Exercise to beat depression highlighted by scientists can be prescribed by GPs

23 October 2023 , 14:02

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'Hot yoga' could be prescribed for depression on the NHS (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Just one yoga session a week can tackle depression symptoms and could be prescribed by GPs, scientists say.

The clinical trial, involving 80 adults with moderate-to-severe depression, found 44 percent of those in the yoga groups achieved lowered symptom scores so that their depression was considered in remission. Participants were split into two groups, one of whom were offered the traditional exercise performed under hot and humid conditions. The other half were told they were on a “waiting list”.

So-called “hot yoga” – favoured by celebrities including Meghan Markle and Drew Barrymore – seeks to replicate the heat and humidity of India, where forms of yoga originated. Study lead Dr Maren Nyer, of Harvard Medical School in the US, said: "Yoga and heat-based interventions could potentially change the course for treatment for patients with depression by providing a non-medication-based approach with additional physical benefits as a bonus."

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The study comes amid a current shift in the NHS towards "social prescribing" and attempts to avoid leaving patients permanently reliant on antidepressant drugs. During the eight-week trial half of participants received 90-minute sessions of Bikram yoga practised in 105 F (40.5C). They attended an average of 10.3 classes over eight weeks.

After eight weeks, the yoga participants had a significantly greater reduction in depressive symptoms than waitlisted participants. The research team also found that 59 percent of the yoga participants had a 50 percent or greater decrease in symptoms, compared with 6.3% of the waitlist participants.

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And 44 percent in the yoga group achieved such low scores that their depression was considered in remission, compared with 6.3% in the waitlist arm. The researchers said that depressive symptoms were reduced even in participants who received only half of the prescribed yoga "dose" – suggesting that hot yoga sessions just once a week could be beneficial.

The study, published in the journal of Clinical Psychiatry, concluded that hot yoga could be a "viable treatment option" for depressed patients. Dr Nyer added: "We are currently developing new studies with the goal of determining the specific contributions of each element -heat and yoga - to the clinical effects we have observed in depression."

Co-author Dr David Mischoulon, of Massachusetts General Hospital, added: "Future research is needed to compare heated to non-heated yoga for depression to explore whether heat has benefits over and above that of yoga for the treatment of depression."‌

Martin Bagot