YOGA AND MINDFULNESS: INFLAMMATION’S WORST NIGHTMARES

PART II.

By 2017, researchers across the globe had performed dozens of studies inspecting yoga’s curative powers. That year, Ivana Buric and researchers at Coventry University in the UK collected 18 separate trials to see if she could find a pattern. The answer she found was in our very DNA.

Extreme stress can cause molecular damage. But Buric found that when people practiced yoga and mindful exercises like meditation, it affected an important protein that acts like an inflammatory on/off switch. As a result, the genes associated with inflammation became less active.

“These activities are leaving what we call a molecular signature in our cell,” Buric said, “which reverse the effect that stress or anxiety would have on the body by changing how our genes are expressed. Put simply, [yoga and meditation] cause the brain to steer our DNA processes along a path which improves our wellbeing.”

Buric’s review suggested that, while poses and stretches may help alleviate physical stress by relaxing our muscles, the main benefit of yoga probably came from breathing exercises and quiet, mindfulness mediation.

In fact, a study published in the journal Frontiers in 2017, looked specifically at how the mental approach to yoga affective the brain. The researchers looked at a molecule called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor, or BDNF, which is important for learning and memory and one of the levers that regulate the inflammatory response.

For the study, the scientists sent people on a three-month yoga and meditation retreat, where they practiced controlled breathing and chanted mantras. At the end of the trip, the team discovered that each participant came home with significantly higher levels of BDNF, a positive development that not only strengthened the regulation of inflammation, but also helped in the brain work more effectively. In a sense, practicing daily yoga was the equivalent of updating the brain’s software.

Since then, multiple studies have replicated these findings. It’s now well established that yoga and mediation not only reduce psychological burdens, but can also relieve physical burdens too. Indeed, a later study by Kiecolt-Glaser, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that yoga reduced the level of inflammatory proteins in breast cancer survivors by 10 to 15%, leading to better sleep and improved recovery.

Thankfully, you don’t have to twist yourself into a pretzel to start reaping the benefits of yoga. In fact, many beginner yoga poses involve doing, well, almost nothing at all. Just a few minutes a day practicing the child’s pose, cobra, and savasana are great entryways for beginners. Chances are your body inside and out will thank you.