The next time you reach for the Tylenol, you might want to bend over and salute the sun instead.
According to a recent report in the Journal of Pain Research, York University researchers have found that practicing yoga reduces chronic pain symptoms in women with fibromyalgia.
Women with this condition commonly experience chronic pain and fatigue, muscle stiffness, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal discomfort, anxiety and depression. Previous research has indicated that fibromyalgia sufferers have lower-than-average cortisol levels, which in turn contributes to pain, fatigue, and stress.
Following a program of 75 minutes of hatha yoga twice weekly over the course of eight weeks, participants in the study showed elevated levels of cortisol -- the hormone that functions as a component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in response to stress.
"Hatha yoga promotes physical relaxation by decreasing activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which lowers heart rate and increases breath volume. We believe this in turn has a positive effect on the HPA axis," says the study's lead author, Kathryn Curtis, a PhD student in York's Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health.
Participants completed 'before and after' questionnaires, assessing pain levels. In addition to diminished physiological symptoms, women also reported psychological benefits.
"We saw their levels of mindfulness increase -- they were better able to detach from their psychological experience of pain," claimed Curtis.
Mindfulness -- the state of paying total attention to the present moment regardless of what is going on around you -- is a skill which is extremely useful when it comes to pain management.
The results of Curtis' study seem to suggest pain management truly is a case of mind over matter.
Say it with me, Ooooommmmm...
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