Fix Your Health with Yoga

Whatever ails you, odds are you can help heal it with yoga. It has a well-earned reputation as a sure-fire stress reducer (particularly when you combine it with meditation). Now, new studies show that a simple stretching yoga regimen can also help treat and prevent a number of other health concerns, from back pain to diabetes. And it's already a popular activity for many women. In 2006, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that of the 273,500 Aussies who practise yoga, more than 90 per cent are female. New research reveals four ways your health improves every time you strike a pose.

By Lauren Gelman

1. Eases backaches Chronic lower-back-pain sufferers experienced less pain and less depression after practising yoga twice a week for six months, according to the journal Spine.

2. Soothes asthma After doing 2.5 hours of yoga a week for 10 weeks, asthma patients reported reduced symptoms, the American College of Sports Medicine found.

3. Prevents mindless eating Binge eaters who participated in a 10-week yoga-therapy program reduced the number of weekly bingeing episodes from five to an average of less than two, found a US study. Learning how to focus and be ‘in the moment’ helped participants develop healthier strategies for dealing with emotions that had previously led to binges, explains the study’s author.

4. Reverses metabolic syndrome People at high risk of developing diabetes lowered their health-risk factors for the disease—including body-mass index (BMI), blood pressure, insulin, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels—after doing yoga for three months.