes cell survival and enhances stress-resistance.  Research suggests that processes that increase telomerase activity tend to slow the aging process by protecting the telomere.  One activity that seems to increase telomerase activity and protect telomere length is mindfulness practice (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/12/04/retreat-for-longevity/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/aging-healthily-yoga-and-cellular-aging/). Hence, engaging in mindfulness practices may protect the telomere and thereby slow the aging process.

 

In today’s Research News article “Telomerase activity and its association with psychological stress, mental disorders, lifestyle factors and interventions: A systematic review”

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Deng and colleagues review the published scientific literature on factors that influence telomerase activity. They report that chronic, long-term, psychological stress but not acute, short-term, stress reduced telomerase activity. They also report that Major Depressive Disorder is associated with reduced telomerase activity. Importantly, they find that diet, exercise, and mindfulness practices all increase telomerase activity. In particular, they found that “physical exercise, diet micronutrient supplementation, mindfulness meditation, Qigong practice or yoga mediation resulted in increase in telomerase activity.”

 

These are very exciting outcomes and suggest that mindfulness practices might contribute to longevity by reducing cellular aging. How might these very different practices increase telomerase activity? All of these mindfulness practices have been shown to reduce the psychological and physiological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/). Since, chronic stress has been shown to reduce telomerase activity and in turn accelerate cellular aging, it would seem reasonable to conclude that practices that reduce stress responses would protect the individual from the deleterious effects of stress and increase telomerase activity. There may be other mechanisms involved, but this would seem to be the obvious one.

 

These findings suggest that mindfulness practices may improve longevity by protecting us from the damaging effects of chronic stress. By making us more mellow, we age slower.

 

So, age healthily: improve cellular health with mindfulness.

 

“it is possible that greater presence of mind promotes a healthy biochemical milieu and, in turn, cell longevity,” – Elizabeth Blackburn

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Control Type 2 Diabetes with Yoga

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“Yoga-asanas in combination with conventional medical treatment provides a better metabolic control giving a feeling of general well being, alertness and attentiveness without any side effects.” – Savita Singh

 

Type 2 diabetes is a common and increasingly prevalent illness that is largely preventable. Although this has been called adult-onset diabetes it is increasingly being diagnosed in children. It is estimated that 30 million people in the United States have diabetes and the numbers are growing. One of the reasons for the increasing incidence of Type 2 Diabetes is its association with overweight and obesity which is becoming epidemic in the industrialized world.

 

Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States. In addition, diabetes is heavily associated with other diseases such as cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, stroke, blindness, kidney disease, and circulatory problems leading to amputations. As a result, diabetes doubles the risk of death of any cause compared to individuals of the same age without diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes results from a resistance of tissues, especially fat tissues, to the ability of insulin to promote the uptake of glucose from the blood. As a result, blood sugar levels rise producing hyperglycemia.

 

A leading cause of this tissue resistance to insulin is overweight and obesity and a sedentary life style. Hence, treatment and prevention of Type 2 Diabetes focuses on diet, exercise, and weight control. Yoga would appear to be an excellent potential treatment for Type 2 Diabetes as it is both an exercise and a help in weight control (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/heart-healthy-yoga/). Indeed, mindfulness practices in general have been shown to be helpful in managing diabetes (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/diabetes/) and yoga has been shown to help control body weight in diabetes (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/24/control-weight-in-diabetes-with-yoga/) which has been shown to be critical for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes.

 

In today’s Research News article “Yoga for Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review of Controlled Trials”

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Innes and Selfe review the published literature on the application of yoga practice to the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes. They report that yoga practice decreases body weight and body fat levels, and lowers insulin resistance and high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia). Further they report that yoga improves blood fat profiles including reductions in levels of cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides, and increases good cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol). Yoga also resulted in improved cardiovascular function including decreased blood pressure and lung function. Yoga also improved quality of life, psychological well-being, symptoms of distress, and insomnia. All of this resulted in reduced use of diabetes drugs.

 

These results are remarkable. They indicate that yoga practice has a wide variety of physiological and psychological benefits for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes. Yoga is also safe with few detrimental side effects and has a wide variety of other physical and psychological benefits (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/contemplative-practice/yoga-contemplative-practice/). There are a number of possible mechanism of how yoga could produce these positive effects including the fact that yoga practice involves physical exercise and exercise has been repeatedly found to be beneficial for Type 2 Diabetes patients. For the most part the effects of yoga are not significantly different from those seen with other exercise programs. Yoga may also act by reducing body weight and body fat, improving the management of stress, reducing physiological activation by the nervous system, or through encouraging a generally healthier lifestyle. It will be up to future research to begin to discern how exactly yoga practice acts to improve Type 2 Diabetes.

 

Regardless, it is very clear that yoga practice is a safe and effective program for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes.

 

“The good news is that diabetes patients have an alternative: They can practice yoga. Despite the fact researchers have been studying the health benefits of yoga in diabetes patients for decades, only now is yoga being proposed as an important part of a diabetes exercise program.” – Jennifer Van Pelt
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Better Music with Mindfulness

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“The way yoga brings you to yourself can’t but help an artist tap into that deeper well. Yoga and art are actually very similar: The challenge of stretching beyond your comfort zone, of learning to breathe and surrender into places that are painful or tight, is sometimes also what allows a profound artistic opening.” – Diane Anderson

 

Effective musician craft is described as entering a state of “flow.” This refers to a state of complete immersion in an activity such that it becomes totally absorptive leaving no attention left for any distractions. The musician literally becomes totally lost in their music. Musicians report that when they are in “flow” they are at their best and the music is precise and nuanced. “Flow” and the quality of performance is disrupted by anxiety, which is common prior to and during performance, and confusion and uncertainty about the piece that they are playing. So, reductions in anxiety and confusion would be expected to improve “flow” and the resulting performance.

 

Contemplative practices are also geared to producing a state similar to “flow” where the practitioner becomes totally immersed in the present moment and distractions are minimized. The contemplative practice that are most similar to music performance are those that involve movement, yoga, tai chi, and qigong. Yoga practice has been shown to reduce anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/11/11/yoga-improves-stress-responses-and-mood/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/03/keep-up-yoga-practice-for-anxiety-and-depression/) and improve movement (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/11/improve-physical-health-with-yoga/).  So, it is reasonable to hypothesize that yoga practice might improve musical performance.

 

In today’s Research News article “Yoga Enhances Positive Psychological States in Young Adult Musicians”

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Butzer and colleagues trained a group of young professional classical musicians in yoga for 8-weeks and compared their ability to enter “flow”, mindfulness, and levels of confusion, and performance anxiety to a no-treatment control group. They found that the yoga group improved significantly in mindfulness and their ability to achieve “flow”, and a significant decrease in confusion. In addition, they found that higher levels of “flow” and mindfulness were associated with a decrease in performance anxiety. So, yoga practice appeared to improve mindfulness and “flow” and reduce confusion which in turn reduced performance anxiety in the musicians.

 

This is the first study that I am aware of that demonstrated that yoga practice could improve musician characteristics that are associated with superior musical performance. There are a number of ways that yoga practice might act to do this. Yoga practice improved mindfulness in the musicians. Hence, it improved the ability of the musicians to attend to the present moment which is a necessity to enter “flow.” Also, by reducing the ability of other stimuli and thoughts to intrude and distract attention, yoga should reduce confusion. Mindfulness is also known to improve emotion regulation and decrease anxiety levels. This would in turn allow the musician to reduce performance anxiety and be better able to respond constructively to it.

 

Regardless of the explanation, it is clear that yoga practice is beneficial for musicians producing the conditions for better performances. So, produce better music with mindfulness.

 

“When people get nervous, they think about what other people are thinking, rather than concentrating on the music. Yoga helps you to be more in the moment. When you are stressed you hold your breath, and the nervous energy makes you feel tight, and everything feels ‘up in the air.’ If you take a deep breath with a long exhale you can actually bring that energy back down and ground it.” – Mia Olson
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies