Health-related benefits and adverse events associated with yoga classes among participants..., 2021, Oka et al

Full title: Health-related benefits and adverse events associated with yoga classes among participants that are healthy, in poor health, or with chronic diseases

Abstract

Background
Our previous study demonstrated that 42% of yoga class participants in Japan had chronic diseases requiring medication. This raises the question as to whether those with chronic diseases would benefit from practicing yoga or if they are at higher risk for specific adverse events compared to healthy individuals receiving the same instruction.

Methods
To address these questions, 328 adults who started practicing yoga for the first time were asked to complete the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 8, standard version (SF-8™) and to record any adverse events on the first day of the yoga class and again three months later. The participants consisted of three groups: a healthy (H) group (n = 70), a poor health (PH) group (n = 117), and a chronic disease (CD) group (n = 141). The degree of subjective symptoms was also compared between the pre- and post-intervention period in the PH and CD groups.

Results
Typically, yoga classes were held once a week for 60–90 min. The programs included asanas, pranayamas, meditation, isometric yoga, and sukshma vyayama. In the PH and CD groups, the POMS tension-anxiety and fatigue scores decreased and the vigor score increased significantly after the first class. Furthermore, PSS scores decreased and the SF-8™ scores increased significantly three months later. The degree of subjective symptoms such as easy fatigability, shoulder stiffness, and insomnia also decreased over three months. Individuals in these groups experienced more frequent adverse events than those in the H group. The PH and CD groups also experienced a greater variety of symptoms, including psychological ones, not reported by the H group. Adverse events were not so serious that participants stopped practicing yoga during the class. About 60% of all participants were highly satisfied with participating in yoga classes.

Conclusions
If yoga classes are conducted with attention to possible adverse events, yoga practice in a yoga studio may have beneficial effects for people with functional somatic symptoms and chronic diseases, as well as healthy participants. These benefits include reductions in perceived stress and uncomfortable symptoms as well as improved mood and quality of life.

Open access, https://bpsmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13030-021-00216-z

 

Further quote, my bolding:

Introduction

Today, yoga is widely practiced to promote health and improve psychological well-being. A considerable number of studies have demonstrated that yoga has health-related benefits in healthy individuals, such as reductions of negative affect, perceived stress, and subjective somatic symptoms, as well as improvement in health-related quality of life [1,2,3]. Furthermore, cumulative studies have suggested that yoga also has beneficial effects for patients with stress-related diseases such as depressive disorders [4, 5] and those with chronic illnesses such as breast cancer [6,7,8] and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome [9,10,11,12,13].

In contrast, adverse events during yoga practice have also been highlighted [14, 15].

 

Do they realise many people with ME would like to do yoga classes but find any form of exercise impossible?