Tag Archives: yoga

Clinical Trial: Yoga for Reduction of Blood Pressure in People Living with HIV

Share

Cade WT, Reeds DN, Mondy KE, et al. Yoga lifestyle intervention reduces blood pressure in HIV-infected adults with cardiovascular disease risk factors. HIV Med. 2010 Jul 1;11(6):379-88. Epub 2010 Jan 5.
PubMed PMID: 20059570; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2889007.
[Free full text via PubMed Central.]

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, with grant support from the US National Institutes of Health, conducted a prospective, randomized, controlled study (NCT#00627380) to evaluate whether a yoga lifestyle intervention improves risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), virologic or immunologic status, or quality of life in HIV-infected adults more than in a matched control group. (Infection with HIV and treatment with combination antiretroviral therapy have been associated with bodily changes that increase CVD.)

In this study, 60 HIV-infected adults with mild-moderate CVD risk were assigned to 20 weeks of supervised Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga practice or standard-of-care treatment. The yoga sequence was designed for people with no previous yoga exposure. Beginning with feedback from the participants about their previous session, each session included:

  1. Alignment of muscle locks (bandhas) and controlled breathing (Ujjayi)
  2. Warm-up
  3. Sun Salute A x3, Salute B x1(Surya Namaskara))
  4. Standing Asanas
  5. Seated Asanas
  6. Lying Supine Asanas
  7. Cool-down (Restorative breathing techniques)

Findings from the study (e.g., reduced resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures) suggested to the investigators that practicing yoga directly acts to lower blood pressure in people living with HIV and may lower their CVD risk.

Free full text is available via PubMed Central.

The information on my blog is not intended as a substitute for medical professional help or advice but is to be used only as an aid in understanding current medical knowledge. A physician should always be consulted for any health problem or medical condition.

Berlinale Forum 2011 – Utopians

Share

Utopians
Director: Zbigniew Bzymek
USA 2011
Cast includes Jim Fletcher (Roger), Courtney Webster (Zoe), Lauren Hind (Maya), Arthur French (Morris), Jessica Jelliffe (Deborah), and Sacha Yanow (Agnes)

Roger is arguably the worst yoga teacher in the world, and your home-renovation contractor from hell. But he’s a good egg. A single dad after the death of his wife, Roger’s life suddenly gets complicated when his daughter Zoe returns home from military service, on a mission to rescue her certified schizophrenic girlfriend Maya from institutionalization.

Roger’s increasingly frustrated students start to abandon him as he comes to class later and later, retreats into his own head for rambling, free-associative patter that takes the place of actual yoga instruction, and starts bringing a stray pit bull to class.

Tension grows as Maya is released from institutional care and comes to live/camp with Roger and Zoe. Roger’s friend Morris offers a live-in renovation job in his well-furnished house, and the newly formed family move in and promptly begin to decompensate, as the psychiatrists say, or perhaps just begin to find their way.

A perfect cast is led by Jim Fletcher (recently starring as Gatsby in the Elevator Repair Service’s marathon performance of Gatz), Courtney Webster, and Lauren Hind, with strong support by Arthur French, Jessica Jelliffe, and Sacha Yanow. Courtney Webster and Lauren Hind pulled double duty as producers.

Shot on location in Brooklyn in HDCam, with credits to Woodhull Hospital as well as to key artwork, including one fantastic painting of the fall of Nelson at Trafalgar.

The score is by Harvey Valdes, capturing the cold sounds of madness in one of the “longest-lasting guitar improvisations since Dead Man.”

A feature debut for director Zbigniew Bzymek, who is an associate artist at The Wooster Group, where he makes short doc videos and develops video design for productions, including the space vampire opera La Didone.

Read the Forum essay. Visit the film website.

Yoga in Diabetes

Share

Kutty BM, Raju TR. New vistas in treating diabetes–insight into a holistic approach. Indian J Med Res. 2010 May;131:606-7. PubMed PMID: 20516530.

Kutty and Raju, researchers in the Department of Neurophysiology at the National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences in Bangalore, note that in India, presently about 30 million people are diabetic which will rise to about 60 million by 2017.

They undertook a meta-analysis of studies of yoga and meditation in the treatment of diabetes, with the following conclusion:

Practice of yoga and meditation is known to induce hypometabolic state with parasympathetic predominance, suggesting that yogic practices per se would create a conducive internal atmosphere from the cellular to system level. This would help to manage the stress and anxiety effectively in addition to its positive regulatory role on other systems. Considering its health there is a need to integrate yoga in the conventional treatment regimen as an adjunct/add on therapy for an effective treatment of DM. This paper provides a convincing evidence for the effectiveness of combination therapy over conventional treatment in enhancing cognitive functions in diabetes. More studies need to be carried out along this line, in order to increase awareness among public.

The information on my blog is not intended as a substitute for medical professional help or advice but is to be used only as an aid in understanding current medical knowledge. A physician should always be consulted for any health problem or medical condition.

Yoga for Postmenopausal Osteoporosis

Share

Tüzün S, Aktas I, Akarirmak U, et al. Yoga might be an alternative training for the quality of life and balance in postmenopausal osteoporosis. Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2010 Mar;46(1):69-72. PubMed PMID: 20332729.

In a small study of 26 postmenopausal osteoporotic women, investigators at Istanbul University evaluated the effect of yoga exercises on balance and life quality in comparison with a classic osteoporosis exercise program. They found that yoga education had a positive effect on pain, physical functions, social functions, and balance and concluded that yoga appears to be an alternative physical activity for the rehabilitation of osteoporosis patients.

Download the full-text article.

The information on my blog is not intended as a substitute for medical professional help or advice but is to be used only as an aid in understanding current medical knowledge. A physician should always be consulted for any health problem or medical condition.