On the eve of 2nd International yoga day, the world is excited about yoga. Current international yoga research is in its thrilling state. Yoga is occupying all most every endeavour of human well-being. Across the world all the top research institutes are currently involved in yoga research. Some of them are very serious and deeply involved and some of them are just routine academic exercise. However, all of them are contributing towards the growth of human well-being. The purpose of this article is to review the status of current yoga research.
Main focus areas of yoga research
Yoga is an ancient tradition that incorporates different techniques such as physical postures (asanas), controlled breathing (pranayamas), deep relaxation (yoganidra), and meditation. A growing body of research evidence suggests that yoga benefits physical and mental health via down-regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS).
The current trend of yoga research can be classified into the following seven groups:
1. The first group is the traditional, routine yoga research, which are mainly focused on weight-loss, back pain reduction and stress control.
2. The second group of yoga research is cardiovascular health, sleep control, chronic pain control, diabetes control, immunity boosting and lifespan increase.
3. The third research trend is the impact of yoga on brain fitness.
4. The fourth group of yoga research is focused for the well-being of school children, and military person.
5. The fifth group of yoga research is focused on the use of smartphones and wearable sensor devices for getting the benefits of yoga.
6. The sixth group of yoga research is the area that explores the impact of yoga on personality and creativity.
7. There are other works which explores the comparative analysis of different yoga techniques.
Here are some more details of the yoga research:
1. Yoga to increase lifespan
During our lifetime our cells continuously divide to produce new cells to help grow, repair and rejuvenate our bodies. Cellular ageing occurs when this division starts to slow down, and finally cells stop dividing altogether. One of the determinants of a cell’s lifespan is the telomere, which is a repetitive DNA region found at the end of chromosomes. There are list of genes that are directly related to increase lifespan. There are ways by which you can increase your life span.
Every time a cell divides, its telomeres get shorter, unless an enzyme called telomerase builds them back up. When telomeres get too short, a cell can no longer replicate, and ultimately dies. The length of telomeres has become a marker to predict the state of cellular ageing. Studies have linked higher levels of stress with lower telomerase activity and shorter telomeres: Yoga has been proven to reduce stress, so if higher stress levels are linked to decreased telomerase activity, one can see why yoga might increase telomerase activity as it reduces stress.
2. Yoga with smartphones and wearable sensor devices.
Smartphones and wearable sensor devices are relatively new discipline and recently a number of commercial yoga helping systems have been designed based on this approach. It has enormous scope in future.
Yoga with Smartphones and Wearable Sensor Devices for Stress Control
3. Yoga for cardiovascular health
The field of yoga for cardiovascular health is an interdisciplinary area of research. A through study of yoga for cardiovascular health requires understanding of medicine, cardiology, neurophysiology and many other fields.
4. Yoga for Weight loss
Yoga poses can reduce weight loss. Yoga poses work on endocrine glands, improve blood circulation and improve body’s metabolism.
5. Yoga to increase Metabolism and Decrease Obesity
Yoga and healthy lifestyle are the keys to increase metabolism and decrease Obesity. Metabolism is essential for the maintenance of healthy life. Yoga exercise, fasting and other healthy lifestyle for higher metabolism, optimum weight loss, and obesity control.
6. Yoga for lowering blood sugar and bad cholesterol
The two facts: yoga for blood sugar control and yoga to reduce the bad cholesterol are astonishing: The foundation of these research have been laid in the late nineties and up till now considerable progress has been done.
Five Home Remedies for Lowering Blood Sugar, Triglycerides and Cholesterol
7. Yoga to boost immunity
8. Yoga to improve immune system through lymph drainage
10. Yoga for Stress control