None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Physical inactivity is one of the main causes of major noncommunicable diseases and contributes substantially to the global burden of disease, death and disability. To reverse the trend towards inactivity, it is important to promote physical activities with low participation barrier and numerous benefits to encourage sedentary individuals to become physically active. Yoga has been increasingly popular and practiced as a low-to-moderate intensity physical activity in recent years. Yoga originated in India more than 5000 years ago and its principle is to achieve the integration of body, mind, and spirit. Growing evidence suggests the beneficial effects of Hatha yoga on various ailments, yet potential long-term effects of yoga on health are under-researched. Interpretation of and comparisons across many existing studies are limited by methodological problems. The current study aims to investigate the effects of yoga on physical and mental health in individuals with and without metabolic syndrome.
Interventions
The 12-week hatha yoga program:
This program will consist of 12 weekly classes of one hour duration. All classes will be taught by the same instructor, who has three years of hatha yoga instructing experience. Sixty yogic poses and breathing commonly taught in fitness centres and private yoga studios will be instructed and practiced throughout the program. Modification of some poses will be suggested if subjects have limitations in their flexibility. Props such as mats and blocks will be used.
The 12-week hatha yoga program: This program will consist of 12 weekly classes of one hour duration. All classes will be taught by the same instructor, who has three years of hatha yoga instructing experience. Sixty yogic poses and breathing commonly taught in fitness centres and private yoga studios will be instructed and practiced throughout the program. Modification of some poses will be suggested if subjects have limitations in their flexibility. Props such as mats and blocks will be used. Adherence will be documented via attendance records recorded by the yoga teacher at each yoga intervention session. Each participant will be required to fill in “Yoga Self-Practice Weekly Record Sheet” which recorded the duration of self-practice. The completed sheets will be collected in the lesson of the following week, except the sheet recorded the twelfth week will be collected in post intervention assessment session. Apart from the yoga program, the yoga participants will be advised to maintain their routine activities and not to begin other exercise or mind-body program during the course of the study.
Sponsors
Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
For all eligible participants, they should be 1) Chinese national and able to communicate in Cantonese 2) aged 18 or above 3) physically and mentally capable of practicing yoga safely The current study will include both participants with and without metabolic syndrome. The researcher will categorize the participants into either with metabolic syndrome group or without metabolic syndrome group based on the WC, blood pressure, TG, HDL-C, and FBG at baseline assessment of the participants. Participants will be categorized participants to metabolic syndrome group if they meet at least three of the revised NCEP-ATP III clinical diagnosis criteria for Asian populations (Grundy et al., 2005): 1) Waist circumference (WC): greater than or equal to 90 cm in men; greater than or equal to 80 cm in women 2) Triglyceride (TG): greater than or equal to 150 mg/dL or on drug treatment for elevated TG 3) High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C): less than 40 mg/dL in men, less than 50 mg/dL in women or on drug treatment for reduced HDL-C 4) Systolic blood pressure (SBP): greater than or equal to 130 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) greater than or equal to 85 mmHg or on antihypertensive drug treatment in a patient with a history of hypertension 5) Fasting blood glucose (FBG): greater than 110 mg/dL or on drug treatment for elevated glucose For those who do not meet at least 3 of the above criteria, they will be categorized in a non-metabolic syndrome group.
Exclusion criteria
1) Regular participation of (> 1/week) yoga for last 3 months or concurrent use of yoga, Qigong or meditation 2) Pregnancy or breast feeding 3) Anticipate any planned life stressors (moving, divorce, changing job, etc.), shift work, or transcontinental travel during the intervention 4) Undergo any other concurrent nonpharmacological treatment of MetSyn 5) Chronic illnesses: cancer, kidney disease, cirrhosis, rheumatologic diseases, or chronic inflections 6) Current major psychiatric illnesses, cognitive impairment, or substance abuse 7) Concurrent enrollment in any other studies, experimental therapies, or blinded treatments
Outcome results
None listed