For people with moderate to severe depression, one session of hot yoga per week was associated with a significantly greater reduction in symptoms, according to a clinical trial.
The Harvard Medical School findings, published in the journal Clinical Psychiatry, analyzed 80 participants with depression over 8 weeks.
80 patients were divided into two groups. One group was assigned at least two 90-minute hot yoga sessions per week, and the second group was placed on a waiting list. Although participants were instructed to attend at least two classes weekly, attending once a week was sufficient to reduce depression.
On average, people attended 10.3 classes over eight weeks. Researchers found that 44% of people in the hot yoga group said their depression scores were low enough that their condition was considered in remission. Two-thirds of the hot yoga group said they saw an overall reduction in their depression versus just 6.3% of the yoga waitlist group.
Developing new studies with the goal of determining the specific contribution of each component heat and yoga to the clinical effects we see in depression.
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