Anxiety affects nearly 12% of our Canadian population- and that’s only those that have been medically diagnosed- beyond this statistic, we are all on some level confronting our own anxieties and stressors on a daily basis. There has been a history of poorly executed studies on the correlation between yoga and stress. Typically, research has been conducted on small groups of people, until more recent decades that have progressed towards randomized controlled trials; which have since become the most rigorous standard for proving effectiveness.
There are countless reviews and studies available on a variety of yoga practices, that prove yoga can reduce the severity of stress responses; aiding in the ease of anywhere from stress to different forms of depression. Taking time to center our minds, lower our heart rate and blood pressure and calm our respiratory system, are all practices vital to both our physical and mental well-being. Emptying the mind of baggage resets our bodies; modulating our stress response systems while also easing our physiological arousal AKA how our bodies react to stress.
Harvard Health Publication touches on a powerful 2005 study conducted through an uncontrolled experiment, where a New Hampshire psychiatric hospital tested the effects of a single yoga class on 113 inpatients. Patients’ conditions ranged from bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, and major depression and anxiety. Average levels of tension, anxiety, depression, anger, hostility, and fatigue dropped a shocking amount when measured by the Profile of Mood States, which is a standard 65-item questionnaire that participants answered on their own before and after the class. Patients who chose to participate in additional classes experienced similar short-term positive effects. With a devotion to any type of yoga practice and focus on not allowing our ego to get in the way, these benefits can be seen and be maintained long-term.
The scientific study of yoga demonstrates that mental and physical health are not only correlated, but are essentially equivalent. They both matter and equally can influence one other. Yoga practice allows us to bring clarity to both our body and our mind, and what a great opportunity that is to strengthen the entirety of our well-being in one go. The evidence behind yoga and its benefits is growing. And with our own dedication to yoga, we can begin to see its high-yield approach to improving overall health when we start seeing it within ourselves.