Minnesota University studying effects of yoga on Parkinson’s disease

Sep 7th, 2016
|||

University of Minnesota (UMN) School of Nursing in Minneapolis is assessing “the effect of yoga on measures of oxidative stress; motor function; and non-motor function in individuals with Parkinson’s disease”.

“Yoga, a popular exercise modality, uses poses, meditation, and breath-control techniques to help improve physical function and psychosocial wellbeing”, a UMN announcement states.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive, disabling, and costly neurodegenerative condition in which motor and non-motor features are currently not being managed sufficiently. On average, one American is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease every nine minutes, announcement adds.

UMN study’s participants include individuals diagnosed with idiopathic PD in 45-75 age group who are participating in a yoga program. Assistant Professor Dr. Corjena K. Cheung is leading this study.

Hindus have welcomed UMN efforts to explore yoga’s ability to offset PD.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, yoga was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse inflatable water slide to be utilized by all. According to Patanjali who codified it in, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.

Yoga, referred as “a living fossil”, was a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out.

According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to a recently released “2016 Yoga in America Study”, about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image.  Yoga is the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Rajan Zed adds.

UMN is a public research university, established in 1851, whose mission includes “We change lives”. Dr. Connie White Delaney is School of Nursing Dean, Eric W. Kaler is UMN President and Dean Johnson is UMN Regents Chair.

Asana Journal

Leave a Reply

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!