Yoga

Yoga Practice Improves Prisoner Mood and Stress

psyjdc Leave a comment

“You may think that only you are a prisoner, but other people are also prisoners. You are in a small prison, but others are in the big prison outside. When will they be released? Think that you are a yogi and that you are pursuing your sadhana in this particular place and at this particular moment. Immediately you will experience great joy. If you change your understanding, you will be free in a minute.”- Baba Muktananda

 

Around 2 ¼ million people are incarcerated in the United States. Even though these are euphemistically labelled correctional facilities very little correction actually occurs. This is supported by the rates of recidivism. About three quarters of prisoners who are released commit crimes and are sent back to prison within 5-years. Hence there is a great need for better prison programs that can not only help the prisoner adjust to prison life but also to life after release.

 

Contemplative practices have recently been employed in prisons and have been found to improve prisoner well-being and behavior. LINK to Auty Yoga and Meditation Improves Well-Being in Prisoners. Yoga is a multifaceted practice containing physical, mindfulness, and spiritual components. As such, yoga would seem to be ideal for the needs of an incarcerated population. Indeed, it has been shown to be beneficial for prisoners. Unfortunately, all that can be said is that engaging in a yoga program produces better results than not. But there is little understanding of how yoga practice might work and the amount of yoga needed to produce the benefits.

 

In today’s Research News article “Preliminary Evidence That Yoga Practice Progressively Improves Mood and Decreases Stress in a Sample of UK Prisoners”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1101801696510422/?type=3&theater

Bilderbeck and colleagues investigated the factors associated with the beneficial effects of yoga practice for prisoners. They found that the more yoga classes attended and the greater the amount of self-practice outside of classes the greater the improvement in the prisoners’ level of perceived stress and negative emotions. In other words, sustained, regular practice of yoga produced greater improvements in the prisoners.

 

Of course it is impossible to tell if the prisoners who obtained the greatest benefit were then the ones who would engage more reliably in the practice or that great amounts of practice produce greater benefit. It is also impossible to know if some other factor such as the impact of the social context or simply relief of the incredible boredom of prison life might have been responsible both for greater adherence and also to improvements in well-being. There is a need for research that controls and manipulates these factors to determine the actual causal connections.

 

There is also a need to follow up on prisoners who have practiced yoga in prison to determine the long-term impact on adjustment to life outside of prison and recidivism. Finally, there is a need to determine what facets of yoga practice are crucial for each benefit and which are unimportant.

 

Regardless, it is clear that practicing yoga is beneficial to the well-being of prisoners.

 

“Right, if you’re not careful, you could despair, but there is a support system, definitely in this prison, and it’s awesome just to be able to be part of a community where people do yoga and meditate – and I have the Siddha Yoga correspondence course. I use these things to take me out of my mind and more into the heart space.” – Gino Sevacos, prisoner at San Quentin State Prison,

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Yoga and Meditation Improves Well-Being in Prisoners

psyjdc Leave a comment

“We consistently teach a practice to provide prisoners with a skill to become more sensitive to how they feel in their bodies. When you develop a close relationship with your own sensitivity, you are less apt to violate another. This is empathy. And empathy, when encouraged, leads to compassion. Gradually, the cycle of violence is interrupted.”  ~ James Fox

 

Prison is a very stressful and difficult environment for most prisoners. This is compounded by the fact that most do not have well developed coping skills. In addition, many have suffered from trauma, often experienced early in life such as abandonment, hunger, homelessness, domestic violence, sexual abuse, bullying, discrimination, drug and alcohol abuse, and witnessing crime – including murder. In addition, prisoners frequently suffer from attention deficit disorder. So, prisoners are often ill equipped to engage positively in society either inside or outside of prison.

 

Yet prison provides a great deal of time for reflection and self-exploration. This is an opportunity for growth and development. So, contemplative practices are well suited to this environment.

Yoga and meditation teach skills that may be very important for prisoners. In particular, they put the practitioner in touch with their own bodies and feelings. They improve present moment awareness and help to overcome rumination about the past and negative thinking about the future. They’ve been shown to be useful in the treatment of the effects of trauma and attention deficit disorder. They also relieve stress and improve overall health and well-being. Finally, these practices have been shown to be useful in treating depression, anxiety, and anger.

 

So, yoga and meditation would appear to be ideally suited to addressing the issues of prisoners. Over the last several years there have been a number of yoga and meditation programs implemented in prisons. In today’s Research News article “A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation in Prison: Effects on Psychological Well-Being and Behavioural Functioning”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1100073980016527/?type=3&theater

Auty and colleagues summarize the research literature that has studied the effectiveness of these programs. They found that the research suggested that these programs are effective in a wide range of locations, from the UK and US to India and Taiwan, with a wide variety of ethnicities and ages, and with both males and females.

 

They found that the yoga and/or meditation programs almost universally produced improvements in psychological well-being in the prisoners. The magnitudes of the effects were significant and moderate, suggesting that these practices produce meaningful psychological changes. They also found that the longer term programs produced greater change than the shorter, more intense programs.

 

In addition to the psychological effects the yoga and/or meditation programs the research reports significant improvements in behavioral functioning. Overall, the magnitudes of the effects were significant and smaller than those found for psychological well-being. But, nevertheless the results suggest that these practices produce meaningful behavioral changes. These effects were particularly large for prisoners who had substance abuse problems.

 

This literature summary suggests that yoga and meditation programs are quite effective in prisons, improving the psychological health and well-being of the prisoners and improving their behavior while in prison. There are some suggestions in the literature that these programs decrease recidivism. It is to the benefit of society to assist the prisoners while incarcerated to improve their skills for dealing with themselves and others, as this would make them easier to deal with in prison and make it more likely that they would successfully transition back into society upon release.

 

So, yoga and meditation programs should be employed broadly in prisons for the benefit both of the prisoners and of society.

 

“With the barrage of negativity in prisons, they are unyielding breeding grounds for intense suffering, chaos, noise, overcrowding, violence, ineffective medical care and poor food. But occasionally, every so often, friendship, kindness, compassion and programs of meaningful substance come along. The Yoga program is a life-sustaining and meaningful one that I nurture and value because it is not only positive, it supports my growth and success as a young man. Yoga helps me navigate my life as a good and successful person. This practice is life-changing and will continue to enhance my life.” K.L.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Reduce Fibromyalgia Pain with Mindfulness

psyjdc 15 Comments

“I wake up tired, I stay up tired, I go to bed tired. I wake up in pain, I stay up in pain, I go to bed in pain. I wake up with hope, I stay up with hope, I go to bed with hope.” – FibroColors

 

Fibromyalgia is a mysterious disorder whose causes are unknown. It is characterized by widespread pain, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbance, and fatigue that lead to psychological distress. Fibromyalgia may also have morning stiffness, tingling or numbness in hands and feet, headaches, including migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, sleep disturbances, thinking and memory problems, and painful menstrual periods.

 

Fibromyalgia is very common affecting over 5 million people in the U.S., about 2% of the population. The vast majority of fibromyalgia sufferers are women, roughly 7 times more prevalent than in men. Although it is not itself fatal, suicide rates are higher in fibromyalgia sufferers. The symptoms are so severe and debilitating that about half the patients are unable to perform routine daily functions and about a third have to stop work.

 

There is no cure for fibromyalgia and the treatments are aimed at symptom relief. Drugs from simple pain killers to antidepressants are used and can help. There is a need for other treatment options. In a previous post it was discussed how mindfulness practice can be effective for the symptoms of fibromyalgia (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-the-pain-killer/). There are a number of other complementary and alternative therapies that might also be effective.

 

In today’s Research News article “Overview of Reviews for Complementary and Alternative Therapies in the Treatment of the Fibromyalgia Syndrome”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1098448550179070/?type=3&theater

Lauche and colleagues review the literature on the use of complementary and alternative therapies such as mindfulness, meditation, yoga, biofeedback, homeopathy, etc. for the treatment of fibromyalgia. They found that the published research indicates that tai chi, yoga, meditation and mindfulness-based interventions, hypnosis or guided imagery, biofeedback, and hydrotherapy were consistently effective while homeopathy and phytotherapy produced very inconsistent effects.

 

It is interesting that mind body techniques in general appeared to have positive effects especially on pain and, importantly, tended to be more effective than the usual treatments for fibromyalgia. A common feature of these practices is that they tend to calm the sympathetic nervous system which is involved in physiological activation. It is possible that this is a key to producing some relief of fibromyalgia symptoms.

 

But, mind body therapies have a large number of effects that may underlie their usefulness for fibromyalgia. They tend to promote emotion regulation, allowing the individual to experience their emotions but not overreact or react inappropriately to them. Since, fibromyalgia tends to produce emotional distress, the improved emotion regulation produced by mind body therapies could be a key to relieving the symptoms.

 

In addition, mind body therapies are known to alter the nervous system processing of pain stimuli, reducing the intensity of pain and the reactions to pain. This effect of these therapies directly affects a central symptom of fibromyalgia, pain. There are also other effects of these therapies such as improved attention and increased focus on the present moment that may also have effects on the symptoms by reducing worry and rumination. It remains for future research to clarify the most important consequences of mind body therapies for the treatment of fibromyalgia.

 

So, practice mindfulness and improve fibromyalgia symptoms.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

 

Change Your Brain for Better Health with Yoga

psyjdc Leave a comment

“The autonomic nervous system is divided into the sympathetic system, which is often identified with the fight-or-flight response, and the parasympathetic, which is identified with what’s been called the relaxation response. When you do yoga – the deep breathing, the stretching, the movements that release muscle tension, the relaxed focus on being present in your body – you initiate a process that turns the fight or flight system off and the relaxation response on. That has a dramatic effect on the body. The heartbeat slows, respiration decreases, blood pressure decreases. The body seizes this chance to turn on the healing mechanisms.” – Richard Faulds

 

The practice of yoga has many benefits for the individual’s physical and psychological health. Yoga has diverse effects because it is itself diverse having components of exercise, mindfulness meditation, and spirituality. So, yoga nourishes the body, mind, and spirit. As a result, yoga practice would be expected to produce physical changes. These include the relaxation response and stress relief as suggested in the above quote. These should be obvious in the muscles, tendons and joints, but, less obvious in the nervous system.

 

The nervous system changes in response to how it is used and how it is stimulated in a process called neuroplasticity. Highly used areas grow in size and connectivity. Mindfulness practices in general are known to produce these kinds of changes in the structure and activity of the brain (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/01/this-is-your-brain-on-meditation/). Indeed, yoga practice has been shown to protect the brain from age related degeneration (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/age-healthily-protect-the-brain-with-yoga/).

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of yoga on brain waves and structural activation: A review.”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1095816263775632/?type=3&theater

Desai and colleagues review the literature on the effects of yoga practice on the structure and activity of the nervous system. They found that the published evidence indicates that there is an overall increase in brain wave activity. This increased nervous system activity may explain the decreases in anxiety and increases in focus that are evident after yoga training programs.

 

They also found that there were reported changes in brain structure. There were reported increases in the gray matter volume overall and also increases in volume of specific areas. There was reported to be increased gray matter in the insula which may explain decreased pain perception with yoga. There was reported to be an increase of hippocampal volume which is associated with spatial ability and memory. In addition, increases in amygdala and frontal cortex activation were evident after a yoga intervention. This was suggested to be associated with improved emotion regulation.

 

Regardless of the specific structure-function relationships, it’s clear that yoga practice alters the brain, increasing overall activity and increasing the volume of gray matter in areas of the brain that underlie emotion regulation, memory, spatial ability, pain, and attentional mechanisms.

 

So, practice yoga and change your brain for better physical and psychological health.

 

“The beauty is that people often come here for the stretch, and leave with a lot more.” – Liza Ciano

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Practice Yoga to Relieve Anxiety and Depression during Pregnancy

psyjdc 3 Comments

 

“The effort to separate the physical experience of childbirth from the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of this event has served to disempower and violate women.” ~Mary Rucklos Hampton

 

Depression is quiet common during pregnancy. More than 20 percent of pregnant women have an anxiety disorder, depressive symptoms, or both during pregnancy. The psychological health of pregnant women has consequences for fetal development, and consequently, child outcomes. Depression during pregnancy is associated with premature delivery and low birth weight. It is also associated with higher levels of stress hormone in the mother and in the newborns, which can make them more stress reactive, temperamentally difficult, and more challenging to care for and soothe. Long-term there’s some evidence that the children have more social and emotional problems, including aggression and conduct problems and possibly child IQ and language. But, while gestational diabetes is far less common than depression during pregnancy, women are routinely screened for this disorder, but not for depression, any psychiatric illness, nor even experiences of life stress.

 

It is clear that there is a need for methods to treat depression and anxiety during pregnancy. Since the fetus can be negatively impacted by drugs, it would be preferable to find a treatment that did not require drugs. Moderate exercise is also beneficial during pregnancy. Yoga has antidepressive and anti-stress properties and it is a moderate exercise http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/11/improve-physical-health-with-yoga/, so, it would appear to be a good candidate to treat depression and anxiety during pregnancy.

 

In today’s Research News article “A randomized controlled trial of yoga for pregnant women with symptoms of depression and anxiety”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1092398120784113/?type=1&theater

Goodman and colleagues examine whether yoga practice during pregnancy is effective for depression and anxiety. They found that in comparison to treatment as usual, and 8-week program of yoga practice significantly reduced depression and negative emotions. Anxiety levels decreased in both the yoga and the treatment as usual groups.

 

It is not known if the efficacy of yoga for depression is due to its exercise value or to an intrinsic property specific to yoga. Both study groups had high levels of exercise before, during and after the treatment. As such, the additional exercise contributed by yoga would not make a significant difference in the fitness of the women. This speculation suggests that there may be other aspects of yoga practice that relieve depression. One obvious candidate is the social nature of the yoga classes, particularly since they were with other pregnant women. The camaraderie and sharing could be responsible for the antidepressive effects. It is also possible that the stress relieving properties of yoga are responsible for the psychological improvements.

 

Regardless, practice yoga during pregnancy to prevent or treat depression and anxiety.

 

“Yoga practice can make us more and more sensitive to subtler and subtler sensations in the body. Paying attention to and staying with finer and finer sensations within the body is one of the surest ways to steady the wandering mind.” ― Ravi Ravindra,

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Yoga’s Lost Spirituality

psyjdc Leave a comment

12004150_1087230814634177_898156537513386681_n.jpg

 

Yoga developed in India millennia ago as a deep spiritual practice. It developed as a contemplative practice that unified body and mind. Yoga was known to have physical benefits, but the most important benefit was seen to be spiritual development. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in has address to the United Nations proposing an International Day of Yoga stated that “yoga is not just about fitness or exercise, it is about changing one’s lifestyle.” It is “a holistic way of life that stresses harmony between man and nature.”

 

Yoga was engaged in as a meditative practice. Awareness was focused on the movements, the postures, the sensations from the muscles, joints, and tendons, and in coordination with an aware controlled breathing. It was more complex, but in essence, no different from the simple meditative practice of following the breath. It was a mind-body focused attention practice, one that has immense subtlety and beauty and that can lead to profound insight.

 

But, as yoga emerged and was practiced in the west it was secularized. This was for good reason, as western society was not ready to accept an ancient eastern spiritual practice. In a sense, the tactic of secularization worked and resulted in an unprecedented and rapid acceptance of yoga in western culture. I commented to my yogini spouse that a clear indicator of yoga being not only accepted, but adopted by western culture was when yoga attire became a fashion statement.

 

There are many forms of yoga and many practitioners who are focused on the spiritual aspects of yoga. But, to the vast majority of westerners yoga is an exercise for physical fitness. It is a means to mold the body to look good, as a health promoting practice, and as a strategy to help loose weight. These are good and reasonable goals. But, they have replaced the far more important spiritual development promoted by yoga. As Jon Kabat-Zinn has remarked, ‘there is the potential for something priceless to be lost.’

 

Our research has demonstrated that a typical western yoga practice produces significantly less spiritual benefits than a meditation practice does, that spiritual awakening experiences are far less likely to be associated with yoga practice than meditation practice, and when people practice both yoga and meditation, it is the meditation component that is responsible for spiritual development. In fact, the way western yoga is practiced, it produces smaller increases in mindfulness than meditation.

 

Fortunately, the recognition that spirituality is being lost may very well be the first step toward the recovery of the spiritual nature of yoga. People who practice yoga feel something special has happened during the practice, but don’t have the understanding of what it is. Yoga practitioners do show increased mindfulness and spirituality, but far less than meditation practitioners. They interpret these feelings, not as spiritual but as relaxation, as a high, similar to a runners high, or as a physical arousal. It is not a great leap to reinterpret this as the beginnings of a deep spiritual experience.

 

Now that yoga has been accepted in the west and not looked on as some kind of pagan or demonic ritual, there is the potential to slowly and gently reinsert the fundamental spirituality of yoga practice. The promotion of deep and relatively lengthy yoga nidra as the conclusion of each yoga session is an important beginning. The return to a deep focused awareness being preeminent in yoga practice is another important step.

 

There also needs to be teaching that yoga spirituality is not a religion. It is entirely different and does not in any way contradict the religious beliefs or practices that are common in the west. This is a subtle teaching that cannot be taught without the groundwork being completed of the experience of the spiritual feelings that are the outgrowth of focused awareness yoga practice. But, once in place, a new understanding can emerge that is entirely acceptable to western sensibilities. It can lead to a return to the true spiritual nature of yoga.

 

So practice what Prime Minister Modi termed “India’s gift to the world,” and become healthier physically, psychologically and spiritually.

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Reduce Inflammation with Yoga

psyjdc 1 Comment

“You can’t live without inflammation, but it can also be hazardous to your health.”

 

Inflammation is a normal response of the body to outside threats like stress, infection, injury, and toxic chemicals. It is a response of the immune system that is designed to protect the body and ward off these threats. It works quite well for short-term infections and injuries and as such is an important defense mechanism for the body.. But when inflammation is protracted and becomes chronic, it can itself become a threat to health.

 

Chronic inflammation can produce autoimmune diseases such as colitis, Chron’s disease, arthritis, heart disease, increased cancer risk, lung disease, sleep disruption, gum disease, decreased bone health, psoriasis, and depression. Needless to say chronic inflammation can create major health problems. Indeed, the presence of chronic inflammation is associated with reduced longevity. So, it is important for health to control the inflammatory response, allowing it to do its job in fighting off infection but then reducing its activity when no external threat is apparent.

 

Contemplative practices appear to relax the physical systems of the body including the immune system, reducing inflammation. Mind body techniques such as the ancient practice of Tai Chi http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/06/age-healthily-treating-insomnia-and-inflammation/ and meditation  (LINK TO “Control Inflammation with Mind-Body Practices – with RN Bower 2015”) have been shown to reduce inflammation. In addition, yoga practice has been found to reduce the inflammatory response in industrial workers http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/healthy-balance-through-yoga/.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effect of Yoga Practice on Levels of Inflammatory Markers after Moderate and Strenuous Exercise”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1086016591422266/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4525504/

Vijayaraghava and colleagues found that yoga practitioners had lower levels of immune system agents that are associated with inflammation, Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-α), Interleukin-6 (IL-6). Additionally, they found that when exposed to strenuous exercise there was less of an increase in these agents than in participants who did not practice yoga. These results suggest that yoga practice reduces chronic inflammation and also blunts the inflammatory response to exercise.

 

Yoga is both a mind-body relaxation technique and a mild exercise. Both of these aspects of yoga practice may be involved in reducing the inflammatory response. This may occur by creating an overall state of physical and psychological relaxation, by reducing the the response to stress, and by exercise moderating pro-inflammatory cytokines.

 

Regardless of the mechanisms involved, these results are exciting and indicate that the relatively safe practice of yoga can be very good for health by reducing chronic inflammation. This may be one of the reasons that yoga practitioners appear to be healthier and live longer.

 

So, practice yoga, reduce inflammation, and be healthier.

 

“I don’t think anybody would argue that fact that we know inflammation in the body, which comes from a lot of different sources, is the basis for a lot of chronic health problems, so by controlling that, we would expect to see increased life expectancy.”. – Josie Znidarsic

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Beating Radiotherapy for Cancer with Mindfulness

psyjdc Leave a comment

“Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul.” – Jim Valvano

 

About one in every eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetimes. About 40,000 women die from breast cancer every year in the US.  Radiation is frequently used as a component of the treatment package for cancer with nearly two thirds of all patients receiving radiation treatment. Although it has been shown to be effective in treating the cancer it has very difficult side effects as patients experience increased pain, difficulty sleeping, much greater fatigue, problems thinking clearly and paying attention, and physical issues such as heart problems and nausea. All of this leads to a marked decrease in the patients’ quality of life.

 

Hence it is important to develop methods to assist the cancer patients in coping with the treatment side effects. One promising technique is mindfulness training. It has been found to be helpful in coping with cancer especially in dealing with the psychological consequences of a cancer diagnosis.

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/tackle-cancer-with-mindfulness/

 

In today’s Research News article another contemplative practice, yoga, is evaluated as an adjunctive treatment. In the study “Randomized, Controlled Trial of Yoga in Women with Breast Cancer Undergoing Radiotherapy”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1085032938187298/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3965260/

Chandwani and colleagues compare six weeks of yoga practice or stretching exercises to control patients who did not receive yoga or stretching but were placed on a waiting list to receive future treatment. They found that the breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy who practiced yoga had improved quality of life including clinically significant improvements in overall physical health and physical functioning, significantly greater decreases in fatigue, and positive effects on stress hormones.

 

These are encouraging results that suggest that the practice of yoga may be beneficial for breast cancer patients undergoing radiation treatment. How can yoga practice be so helpful? One way that yoga may help is that it is a form of exercise and exercise has been shown to decrease fatigue in cancer patients. Also yoga can improve coping with cancer treatment by relaxing and calming the mind. Worry and rumination about the treatment side effects can act to amplify these effects. Yoga practice by increasing mindfulness may reduce rumination and worry and thereby reduce the experience of the side effects and improve quality of life. Finally, the practice of yoga may make the patients feel that they can still function physically and that they can be active participants in their treatment and recovery helping them to feel more in control of their health and lives.

 

“I’m happy to tell you that having been through surgery and chemotherapy and radiation, breast cancer is officially behind me. I feel absolutely great and I am raring to go.” – Carly Fiorina
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Keep up Yoga Practice for Anxiety and Depression!

psyjdc 1 Comment

 

“The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and many more problems are through healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.” – David Suzuki

Chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes are not only physically difficult but also very frequently associated with emotional challenges, being frequently accompanied by anxiety and depression. The presence of a chronic disease makes it three times more likely to have a major depression. About 15% of patients with diabetes are depressed while about 20% of patients with coronary heart disease evidence depression.

The comorbidity appears to be bidirectional. The presence of depression nearly doubled the likelihood that diabetes would occur and there is a 50% greater likelihood that a depressed individual will have a heart attack than matched individuals without depression. So, chronic disease tends to predict anxiety and depression and these psychological disorders tend to predict chronic disease.

Dealing with mental health issues with a background of chronic illness presents a complex picture for treatment. One option is yoga practice. It is known to have both physical and mental health benefits, so it would seem to be well suited to dealing with the combination of the two. In fact yoga has been found to reduce the symptoms of anxiety and stress http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/29/get-your-calm-on/ and improve distress tolerance http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/30/stop-emotional-eating-with-yoga/ as well as improving the immune response to combat disease http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/healthy-balance-through-yoga/. It can even help protect the brain from aging degeneration http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/age-healthily-protect-the-brain-with-yoga/.

In today’s Research News article “Influence of Intensity and Duration of Yoga on Anxiety and Depression Scores Associated with Chronic Illness”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1081979728492619/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4512118/

Telles and colleagues test not only the effectiveness of yoga practice for anxiety and depression in chronically ill patients but also investigated the amounts of practice that are effective. They found that the more months that yoga has been practiced the lower the levels of both anxiety and depression. In addition, the amount of daily practice in minutes was also associated with lower levels of anxiety associated with chronic illness.

There are a number of effects of yoga practice that may underlie its ability to relieve anxiety and depression in chronically ill patients. Yoga practice has been shown to decrease the physical and psychological responses to stress. The stress related to chronic illness can magnify both the symptoms of the illness and also the psychological impact of the illness. By relieving this stress yoga practice can affect both the physical and psychological symptoms of the illness.

Yoga practice is also known to improve mood which could directly affect the levels of anxiety and depression. It may also do so by altering brain chemistry which is known to be associated with depression and anxiety. In addition, the fact that yoga is frequently practiced in a group can provide social support and stimulation that can assist with mental health.

Regardless of the mechanism it appears clear that the more you practice yoga, the better you begin to feel psychologically and physically. So, keep up your yoga practice for physical and emotional health.

“Even if you have a terminal disease, you don’t have to sit down and mope. Enjoy life and challenge the illness that you have.” – Nelson Mandela

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Control Inflammation with Mind-Body Practices

psyjdc Leave a comment

When the body is confronted with damage, invasion of foreign material, or an unwanted virus it immediately sends out an alarm and recruits all of the body’s resources to fight off the potential damage. This is called the inflammatory response. It can be elicited by a myriad of different stimuli including a bug bite, a splinter, a virus infection, a bruise, or a broken bone. The inflammatory response dispatches cells and chemicals to the site to isolate and  repair the damage. This is a key part of the body’s defense system, an indispensable protective response of self-defense.

To some extent the inflammatory response is an overreaction. The body triggers all of the resources and processes to defend itself until it can identify the precise problem and the targeted solution. This overreaction recruits mechanisms that are not needed and can actually be damaging. Paradoxically, the inflammatory response may produce tissue damage while it is engaged in healing and repair. But, the body’s logic is to get to the problem immediately with everything it has to insure survival first and deal with the consequences later. This is called acute inflammation and is short-lived, lasting only a few days.

If the inflammation continues for a longer period of time, it is termed as chronic inflammation and can last for weeks, months, or beyond. It is when inflammation is chronic that it becomes a major health problem. It can damage the tissues of the body producing or exacerbating disease. Inflammation may play a role in such diverse disorders as Alzheimer disease, meningitis, atherosclerosis, cystic fibrosis, asthma, cirrhosis of the liver, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), diabetes, osteoporosis, and even psoriasis.

Obviously, there is a need to have balance in the inflammatory response such that it deals with emergencies but stays restrained when no emergency is present. In today’s Research News article “Mind–body therapies and control of inflammatory biology: A descriptive review.”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1078350088855583/?type=1&theater

Bower and Irwin review the literature on the effectiveness of mind-body therapies such as Tai Chi, yoga, and meditation on restraining chronic inflammation. They concluded that mind-body therapies worked to help balance the inflammatory response at the gene level. They decreased the expression of inflammation-related genes and reduced pro-inflammatory signaling.

Mind-body techniques are known to have beneficial effects on health (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/why-is-mindfulness-so-beneficial/).  Bower and Irwin’s results suggest one of the mechanisms by which they produce these benefits, by helping to balance the inflammatory response, making it a useful defense against inflection while restraining its potentially damaging effects.

So, engage in mind-body practices, control damaging inflammation, and improve health.

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies