“My doctor said yoga would be good for me. She told me to take a yoga class!” 

Now more than ever, yoga teachers report a surprising rising trend: students are telling them that their medical physician encouraged them to practice yoga to help reduce their suffering with a variety of conditions.

How is this happening? According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the top health challenges that Americans face today are heart disease, diabetes, cancers, respiratory conditions, mental health concerns and cognitive change. At the same time, the use of complementary and alternative health approaches—including yoga—to mitigate chronic and other health conditions has increased significantly over the past two decades, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

With its relatively low cost and ease of access, more clinicians are advising those struggling with specific health concerns, such as heart disease or cancer, as well as those who simply feel “stiff” and “achy” and want to improve their mobility and longevity, to attend a yoga class.

Research has helped to open that door. Over the past few decades, numerous studies have provided insight into the ways that yoga practice can improve the lives of people living with certain medical concerns. Most of the research is designed to study specific populations of people living with specific diseases and diagnoses, doing specific yoga practices. While that specificity is important, the breadth of the research also provides reliable insights about yoga’s benefits to health in general. 

Just for starters, research shows that yoga:

• Reduces and helps to manage stress
• Improves the quality and duration of sleep, which can also lead to better cognition
• Mitigates the risk of falling by improving balance and spatial awareness 
• Enhances the ability to cope with a fall when and if it happens
• Helps improve heart and respiratory health
• Strengthens respiratory muscles over time 
• Increases an understanding of how to breathe
• Encourages deeper breathing
• Improves mobility and flexibility, which are foundational to strong physical health

A closer look at the research reveals how yoga helps improve health in many key areas.

HEART HEALTH

Heart health is the one most carefully studied in the yoga therapy research. Dr. Dean Ornish’s landmark study, published in The Lancet in 1990, showed clear links between his health protocol—which includes yoga among other interventions—and improved cardiovascular conditions. Often referred to as the “Ornish Program,” the protocol has since been codified into a standardized program for participants after research showed its effects could be maintained over time in people with cardiovascular disease.

Postural yoga and breathwork practices consistently show promising outcomes for heart health across a wide range of parameters. Research studies published within the last 15 years in The International Journal of Cardiology, The Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention, Psychoneuroendocrinology and The Western Journal of Nursing Research, to name a few, have repeatedly shown that yoga practices have a beneficial effect on the risk factors of cardiovascular disease, including lipid and blood glucose levels, blood pressure, the cardiac autonomic nervous system and stress across a variety of populations. In addition, across all studied populations, yoga benefits those who already have established cardiovascular disease, especially by lowering blood pressure. 

DIABETES 

When it comes to established Type 2 diabetes and the risk factors that lead to the onset of Type 2 diabetes, yoga can have a meaningful impact. Studies published within the last ten years across a number of peer-reviewed Western medical journals show improved health outcomes for people with diabetes. In addition, several standardized trials show that certain yoga protocols addressing diabetic issues even help prevent the onset of Type 2 diabetes in those who’ve been diagnosed pre-diabetic. Yoga has also been shown to help mitigate symptoms of diabetes, such as neuropathy of the feet or swelling and other circulatory issues, when it is included in a set of complementary care practices.

RESPIRATORY HEALTH

According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 10 percent of Americans suffer from respiratory conditions—including asthma, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Luckily, there’s yoga. 

Recent larger-scale research demonstrates that yoga interventions—including postural practice, breathwork, meditation and mindfulness practices—improve lung function. Studies show yoga delivers improvements in how well the lungs take in and use oxygen and results in better control of symptoms such as shortness of breath. Many participants also report an improved quality of life while living with lung disease or other respiratory conditions. 

CANCER CARE AND RECOVERY

In clinical research, yoga is used alongside conventional care for people living with and recovering from cancer and has been shown to benefit diverse populations across a range of cancer types, particularly in helping to manage side effects related to both the disease and its treatment.

While cancers and their treatments vary widely, many patients and those in recovery from cancer report similar symptoms related to their quality of life, including sleep disturbances, disruption to regular cognition (i.e., chemo brain fog), stress, anxiety and depression. Additionally, there are a range of physical conditions that are commonly reported, including peripheral neuropathy and imbalance, fatigue and muscle and joint aches, to name a few. Study after study now demonstrates that both within a clinical environment, such as a cancer-yoga class at a hospital or treatment center, and also in a general yoga studio setting with a properly-trained teacher, yoga can serve those living with cancer. 

In addition, a large-scale, multi-centered study published in Integrative Cancer Therapies in 2019 suggested that doctors should prescribe yoga for cancer-related fatigue (CRF) because of its widespread efficacy in treating the condition. And, according to Supportive Care in Cancer, a 2018 study of working with people undergoing treatment while practicing a prescribed yoga protocol showed improvements relating to depression and anxiety as well as improvements to biomarkers related to immunity. 

MENTAL HEALTH AND BRAIN FUNCTION

Finally, according to national surveys from the American Psychological Association and CDC data, Americans are reporting elevated stress levels and increasing symptoms of anxiety and depression, and clinicians note a growing demand for mental health care. According to numerous studies, all varieties of yoga decrease stress markers such as cortisol levels, help to regulate cytokines, which are related to inflammation levels, and help ease the symptoms of mental health conditions in high-risk populations, including first responders, veterans and healthcare workers. 

Americans are also aging, and they worry about the cognitive decline associated with it. A 2019 study published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychology showed improvements in attention and verbal memory, in particular, while a study of parts of the brain associated with age-related decline showed promising results for yoga’s intervention in a number of areas. 

Yoga does not necessarily offer a state change for disease; it has not been proven to cure cancers, for example. It does not necessarily resolve pain or stave off death, either. However, yoga’s promise is that our relationship to suffering changes; our relationship to pain, death and the challenges of disease or treatment can change. We live better with what we’re living with, and we learn to rest in our true self, on our own path. This is yoga’s promise, and its greatest benefit to all. ❧

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Patricia Schmidt, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, YACEP, is a certified yoga therapist specializing in pelvic health, accessible yoga and yoga for cancer support. She is a Franklin Method trainer, Roll Model method teacher and somatic movement specialist. To learn more, visit PLSYoga.com.