Can Yoga Help to Manage the Symptoms of Thyroid Diseases?

Thyroid diseases (TD) involve impaired secretion of thyroid hormones and are more prevalent in women. Risk factors include older age, family history of thyroid disease, hypertension, obesity, pregnancy, and diabetes. Psychological manifestations such as depression and mania are closely associated with TD, necessitating a mind-body-based complementary approach like Yoga. To examine the effectiveness of Yoga on the physiological and psychological symptoms of TD. A systematic search was conducted on three databases - PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science in September 2023 using the keywords (Yoga AND Thyroid Disease, Yoga AND Thyroid Disorder, Yoga AND Thyroid Disorders, etc.,) and 39 results were identified while 34 results were obtained through other sources, hence 73 in total. After removing ten duplicates, and 6 nonrelevant studies, 57 were screened. Finally, 13 studies were selected for the qualitative analysis after the inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied. 9 of 13 studies involving 389 thyroid patients focused on hypothyroidism cases only. Most common Yoga practices were suryanamaskara, bhujangasana, matsyasana, sarvangasana, halasana, ujjayi pranayama, anulomvilom/nadishodhana, bhastrika pranayama, bhramari pranayama, kapalbhati, and jalandhara bandha. Studies revealed a trend toward balance in thyroid hormone, reduction in psychological symptoms such as stress, anxiety, and depression, and improvement in the quality of life of thyroid patients through Yoga. Yoga has shown beneficial effects in managing the symptoms of TD, especially in hypothyroidism management. However, more randomized controlled trials incorporating larger sample sizes are needed to establish the results. Furthermore, there remains a dearth of research on the efficacy of Yoga in the treatment of hyperthyroidism and other TD.