A new research study from Canada finds that the practice of yoga reduces the physical and psychological symptoms of chronic pain in women suffering from fibromyalgia.
The study, from York University, examined the effects of yoga on cortisol levels in women with fibromyalgia. The disease is marked by often debilitating
chronic pain, fatigue, anxiety, depression and sleep disturbances.
"Ideally, our cortisol levels peak about 30 to 40 minutes after we get up in the morning and decline throughout the day until we're ready to go to sleep," said Kathryn Curtis, the lead author of the research study. "The secretion of the hormone, cortisol, is dysregulated in women with fibromyalgia."
Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is made and released in the body by the adrenal gland. It works as part of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in response to external stress.
"Hatha yoga promotes physical relaxation by decreasing activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which lowers heart rate and increases breath volume. We believe this, in turn, has a positive effect on the HPA axis. Yoga promotes this concept - that we are not our bodies, our experiences, or our pain. This is extremely useful in the
management of pain."
It is hoped that the results of research studies like this one will help understand how chronic pain could be managed without the introduction of potentially addictive
opioid drugs
