YOGA RESEARCH UPDATE

Yoga for Bronchial Asthma

A Controlled study by R. Nagarathna, H.R. Nagendra Vivekananda Kendra Yoga Research Foundation, Bangalore, India.

Abstract : Fifty three patients with asthma underwent training for two weeks in an integrated set of yoga exercises, including breathing exercises, suryanamaskar, yogasanas (physical postures), Pranayama (breath slowing techniques), dhyana (meditation), and a devotional session, and were told to practice these exercises for 65 minutes daily. They were then compared with a control group of 53 patients with asthma matched for age, sex, type and severity of asthma who continued to take their usual drugs. There was a significantly greater improvement in the group who practiced yoga in the weekly number of attacks of asthma, scores for drug treatment, and peak flow rate. This study shows the efficacy of yoga in the long term management of bronchial asthma, but the physiological basis for this beneficial effect needs to be examined in more detail.

Introduction : Yoga has been used to treat patients with asthma for over 50 years in yoga centers in India. Goyeche et al and several other workers have shown convincing evidence of the beneficial effects of yoga in patients with bronchial asthma. Most of these studies were short term, performed without controls, or qualitative but based on subjective judgments. Our earlier investigation clearly indicated the short term (two to four weeks) benefits of yoga, as established by standard controlled studies on large numbers of patients who underwent yogic training as outpatients. Prospective long term studies using standardized research procedures are however unavailable. It is well known that the clinical course of a disease like chronic bronchial asthma is highly variable, being subject to many known and unknown factors. We carried out this long term study with matched controls to ascertain whether yoga could have lasting influence on the course of the disease.

All Research Papers are published online courtesy http://www.vyasa.org/

TREE-LINED STREETS CUT ASTHMA

Tree-lined streets 'cut asthma'

New York is currently planting more trees
Children who live in tree-lined streets have lower rates of asthma, a New York-based study suggests.

Columbia University researchers found that asthma rates among children aged four and five fell by 25% for every extra 343 trees per square kilometre. They believe more trees may aid air quality or simply encourage children to play outside, although they say the true reason for the finding is unclear. The study appears in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. US rates of childhood asthma soared 50% between 1980 and 2000, with particularly high rates in poor, urban communities.

In New York City, asthma is the leading cause of admission to hospital among children under 15.
The researchers found the city had an average of 613 street trees per square kilometre, and 9% of young children had asthma. This is a positive first step into a new area of research linking the environment and asthma

Leanne Male Asthma UK
The link between numbers of trees and asthma cases held true even after taking into account sources of pollution, levels of affluence and population density, the researchers said.
However, once these factors were taken into account, the number of trees in a street did not appear to have any impact on the number of children whose asthma was so severe that they required hospital treatment.

Exposure theory
Some experts believe that children who are exposed to few microbes in early life are at an increased risk of asthma because their immune systems do not get the practice they need at fighting infection. Therefore, if a tree-lined street encourages outside play, it might help reduce the risk of asthma by maximising the odds that children will be exposed to microbes.
However, trees are also a source of pollen, which may potentially exacerbate asthma symptoms in vulnerable children.

Lead researcher Dr Gina Lovasi admitted the effect, if any, of trees was far from clear.
She said: "There may be something else healthful about the areas that had more trees.
"For example, trees could be more abundant in areas that are well maintained in other ways."
Leanne Male, assistant director of research at the charity Asthma UK, said: "Previous research looking at the influence of the environment on levels of asthma has focused on negative aspects, such as pollution and chemical exposure.

"This innovative report is the first to look specifically at the potentially beneficial effects of trees in urban areas and raises some interesting issues. "However, there are a number of other factors that have not been considered, for example whether the families involved have pets.
"Despite the need for further work, this is a positive first step into a new area of research linking the environment and asthma."
New York City is planning to plant 1 million extra trees by 2017.