Key result
Yoga provides widespread physiological and psychological benefits, including reducing stress and inflammatory markers (IL-6, TNF-α, CRP), improving cognitive and cardiovascular function, and down-regulating the HPA axis.
Why the study?
Yoga is widely considered to improve psychological and physiological status, but a comprehensive review of its benefits and physiological basis in modern medicine is needed.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Yoga provides a wide array of psychological and physiological benefits and can serve as a beneficial adjunct in holistic medicine and chronic disease management, provided safety guidelines are followed.
Yoga is widely considered as a method to improve psychological and physiological status of humans. A review is done about the benefits of yoga from the literature in modern medicine. The common benefits are in physical fitness, mental state, attention, processing speed, memory, cognitive functions and executive functions. Studies have demonstrated the benefits of yoga in metabolic syndrome with reduction of blood sugar, cholesterol, and hypertension. Yoga reduces the age-related deterioration in cardiovascular functions, improves cardiac performance, and makes pulmonary function better. The physiologic mechanisms of yoga are reduction of stress and inflammation, increased gray matter volume, improved neural network flexibility, and reorganization of attentional network. Several studies showed that yogic practices down-regulate the hypothalamopituitary adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system. Recent clinical in vivo experiments suggests that yoga enhances inhibitory mediator gamma-aminobutyric acid and enhances peripheral oxytocin levels. Serotonin and melatonin levels are also increased.
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Ajaya Kumar Ayyappan Unnithan (2026) conducted a review in Various psychological, metabolic, cardiovascular, respiratory, and musculoskeletal conditions. Yoga (asana, pranayama, and dhyana) was evaluated. Yoga provides widespread physiological and psychological benefits, including reducing stress and inflammatory markers (IL-6, TNF-α, CRP), improving cognitive and cardiovascular function, and down-regulating the HPA axis.
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