Yoga Practice Reduces Fibromyalgia Pain

Practicing yoga promotes relaxation and reduces the physical and psychological symptoms of chronic pain in women with fibromyalgia, a new study has found.

The condition, which predominantly affects women, is characterized by chronic pain and fatigue; common symptoms include muscle stiffness, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal discomfort, anxiety and depression.

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Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic health condition charecterized by widespread pain and stiffness in the muscles, joints and tendons. It is considered to be a co-morbid disorder.

Previous research has found that women with fibromyalgia have lower-than-average cortisol levels, which contribute to pain, fatigue and stress sensitivity.

Lead author, Kathryn Curtis, a PhD student in York's Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health and colleagues found that, participants' saliva revealed elevated levels of total cortisol following a program of 75 minutes of hatha yoga twice weekly over the course of eight weeks.

"Ideally, our cortisol levels peak about 30-40 minutes after we get up in the morning and decline throughout the day until we're ready to go to sleep," she said.

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"The secretion of the hormone, cortisol, is dysregulated in women with fibromyalgia."

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is produced and released by the adrenal gland and functions as a component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in response to stress.

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"Hatha yoga promotes physical relaxation by decreasing activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which lowers heart rate and increases breath volume. We believe this in turn has a positive effect on the HPA axis," says Curtis.

The study was published recently in the Journal of Pain Research.

Source-ANI