Yoga lights up brain, helps stay alert & healthy: Scientific study

MUMBAI: Yoga, which recently trended on social media thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi sharing his exercise regimen, virtually lights up the brain, according to a city pulmonologist’s scientific study on why yoga’s practitioners stay alert and healthy.

Using specialised brain scans and psychological tests, the study, which comes ahead of International Day of Yoga on June 21, claimed that a type of yoga could control the brain’s theta waves whose increase is associated with depression. The study’s principal investigator, Dr Alpa Dalal, head of pulmonary medicine at Jupiter Hospital in Thane, said this is possibly the first-ever study on the neurobiology of kriya yoga, a form of yoga that focuses on breathing and meditation.

Her study found increased activity in the brain's ‘area 23’ or the cingulate gyrus after 48 days of kriya yoga. “Area 23 is the seat of awareness and usually becomes active when a person is coming out of anaesthesia or coma. When this area is active, the person is happier, more alert and can do better processing of self-relevant information and has better memory,” she added.

As a part of the study, 53 patients with no health problems were chosen and trained in kriya yoga. Not only did they undergo psychological testing to assess their anxiety and depression levels, they underwent brain scans using a specialized electroencephalogram machine (see box). The EEG showed the virtual lighting up of area 23, signifying that yoga helps at a neurobiological level, said the doctor.

Dr Dalal added that kriya yoga and meditation could be used to “maintain better neurological function” for the ageing population.

Concurring with the study’s findings, pscyhologist Dr Harish Shetty said yoga is a science that enhances health and improves the symptoms of many lifestyle illnesses across the globe. “Yoga works beautifully along with modern treatment methods across all age groups. Evidence to substantiate this has been proved by rigorous research in India,’’ he said, adding that people mistake asanas for yoga and should practice the “eight limbs of yoga”.

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Dr Sangeeta Ravat, who heads the neurology department of KEM Hospital in Parel, said many patients enquire if yoga would help them. “We don’t actively prescribe yoga, but people claim they get relief after yoga sessions,’’ she said. Yoga helps relaxation, thereby boosting blood and oxygen supply to cells.

Ravi Dixit of Kaivaladham Yoga Institute near Chowpatty said, “Yoga, the ancient heritage of India, has gripped the world holistically. The simple reason for this is because it helps the practitioner physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, provided it is practised correctly.”