In episode 12, Mariel Geron, a data analyst at Mount Sinai Hospital, discussed the complexity of the current obesity epidemic. She explained that sometimes knowledge about diet and exercise aren’t always enough, and we need to consider the many different factors that impact people’s food and activity choices. Mariel acknowledged that it can be difficult for people to find time and money to engage in physical activity regularly. Luckily, there are many short and inexpensive ways that people can move more, like watching YouTube exercise videos at home or participating in community programs. In episode 8 and episode 12, Cheryl Schlichte, Project Manager at Healthy Lee, explained different ways that she has been able support community members in moving their bodies more frequently for disease prevention and stress management.
Because I am lucky enough to have some time and money for exercise, yoga has been a weekly workout for me. I started practicing yoga more frequently after interviewing Melissa Chammas and Rosy McCann, both certified yoga instructors, for Connecting the Dots and doing more research on the practice for my Master’s classes at American University. When I was enrolled in Strategies for Weight Management, I wrote this short paper on how yoga can help people lose weight.
Yoga is a form of exercise that combines movement, strength activities, stretching, breathing, and mindfulness (Neumark-Sztainer, 2017, p. 905). Because of this multifaceted workout, yoga has been found to have cardiorespiratory benefits. Kanaya et al. (2014) discovered in their randomized trial that participants who practiced yoga for one year experienced an increase in HDL-cholesterol and decrease in Hemoglobin A1C (p. 409). Additionally, in Bernstein et al.’s (2013) review, they discovered that yoga helped people improve hypertension, dyslipidemia, and cardiorespiratory endurance (p. 34). Berstein et al. (2013) also found that when people participated in a program that included yoga and other lifestyle changes, participants experienced a regression in atherosclerosis, which is a disease that impacts the blood vessels (p. 34). Because yoga involves strength exercises and stretching, it can benefit the musculoskeletal system. Bernstein et al. (2013) concluded from their review that yoga improves flexibility, joint pain, and back pain (p. 34).
Along with all of these health benefits, yoga has also been found to help people lose weight and/or maintain weight. Kanaya et al. (2014) found that over the course of one year, participants in both the yoga and stretching groups experienced weight loss and reduced waist circumference (p. 409). Jafarirad et al. (2020) also found that after only eight weeks, participants who practiced yoga and followed an energy-restricted diet lost weight and decreased their waist circumference (p. 4). Participants also experienced a significant increase in their resting metabolic rate (RMR) (Jafarirad et al., 2020, p. 4). Jafarirad et al. (2020) wrote that they believed yoga improved participants’ RMR because yoga engaged the muscles, heart, and lungs (p. 4). Last, Bernstein et al. (2013) and Neumark-Sztainer et al. (2017) concluded that people who practiced yoga over a long period of time (five or more years) had lower body mass index than people who did not practice yoga (p. 34; p. 910).
While yoga may have many health benefits and aid in weight loss and management, it is important to note that the majority of the participants in the studies mentioned were women. More studies involving men practicing yoga are necessary to determine if yoga could have the similar benefits. Additionally, in many of the studies mentioned, participants engaged in yoga and made dietary changes. Therefore, people might experience the best results from yoga when eating a balanced, healthy diet.
If you are looking for help making dietary changes along with incorporating yoga into your daily routine, make sure you check out my 7 Day Meal Plan. The meal plan includes delicious and nutrient-dense breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for 7 days!
References
Bernstein, A. M., Bar, J., Ehrman, J. P., Golubic, M., & Roizen, M. F. (2013). Yoga in the management of overweight and obesity. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 8(1), 33–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1559827613492097
Jafarirad, S., Yazdanparast, F., Borazjani, F., Haghighizadeh, M. H., & Jahanshahi, A. (2020). Comparing between the effect of energy-restricted diet and yoga on the resting metabolic rate, anthropometric indices, and serum adipokine levels in overweight and obese staff women. Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 25(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.4103/jrms.jrms_787_19
Kanaya, A. M., Araneta, M. R., Pawlowsky, S. B., Barrett-Connor, E., Grady, D., Vittinghoff, E., Schembri, M., Chang, A., Carrion-Petersen, M. L., Coggins, T., Tanori, D., Armas, J. M., & Cole, R. J. (2014). Restorative yoga and metabolic risk factors: The practicing restorative yoga vs. stretching for the metabolic syndrome (PRYSMS) randomized trial. Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications, 28(3), 406–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2013.12.001
Neumark-Sztainer, D., MacLehose, R. F., Watts, A. W., Eisenberg, M. E., Laska, M. N., & Larson, N. (2017). How is the practice of yoga related to weight status? population-based findings from Project EAT-IV. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 14(12), 905–912. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2016-0608
