How Yoga Courses In Melbourne Can Help With Anxiety and Depression

Yoga for anxiety and depression

As more people sign up for yoga courses in Melbourne, the mental benefits of the practice have been noted on top of its physical benefits as a form of exercise. In fact, the effects of yoga with regard to helping people cope with anxiety and depression has been reported that studies have been made to understand exactly how stretching, balancing, and controlled breathing can have a positive effect on one's mental and emotional well-being.

Supported by science

A study from Boston University published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine concludes that doing yoga at least twice a week helps ease depression symptoms. The study was conducted on people with clinical depression from the ages 18 to 64 and who were either taking antidepressants for at least three months or not taking anything at all. The participants were divided into two groups. One group took three 90-minute group yoga classes three times a week and a 30-minute at home practice four times a week. The other group took the 90-minute yoga class twice a week and the home practice three times a week. After three months, both groups had lowered their depression-screening scores by at least 50%, with the first group exhibiting much lower scores than the second group.

In another study, the University of Utah studied yoga's effect on stress by measuring participants' responses to pain. The study notes that participants who exhibited poorly regulated stress response have more sensitivity to pain. The participants who practiced yoga showed the highest tolerance to pain, underscoring how techniques learned through yoga helps a person regulate their responses to pain and stress.

How yoga manages anxiety and depression

So how does the physical practice of yoga where one performs a sequence of postures in coordination with controlling their breathing result in being able to deal better with anxiety and depression?

It turns out that in doing the postures while managing the breath, the body's serotonin and endorphin levels are balanced out, as well as activating genes that increase neurochemicals responsible for toning down the brain and body's stress response. As doing yoga modulates our stress responses - indicated by reduced heart rate and lowered blood pressure in stressful situations - one appears to be able to respond to stress better. Equipped with better stress management through yoga, someone with anxiety and depression is able to cope better when faced situations that would trigger their symptoms.

Yoga vs medication

The Boston University study also reports that doing yoga has fewer side effects than mood-altering drugs. This means that those who haven not responded well to medication could try out an alternative form of treatment such as yoga in addition to therapy.

With a regular yoga routine of at least three times a week, it is possible for someone with depression to improve their well-being by being equipped to manage their symptoms better. In fact, some people find yoga so effective that they deepened their practice and joined a Yoga instructor training with the intention of helping others with the same condition.

Nathan Aron is a fitness trainer, who writes for many online journals and portals that are related to fitness classes.