Even though I am lucky enough not to be afflicted with asthma, I have friends who suffer terribly from it. I absolutely hate watching when they have an attach, feeling helpless to do anything while they wheeze and cough and can't take a deep breath. It must be utterly terrifying to live with! But thanks to a new Cochrane Review (supplied by sciencedaily.com) they suggest that Yoga may indeed have a positive effect for those with asthma! Read on:
A new Cochrane Review summarizes the results of randomized trials and has found evidence that practicing yoga might be able to improve asthma quality of life and symptoms to some extent. However, researchers also warned that higher-quality studies with more participants would be needed to draw any firm conclusions about the effects of yoga.
These randomized trials consisted of 1,048 men and women who practiced Yoga while the researches examined their breathing. They still had the participants continue to use their typical asthma medications during these studies. So, what did they find?
Lead author, Dr Zuyao Yang from the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong commented, “Our findings suggest that yoga exercise may lead to small improvements in asthma quality of life and symptoms. However, it is unclear whether yoga has a consistent impact on lung function and we don't yet know if yoga can reduce people's medication usage, or if there are any side-effects of yoga for people with asthma.”
As you can see, Yoga yet again is showing promise as helping out another group of people to lessen their suffering, which I for one think is great news! My advice: Go ahead and try (or continue) Yoga – just remember to take your medication as needed – in the end, it definitely shouldn't hurt you and may even help! Win Win!
