Yoga helps improve asthma symptoms

A new study has suggested that meditation and yoga can be ‘helpful’ in improving asthma in urban adolescents.
A new study by researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) shows that urban adolescents with asthma may experience worse outcomes when not using spiritual coping and often use complementary and alternative medicine, or integrative medicine, like prayer or relaxation, to manage symptoms.

These findings by researchers could help physicians and other providers gain insight into additional ways to help pediatric populations self-manage chronic illnesses.

The study, led by Sian Cotton, assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine, looked at urban adolescents dealing with asthma and uncovered the ways that they were both coping with their illness as well as ways coping methods affected their mental and physical health outcomes.

In the spiritual struggles analyses, outcome variables included anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as quality of life. Researchers then determined the association between spiritual struggles and health outcomes after accounting for age, gender, ethnicity and asthma severity.

"As hypothesized, religious or spiritual coping and secular coping predicted similar amounts of variance in these outcomes, similar to previous findings in adult populations, suggesting that spiritual coping is an important element to consider when caring for adolescents with asthma," said Cotton.

In the second analysis, the same group of adolescents completed a survey looking at 10 forms of complementary and alternative medicine methods used for symptom management, including prayer, guided imagery, relaxation, meditation, yoga, massage, herbs, vitamins and rubs as well as dietary changes.

"These findings show that this group of chronically ill adolescents is using complementary methods and finding them helpful," said Cotton.

"Providers should consider discussing the use of complementary or alternative medicine with their patients with asthma to help improve outcomes.

"These analyses point to findings that will help physicians care not only for patients with asthma but also for those with other chronic illnesses to ensure the best outcomes physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, producing a better quality of life,” added Cotton.

The findings were presented at the National Conference in Pediatric Psychology in San Antonio.

Meet with world’s oldest yoga teacher

A US woman has recently been awarded the title of Oldest Yoga Teacher by Guinness World Records.

The 91-year-old lady, Bernice Bates, first began practising yoga 50 years ago after she saw it on a television program.


These days the great-grandmother teaches once a week at the community centre of her Florida retirement village.

Bates believes in gentle yoga no sweaty, strenuous or competitive stretching in her classes.

“You may not do it perfect, but there’s no perfect person,” the News.com.au quoted her as saying.

Bates credits yoga for her good health - she doesn’t take medication or have any health problems - and says it gives her the ability to enjoy the things she loves like flower gardening and worshipping at her Methodist church.

She also lifts weights, walks, swims and does tai chi.

She starts stretching the moment she wakes up, with a series of poses to get her blood flowing.

“It gives you a good outlook. It involves your mind. Your mind, your body and your spirit. They all work together and they’re all coordinated,” Bates stated.

“Whereas when you’re on a treadmill, that’s all you’re doing, and you’re tired when you’re done. We build energy in our body, we don’t take it out,” she added.

Yoga and stretching both ease chronic back pain

Weekly yoga classes eased pain and improved functioning in some people with chronic lower back pain -- but the yoga sessions weren`t any better than regular stretching classes, according to a new study.

Researchers found that participants in both types of classes had better functioning and fewer symptoms after three months than back patients who were only given a book with advice on preventing and managing pain.

"We`ve known for a while... that exercise is good for back pain," said Dr. Timothy Carey, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who wrote a commentary published with the study.

Yoga, he said, "seems to be a perfectly good option for people with back pain, but it is not a preferred option."

Finding that yoga and stretching had about equal effects means it was probably the stretching involved in yoga -- and not the relaxation or breathing components of the practice -- that helped improve functioning and pain symptoms, researchers report today in Archives of Internal Medicine.

For the study, they divided 228 adults with long-lasting back pain into three groups. Patients in the first two groups went to either weekly yoga or stretching classes for 12 weeks and were asked to practice on their own between classes. Both types of classes focused on stretching and strengthening the lower back and legs.

Patients in the third group were given a book with back pain-related exercise and lifestyle advice and information on managing flare-ups.

After the 12-week program, people who had gone to the group classes reported significantly lower scores on a questionnaire measuring how much pain interferes with daily activities, compared to those given the book.

The questionnaire rated daily "disability" level on a scale of zero to 23, with 23 being the most severe. At the 12-week mark, the exercise groups had dropped from an initial average score of 10 in the yoga group or nine in the stretching group to between four and five in both groups. The people who received the book started with an average score of nine and at 12 weeks had dropped to about a seven.

More participants who did either yoga or stretching also said that their back pain had diminished or was gone. Sixty percent of people in the yoga group reported improvements in pain, compared to 46 percent in the stretching classes and just 16 percent of people who only got the books.

Three months after the end of classes, symptom improvements were similar in people who had done either stretching or yoga, and still better than in the third, non-exercise group.

And at both the end of class sessions and three months later, twice as many of the class participants reported cutting back on pain medications, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) -- about 40 percent versus 20 percent in the book group.

"Here is an option that is something worth trying," said Karen Sherman from the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, who led the study.

With either stretching or yoga classes, she told Reuters Health, practice is a must for patients. "There is absolutely no treatment that works for everybody... (but) if they`re willing to practice, they should go ahead and give it a try."

Carey said the findings suggest that the best type of exercise for people with back pain depends on their preferences and what`s convenient.

"It`s important that people do exercise they enjoy," he said -- that way, they`re more likely to stick with it. And, "you don`t need to drive 50 miles to the nearest yoga class if there`s not one near you," Carey added.

He highlighted group exercise in general as a way to stay motivated that`s also relatively inexpensive.

Sherman said attending a single yoga or stretching session costs about $20, but probably varies in different parts of the country. That would be cheaper than other options for managing lower back pain, such as acupuncture and massage or talk therapy.

And, she added, "Once a person learns how to do these in a way that`s safe for them, they can do them on their own."

The study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

While it didn`t include people with severe back pain -- so the findings don`t necessarily apply to them -- Carey said that "almost anyone with back pain can benefit from stretching exercises."

Naked yoga can benefit you psychologically

Going naked is the latest yoga trend, and those who have done it can swear by its benefits.

Shedding one`s clothes brings a new level of honesty and authenticity to yoga — an authenticity that can sometimes get lost in the fashion and branding surrounding yoga, said Isis Phoenix, a yoga instructor at Naked Yoga NYC in New York City.

And the practice helps people let go, offering freedom from the constraints of life, which might include your job (or even just spandex), Phoenix said.

Some might feel self-conscious at first, but Phoenix has seen participants undergo a metamorphosis of sorts, a change only made possible by baring it all, she said.

Naked yoga gives a chance for participants to "lay down their armor, in a sense," and breathe, stretch and mediate, she said.

Some people become more familiar with their own bodies, such as discovering a mole they never knew they had, Phoenix said.

"There`s a level of living with your body your whole life and then really, truly seeing it for the first time," she said.

However, experts agree there are psychological benefits to naked yoga, but not physical ones.

"If you`re wearing loose clothing or spandex, there`s nothing to stop you from doing all the postures or stretches or movements in yoga with the proper clothes," said Janet Konefal, assistant dean for complementary and integrative medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

"The sense of freedom is not a physical, it’s a psychological,” she added.

`You don’t want have a cut or nick and risk of infection," Konefal said.

Yoga, medication helps improve asthma symptoms

A new study has suggested that meditation and yoga can be ‘helpful’ in improving asthma in urban adolescents.

A new study by researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) shows that urban adolescents with asthma may experience worse outcomes when not using spiritual coping and often use complementary and alternative medicine, or integrative medicine, like prayer or relaxation, to manage symptoms.

These findings by researchers could help physicians and other providers gain insight into additional ways to help pediatric populations self-manage chronic illnesses.

The study, led by Sian Cotton, assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine, looked at urban adolescents dealing with asthma and uncovered the ways that they were both coping with their illness as well as ways coping methods affected their mental and physical health outcomes.

In the spiritual struggles analyses, outcome variables included anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as quality of life. Researchers then determined the association between spiritual struggles and health outcomes after accounting for age, gender, ethnicity and asthma severity.

"As hypothesized, religious or spiritual coping and secular coping predicted similar amounts of variance in these outcomes, similar to previous findings in adult populations, suggesting that spiritual coping is an important element to consider when caring for adolescents with asthma," said Cotton.

In the second analysis, the same group of adolescents completed a survey looking at 10 forms of complementary and alternative medicine methods used for symptom management, including prayer, guided imagery, relaxation, meditation, yoga, massage, herbs, vitamins and rubs as well as dietary changes.

"These findings show that this group of chronically ill adolescents is using complementary methods and finding them helpful," said Cotton.

"Providers should consider discussing the use of complementary or alternative medicine with their patients with asthma to help improve outcomes.

"These analyses point to findings that will help physicians care not only for patients with asthma but also for those with other chronic illnesses to ensure the best outcomes physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, producing a better quality of life,” added Cotton.

Regular yoga can trim Waistline

Is your waistline bothering you in middle age? Try regular yoga, says a new study.

The study, led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre (FHCRC), is the first of its kind to measure the effects of yoga on weight.

The study involved 15,500 healthy, middle-aged men and women who were asked to complete a written survey recalling their physical activity (including yoga) and weight history between the ages 45 and 55.

The study measured the impact of yoga with weight change, independent of other factors such as diet or other types of physical activity.

The researchers found that between the ages of 45 and 55, most people gained about half a kg a year, which is a common pattern as people age and do not trim calorie intake to their declining energy needs.

"However, men and women who were of normal weight at age 45 and regularly practised yoga gained about three fewer pounds during that 10-year period than those who didn't practise yoga," said FHCRC's Alan R. Kristal, study co-author.

For the study, regular yoga practice was defined as practising at least 30 minutes once a week for four or more years.

"Men and women who were overweight and practised yoga lost about five pounds, while those who did not practise yoga gained about 14 pounds in that 10-year period," said Kristal, professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health (WUSM).

What accounts for yoga's apparent fat-fighting potential? Kristal, himself a long time yoga practitioner, suspects it has more to do with increased body awareness than the physical activity itself.