I love yoga. It was a practice I fell deeply in love with at the impressionable age of twenty after five mystifying days spent in South India. Yoga has been one of the great loves of my life, with its endless number of poses to practice, its mesmerizing philosophical teachings, as well as its practical foundations for day-to-day living.

Yoga is amazing.

And it’s accessible to everyone. You don’t have to be a super bendy sort. You don’t have to be particularly athletic. You don’t even have to be able to stand. (Chair yoga is a popular practice that’s highly effective for maintaining optimal health as we age).

There are far too many benefits to the ancient practice than I have space to pen on this page. So, we’ll focus on just one study, which was recently published in the journal, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine---a study that makes a solid case for yoga and its health benefits for those at risk for metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic what?

Metabolic syndrome. It’s an umbrella term for all the conditions that put you at risk for heart disease, diabetes and stroke–conditions like high blood pressure, high blood sugar, topsy-turvy cholesterol levels, and too much belly fat.

And 34% of us Americans have it. Yikes!

Does yoga help prevent all these things? From my experience, I would say it does. From the experience of those who took part in a 12-week yoga intervention plus evidence-based health education program, I’m guessing they would agree.

There were two groups in this study.

One group at risk for metabolic syndrome (MetS) followed a 12-week health education intervention, because positive lifestyle changes (exercise and healthy diet) are recommended for MetS. However, these lifestyle changes don’t typically take into consideration psychological well-being and overall quality of life.

But yoga does.

Which is why the second group, also at risk for metabolic syndrome, followed a 12-week Yoga Plus Health Education program.

Of the two groups, those in the Yoga Plus Health Education program showed significant improvement in these two quality of life domains: perception of physical health and perception of overall health.

This was the very first study to combine lifestyle and health education and yoga, with the aim of finding yoga’s effects on those at risk for metabolic syndrome. As such, we need a bit more evidence to confidently conclude that yoga is indeed a preventative practice for metabolic syndrome. A large clinical trial is in order.

Until then, let’s all be on the safe side and take to our yoga mats–for greater cardiovascular health, psychological well being, and an overall happier and healthier life! - Aimee Hughes

Yoga Improves Metabolic Syndrome