Yoga Can Help Prevent Diabetes (Type 2)

A new study by McDermott et al. was carried out to see if yoga could be effective at preventing type 2 diabetes in those who presented risk factors. The participants were randomly split into 2 groups: the yoga group and a walking group. The participants either had to attend a yoga class or complete monitored walking 3-6 times a week over an 8 week period.

Over the course of the study, there were significant reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, anxiety, depression, negative affect and perceived stress in both the yoga intervention and walking control groups but the yoga participants had significantly greater reductions in weight, waist circumference and BMI.

This study proves that yoga can reduce weight-related type 2 diabetes risk factors, which is interesting given that previous research has generally not shown yoga to be of benefit in weight control.