CHANNAI: Yoga induces a feeling of well-being in healthy people, and can reverse the clinical and biochemical changes associated with metabolic syndrome, according to results of studies from Sweden and India.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, obesity and high blood sugar.

Dr. R.P. Agrawal, of the SP Medical College, Bikaner, India, and colleagues evaluated the beneficial effects of yoga and meditation with features of metabolic syndrome. In the study, 55 adults received three months of regular yoga including standard postures and Raja Yoga, a form of transcendental meditation.

Waist circumference, blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides were significantly lower, and “good” HDL cholesterol levels were higher in the yoga group as compared to controls, Agrawal’s team reports in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.

In the second study, published online Dec 19 in BioMed Central Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Dr Anette Kjellgren from the University of Karlstad, Sweden and colleagues evaluated the beneficial effects of yoga-like breathing exercises on healthy volunteers.

Yoga induces a “relaxation response” associated with reduced nervous system activity and a feeling of well-being probably due to an increase in antioxidants and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, they suggest.

Yoga not only helps in prevention of lifestyle diseases, but can also be “a powerful adjunct therapy when these diseases arise,” co-investigator Dr Faahri Saatiglou, from the University of Oslo, said.—Reuters