Professor, Department of General Medicine, Deben Mahata Government Medical College & Hospital, Purulia, West Bengal, India; Corresponding Author.
J Assoc Physicians India. 2022 Dec;70(12):11-12. doi: 10.5005/japi-11001-0142.
Growing evidences of the health benefits of yoga are available in the literature. But physicians are not aware of it.
Databases like PubMed, PubMed Central, Google Scholar, and Scopus are searched for the articles on preventive, therapeutic, and rehabilitation potential of yoga. Scientific evidences available are analyzed and incorporated into the article.
Yoga provides relief from stress, anxiety, depression, and obsessive thoughts. It promotes better sleep. It relieves psychosomatic disorders. Yoga helps to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Pranayama appears to alter autonomic responses by breath-holding that increases vagal tone and decreases sympathetic discharge and causes relaxation. Yoga increases GABAergic activity that has an anxiolytic effect. Yoga reduces stress-induced cortisol release and reduces hyperglycemia. Yoga reduces seizure frequencies, prevents rapid cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease, and helps in poststroke rehabilitation. Reduction of blood pressure and heart rate are seen with yoga. Yoga increases heart rate variability (HRV) and reduces health consequences of allostatic overload. Pranayama improves the vital capacity of lungs. Yoga improves musculoskeletal flexibility and enhances the ability of sustained isometric muscle contraction. Yoga is proved to be a viable adjunct of drug therapy for depression and anxiety. It is a promising alternative to psychoanalysis and cognitive behavior therapy. Yoga prevents lifestyle disorders.
Yoga is safe and affordable. Integration of yoga in modern medicine needs intensification because of its various health-promoting, disease-preventing, therapeutic, and rehabilitative effects.
瑜伽对健康的益处有越来越多的证据，这在文献中已有体现。但医生对此并不了解。
在 PubMed、PubMed Central、Google Scholar 和 Scopus 等数据库中搜索有关瑜伽的预防、治疗和康复潜力的文章。分析现有的科学证据并将其纳入文章中。
瑜伽可缓解压力、焦虑、抑郁和强迫性思维。它可以改善睡眠。它可以缓解身心障碍。瑜伽有助于应对创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）。呼吸控制可以改变自主反应，增加迷走神经张力，降低交感神经放电，从而导致放松，普拉那亚玛似乎有此作用。瑜伽增加 GABA 能活动，具有抗焦虑作用。瑜伽可以减少应激引起的皮质醇释放，降低血糖水平。瑜伽可以减少癫痫发作频率，预防阿尔茨海默病的快速认知下降，并有助于中风后的康复。瑜伽可以降低血压和心率。瑜伽可以增加心率变异性（HRV），并减轻适应过度的健康后果。呼吸控制可以提高肺活量。瑜伽可以改善肌肉骨骼的柔韧性，并增强持续等长肌肉收缩的能力。瑜伽已被证明是治疗抑郁症和焦虑症的药物治疗的有效辅助手段。它是精神分析和认知行为疗法的一种很有前途的替代方法。瑜伽可以预防生活方式疾病。
瑜伽是安全且经济实惠的。由于其多种促进健康、预防疾病、治疗和康复的作用，需要加强瑜伽在现代医学中的应用。
