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Yoga and Your Over-All Health

by Elizabeth Eickmann

August, 2024

I have a fascination with the parts of yoga that can be understood scientifically. More and more, doctors and scientists are researching the health benefits of yoga.

How were yogis of ancient times able to discern the truths about yogic practices without the benefit of microscopes, and MRI machines, and blind studies? While I’ll never know precisely how certain things came to be, I have learned that we can validate much of these practices through modern techniques.

Recently I read a book called Science of Yoga, by Ann Swanson, and I brought tidbits of the book into my lessons at the beginning of the class. It bears noting that the health benefits that we feel following our practice are much more than a placebo. There is real proof that the benefits are great, and affect every system in the body.

One of the things that has been noted is that the lifespan of yoga practitioners is often longer than average.  We can attribute that to more than doing asanas. Choosing to eat an ahimsa diet, taking time to meditate, exercise, and rest, along with living within ethical restraints, amounts to a more stable individual. Recently, studies confirmed that yoga students generally had longer telomeres (the tips on the ends of our chromosomes that protect the chromosome from being damaged.) Telomeres regularly shorten in length over the course of one’s life. Once they are worn down, alterations can happen in the chromosomes affecting overall health. So, on a very cellular level, our health can be positively affected by practicing a yogic lifestyle.

Another way in which yoga helps us is our bones are strengthened through the pressures of stress that we place on them. Loren Fishman, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Columbia Medical School, wrote that the belief that we do not build bones late in life had been challenged. In a 2016 study, adults over age 60 with osteoporosis or osteopenia began releasing osteoblasts after practicing an easy yoga sequence 4 times a week. Additionally, synovial fluid can change its texture from non-use and aging. Those who are sedentary often have fluid that is thin and chunky. Healthy synovial fluid is non-Newtonian, (like oobleck.) By regular movement and training, the fluid remains or regains this property to be fluid under slow movement and thicken under impact. Miraculous!

Our muscles also benefit from yoga practice. Healthy muscles have a lattice structure in the connective tissue. This structure can break down from disuse or mis-use/injury.   Research has confirmed that stretching and strengthening our muscle tissue can help us retain and regain that lattice structure. Studies show that yoga practitioners have better lattice structure in their fascia. Other studies have confirmed that doing vinyasa can improve deadlift strength by 13% and helped older adults maintain muscle mass.

Our nervous system is full of a variety of chemicals. Meditation and breathing practices along with lifestyle choices improve the chemistry of practitioners, improving neuroplasticity. A medical study conducted at the beginning and end of a yoga retreat resulted in a 300% increase in the protein  Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factors (BDNF.) BDNF is thought to support the growth and survival of neurons. Low levels of BDNF have been associated with depression, anxiety, Alzheimers, Huntington’s Disease, and Parkinson’s. Science also reveals that your breath is an access point for controlling your nervous system as baroreceptors in our necks send signals to the brain. When we are breathing quickly our brain prepares muscles for a sympathetic response, while breathing slowly signals readiness to enter rest-and-digest mode.

Further, our endocrine system is a thermostat which helps our bodies know when to release various hormones and chemicals, like insulin, salts, calcium, fertility hormones, and digestive fluids. Studies of the endocrine system show that regular yoga reduces the allostatic load, or in other words, helps us maintain hormonal equilibrium while under stress. Regulation of our allostatic load can help prevent diabetes or help diabetics reduce the amount of medication needed to maintain a healthy body. Studies also indicate that deep relaxation may allow women struggling to conceive to have a higher success rate with in-vitro fertilization (IVF.)

Additionally, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and cardiovascular resilience are all improved from regular yoga practice. Yoga assists the flow of lymph fluids helping us to reduce illness caused by foreign bodies and by chronic inflammation. And, it has been discovered that the nervous system and gut health are inter-related. Peristalsis is encouraged by relaxation and physical movement.

Aside from individual health changes, yoga can help the environment by encouraging us to follow an ahimsa diet. Reduction of meat in the diet can reduce animal suffering while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

So, we have a great deal of scientific process validating what scholars thousands of years ago were able to learn and share. Yoga has the benefit of being tested over time, as well as having the backing of modern technology. Thankfully, this gives us a firm foundation to root from and spring up a vital practice. Leaning on the wisdom and learning from many ancient and modern scholars, I can feel secure in our teachings, and only hope that I can live up to the standards already set.

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Resources

Science of Yoga, Swanson, Ann, p. 21, Random House 2019

Yoga Journal Special Edition 6/17/2022, Risher, Brittany

2013 Study published in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research and Journal of Aging and Physical Activity

2016 Study published in Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation.

2017 Study published in the journal of Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity.

2018 Applied Nursing Research