Hot yoga may help relieve symptoms of depression and improve the well-being of its practitioners, according to a new Harvard study.
- Hot yoga is a form of yoga that is practiced in a hot, humid room.
- A new study claims that doing hot yoga at least once a week helps reduce symptoms of depression.
- New experiments will be carried out to better understand the link discovered between hot yoga and the reduction of signs of depression.
Hot Yoga involves doing yoga in a hot, humid environment. And this activity would not only promote profuse sweating and muscle relaxation, it would also help fight the symptoms of depression, according to a Harvard study Medical School.
The researchers came to this conclusion after examining the performance of 80 participants with depression over an eight-week period. Their results were published in the journal Journal of Clinical PsychiatryOctober 23, 2023.
Yoga hot : one session per week helps fight depression
As part of this experiment, the participants were divided into two groups. Members of the first group were offered two 90-minute hot yoga sessions each week, while members of the second did not participate in these sessions. Over the eight weeks of observation, the volunteers participated in an average of 10.3 lessons.
Researchers found that 44 percent of people who did hot yoga had depression scores so low that their condition was considered “in remission.” Two-thirds of session participants said they saw a reduction in their depressive symptoms overall, compared to only 6.3% of those who did not take hot yoga classes.
After analyzing these data, the authors conclude: “approximately 1 hot yoga session per week was associated with a significantly greater reduction in depressive symptoms compared to the control group.”
Depression: better understanding the effect of heat
Questioned by the American newspaper New York Postthe lead author of the study, the dr. Maren Nyerestimate that “Yoga and heat-based interventions could potentially change the course of treatment for patients with depression by providing a non-drug-based approach with added physical benefits as a bonus.”
Although the results are promising, the scientist specifies that additional research is still needed to better understand the action of hot yoga on mental health and to be able to recommend physical activities in a hot environment as an element of treatment for depression.
