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Stress, Inflammation, and Yoga Practice
Open accessAbstract
Objective: To address the mechanisms underlying hatha yoga’s potential stress-reduction benefits, we compared inflammatory and endocrine responses of novice and expert yoga practitioners before, during, and after a restorative hatha yoga session, as well as in two control conditions. Stressors before each of the three conditions provided data on the extent to which yoga speeded an individual’s physiological recovery. Methods: A total of 50 healthy women (mean age, 41.32 years; range, 30–65 years), 25 novices and 25 experts, were exposed to each of the conditions (yoga, movement control, and passive-video control) during three separate visits. Results: The yoga session boosted participants’ positive affect compared with the control conditions, but no overall differences in inflammatory or endocrine responses were unique to the yoga session. Importantly, even though novices and experts did not differ on key dimensions, including age, abdominal adiposity, and cardiorespiratory fitness, novices’ serum interleukin (IL)-6 levels were 41% higher than those of experts across sessions, and the odds of a novice having detectable C-reactive protein (CRP) were 4.75 times as high as that of an expert. Differences in stress responses between experts and novices provided one plausible mechanism for their divergent serum IL-6 data; experts produced less lipopolysaccharide-stimulated IL-6 in response to the stressor than novices, and IL-6 promotes CRP production. Conclusion: The ability to minimize inflammatory responses to stressful encounters influences the burden that stressors place on an individual. If yoga dampens or limits stress-related changes, then regular practice could have substantial health benefits. CRC = Clinical Research Center; CRP = C-reactive protein; HR = heart rate; hsCRP = high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; IL = interleukin; LPS = lipopolysaccharide; MASQ = Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire; PANAS = Positive and Negative Affect Scale; PBLs = peripheral blood leukocytes; sIL-6r = soluble IL-6 receptor; TEWL = transepidermal water loss; TNF = tumor necrosis factor; JOURNAL/psme/04.03/00006842-201002000-00002/OV0312/v/2021-02-12T104333Z/r/image-pngo2 max = maximum oxygen consumption.
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“Although the yoga intervention did not impact inflammatory activity, novices' IL-6 levels were 41% higher than those of experts across the sessions”
From From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: A social signal transduction theory of depression. (2014) · cites this paper as Kiecolt-Glaser, Christian, et al., 2010
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Metadata
- Authors
- Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Christian, L., Preston, H., Houts, C. R., Malarkey, W. B., Emery, C. F., & Glaser, R.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Glaser, Ronald
- Venue
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Published
- 2010-02
- Volume
- 72
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 113-121
- ISSN
- 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2820143
- OpenAlex
- W2165834433
- Cited by
- 327
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 8.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute (P30CA016058)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (T32AI055411)
- National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR025755, M01RR000034)
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R21AT002971)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology (medical) › Exercise and Physiological Responses
- Keywords
- hatha yoga, stress reduction, inflammation, interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, physiological recovery, endocrine response, positive affect, soluble IL-6 receptor, women, restorative yoga, stress response mechanisms, mood and anxiety symptoms, transepidermal water loss
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Physiological, Adult, Aged, Complementary Therapies, C-Reactive Protein, Catecholamines, Cold Temperature, Female, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Inflammation, Middle Aged, Motor Activity, Physical Fitness, Psychoneuroimmunology, Stress, Psychological, Water Loss, Insensible, Yoga, Interleukin-6, Meditation
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