Previous studies have suggested that yoga helps to improve stress-related nervous system imbalances. Chris Streeter, from Boston University School of Medicine (Massachusetts, USA), and colleagues submit a neurophysiological theory of how yoga affects the nervous system. It is hypothesized that stress causes an imbalance in the autonomic nervous system (parasympathetic under-activity and sympathetic over-activity) as well as under-activity of the inhibitory neurotransmitter, gamma amino-butyric acid (GABA). Low GABA activity occurs in anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, epilepsy, and chronic pain. The team advances a theory, based on neurophysiology and neuroanatomy, to understand how yoga may be effective in treating patients with stress-related psychological and medical conditions such as depression, anxiety, high blood pressure and cardiac disease. Submitting that: “the decreased [parasympathetic nervous system] and GABAergic activity that underlies stress-related disorders can be corrected by yoga practices resulting in amelioration of disease symptoms.,” the study authors conclude that: “This has far-reaching implications for the integration of yoga-based practices in the treatment of a broad array of disorders exacerbated by stress.”
How Yoga Eases Stress

New insights in to the biological pathway by which yoga may be effective for stress-related medical conditions including depression, anxiety, high blood pressure and cardiac disease.
C.C. Streeter, P.L. Gerbarg, R.B. Saper, D.A. Ciraulo, R.P. Brown. “Effects of yoga on the autonomic nervous system, gamma-aminobutyric-acid, and allostasis in epilepsy, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.” Medical Hypotheses, 24 February 2012.
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