Practising heated/hot yoga (yoga performed under hot and humid conditions), even if it is just once a week, may help ease depression symptoms, according to a Harvard study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
The study randomly assigned 80 adults, average age 32, with moderate-to-severe depression, to attend heated yoga classes or were placed on a waiting list. The yoga group was asked to attend 90 minutes of Bikram yoga practised in a 105°F (40.5°C) room, at least twice weekly. The final analysis included 33 participants in the yoga group and 32 in the waitlisted group. Yoga participants attended an average of 10.3 classes over eight weeks.
At the end of the study period, 59.3 per cent of yoga participants experienced a 50 per cent or greater reduction in symptoms as assessed through the clinician-rated Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS-CR) scale, compared with only 6.3 per cent in the waitlisted group. Furthermore, 44 per cent in the yoga group experienced a huge drop in their symptoms that their depression was considered in remission. Depressive symptoms were reduced even in participants who only attended once a week.
Participants rated the yoga sessions positively and no adverse events were reported. “Yoga and heat-based interventions could potentially change the course for treatment for patients with depression by providing a non-medication–based approach with additional physical benefits as a bonus,” said the study.