concern? Yoga helps calm you

Thursday 13 August 2020 (Health Day News)-Yoga may help calm frayed nerves during a coronavirus pandemic, but ancient practice can help people with more serious and chronic anxiety New research suggests it may help.

This study compared yoga, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and stress management to treat people with generalized anxiety disorder. Although cognitive behavioral therapy is still recommended as a first-line treatment for anxiety, yoga, especially Kundalini yoga, outperformed stress management education in the first 12 weeks of the study.

CBT was the most effective treatment of the three when the researchers followed up six months later. The effects of yoga and stress education leveled off after 6 months.

“Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a chronically disabling condition that is poorly treated. There are effective treatments because many people do not seek or have access to treatment, but treatment barriers To overcome that, we need more options,” Dr. Naomi Simon. She is a Professor of Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health in New York City.

“Yoga is another option for those who may not have access to the Gold Standard (cognitive behavioral therapy). There is little risk. It is accessible, and anxiety has at least a short-term impact,” she said. Added.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of psychotherapy. According to the American Psychological Association, it is designed to help people identify and change negative thinking.

This study used a type of yoga called Kundalini. Simon states that this type of yoga has three elements. Breathing concentration; and a component of mindfulness or meditation. She said other types of yoga that rely on these factors would be useful as well.

Stress management treatment is a class that provides education on health and wellness topics, Simon said.

The study included more than 225 volunteers with systemic anxiety disorder. Their average age was 33 and about 30% were male.

Volunteers were randomly placed in one of three treatment groups. CBT; or stress education.

After 12 weeks of treatment, researchers found that yoga and CBT maximize stress education. However, yoga was not as effective at reducing anxiety as CBT. At 6 months of follow-up, CBT was clearly more effective than other treatments. By this time, yoga and stress education have shown similar levels of effectiveness in treating anxiety.

“This study is very timely in the era of COVID. Having treatment options is important, and we have found some evidence that yoga has short-term effects to reduce anxiety.” Said Simon.

Researchers hadn’t seen the effects of telemedicine these treatments or whether anyone did their own yoga at home, but Simon says yoga is “not harmful, so it’s worth trying”. Thinking about the issue of someone accessing care by a pandemic, it at least gives them the option to reduce their anxiety.

However, she told me to try yoga that focuses on three factors, and she encouraged people to be less worried about achieving “perfect poses.” She said that if you are interested in trying yoga to relieve anxiety, it is important to promise to do it regularly. Simon suggested at least 20 minutes a day.

Dr. Manuela Cogon, a physician and clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine, was excited by the discovery.

“CBT is better and lasts longer. Worries change your thinking. Yoga affects you, so it doesn’t have a lasting effect on your thoughts.

Kogon agreed that other types of yoga are likely to have the same anxiety-reducing effect in the short term, as long as they use the three components. It probably doesn’t even have to be yoga. Kogon suspects that taijiquan and qigong-which also incorporates elements of physical exercise and focuses on breathing and meditation or mindfulness-will be helpful.

“Your body can do a lot of things, and anything that your brain can’t produce thoughts of interest can work. Worried people worry a lot. Standing on one leg If you breathe in and focus on your feet, you don’t, it’s not yoga itself, it’s enough to attract you to minimize negative thoughts,” Corgon said.

The study was published online on August 12 JAMA Psychiatry..

For more information

For more information on generalized anxiety disorder, American Institute of Mental Health..