Hot yoga may ease symptoms of depression

Depression (feeling low for at least two weeks and losing interest or enjoyment in most activities) can be debilitating. Each year, more than 8% of adults in the United States experience major depression. This condition can affect people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and genders.

Antidepressants can help some patients with depression feel better. But they don’t work for everyone. Also, some people cannot tolerate side effects such as weight gain, sleep problems, and fatigue. Psychotherapy can relieve depression, but it can be difficult to access. Alternative approaches to alleviating symptoms of depression are desperately needed.

A small study suggests that yoga, which combines physical activity and mind-body awareness, may have promise in treating depression. Preliminary research also suggests that warming the body, called whole-body hyperthermia, may provide some relief from symptoms of depression.

In a new NIH-funded pilot study, a research team led by Dr. Maren Nair of Massachusetts General Hospital looked at the combination of yoga and heat, or hot yoga. Hot yoga sessions take place in a room with high temperatures (105 degrees Fahrenheit). Researchers evaluated whether patients with major depression could maintain a regular hot yoga practice for eight weeks. They also looked at the potential effects of hot yoga on symptoms of depression. Their results will be published on October 23, 2023. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

The team recruited 80 people (82% female, 31% non-white) with moderate to severe depression from the surrounding community. Participants were allowed to continue any treatment they had already begun, including antidepressants, for the duration of the study.

After an initial assessment, participants were randomly assigned to receive at least two hot yoga sessions per week for eight weeks or to a waiting list as a control group. (The control group was offered a hot yoga session after an 8-week waiting period.) Depressive symptoms before, during, and after the study were scored using established methods. .

Demographics such as age, gender, and use of additional treatments did not differ between the two groups. Thirty-three people in the hot yoga group completed at least one yoga session and were included in the analysis. However, only 12 (36%) of the hot yoga groups attended classes with 12 or more people. Thirty-two people in the control group participated in at least one of his follow-up assessments.

At the end of eight weeks, the depression scores of the 16 people in the hot yoga group were reduced by more than half, indicating a significant reduction in depression. Only two people in the control group experienced similar reductions in depression symptoms. Twelve people in the hot yoga group lowered their scores enough to be considered in remission from depression compared to two people in the control group.

These improvements were seen even though participants in the yoga group attended just over one class per week on average, compared to a minimum of two classes per week. .

“We are currently developing a new study aimed at determining the specific contribution of each component (heat and yoga) to the clinical effects observed in depression,” says Nair.

Larger clinical trials are also needed to compare hot yoga with other active treatments for depression. And further research is needed to understand which groups of depressed patients benefit most from such physically demanding interventions.

—Written by Sharon Reynolds