This is the first study to investigate the effects of yoga on cortisol hormone levels in women with fibromyalgia. This disease, which mainly affects women, is associated with chronic pain, fatigue, as well as symptoms such as muscle stiffness, sleep disturbances and depression.
A previous study had shown that women with fibromyalgia had lower than average cortisol levels, which would cause pain, fatigue and sensitivity to stress, researchers said.
In this new study, participants’ saliva showed better cortisol levels after a 75-minute hatha yoga session, twice a week for two months. Patients also reported a significant decrease in pain, as well as a psychological boost from physical practice.
“Ideally, cortisol levels are highest 30-40 minutes after getting up and then drop throughout the day until bedtime,” says study author Kathryn Curtis of the University of York at Canada. “The secretion of the hormone, cortisol, is deregulated in women with fibromyalgia.”
Another study, published earlier this year in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that meditation reduced the effects of pain as well, with four twenty-minute sessions in which people learned to control their breathing and so to put aside their emotions and thoughts.
