Harvard Study Claims Hot Yoga Can 'Suspend' This Prevalent Mental Illness In People

A Harvard medical study has recently been under the spotlight after revealing the effects of “heated” yoga on the symptoms of depression. Read what they found out below.

Who Is Behind This Study?

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The findings from Harvard Medical School were published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry under the lead study author Dr. Maren Nyer.

What Does The Study Claim?

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According to a clinical trial, individuals grappling with moderate to severe depression experienced a notably greater reduction of symptoms with just one weekly hot yoga session, compared to receiving no treatment at all.?

When Was It Published??

The study was published back in 2018.

Why Does It Help?

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According to the study, 44% of the individuals in the hot yoga group reported that their depression scores were so low that their condition was considered to be in remission. Additionally, two-thirds of the hot yoga group noticed a reduction in their overall depression, in contrast to only 6.3% of the group that had to wait for yoga.

Nyer explained, “Yoga and heat-based interventions could potentially change the course for treatment for patients with depression by providing a non-medication–based approach with additional physical benefits as a bonus.”

She added, “We are currently developing new studies with the goal of determining the specific contributions of each element—heat and yoga—to the clinical effects we have observed in depression.”

How Was The Study Conducted?

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The research from Harvard Medical School studied 80 people with depression for 8 weeks. The 80 patients were divided into two groups. The first group was told to do at least two 90-minute sessions of hot yoga every week, while the second group had to wait. Even though they were supposed to go at least twice, attending just one session each week was still helpful for reducing depression. On average, the participants attended about 10.3 classes during the eight weeks.

The research group then concluded that “the heated yoga was associated with reduced depressive symptoms, and other improved related mental health symptoms, including anxiety, hopelessness, and quality of life.”

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