Yoga may help protect against heart disease

ConclusionOverall, this review suggests that yoga may be beneficial in reducing risk factors for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.While these are encouraging findings, the authors also caution that these are based on trials with some limitations, including: There was a wide variation in the type of yoga practised, the frequency and the length of each session across the studies. This means it is difficult to say what the actual effects of each approach are, as the overall effects are just an average across all of these approaches. Some may have more of an effect and some may have less. The review does not report the amount of exercise yoga was compared to, and this could also affect their relative benefits. The study participants could not be blinded to the fact that they were doing yoga, which could bias the results. However, this tends to be less of an issue when measuring things such as blood cholesterol levels, which participants can’t influence, as long as the people doing the measurements are blinded to whose samples they are testing. Most of the studies only had around 20 to 60 participants, with one study having just nine people; the smaller a study, the more likely it is that results are affected by chance.The government recommends that adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week and muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days a week. Some forms of yoga could fit the bill for either of the...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Obesity Source Type: news