Effects of Yoga on Mental and Physical Health: A Short Summary of Reviews

TLDR

The heterogeneity of yoga interventions and studied conditions hampers meta‑analysis, and while yoga may serve as a supportive adjunct for some medical conditions, it is not yet a proven stand‑alone curative treatment. This report summarizes evidence from review articles on yoga’s effects on mental and physical health and urges larger‑scale, methodologically rigorous studies to establish yoga as a cost‑effective, self‑care adjunct that enhances self‑efficacy and offers additional positive side effects. Reviews collectively indicate potential benefits of yoga, with some meta‑analyses and high‑quality RCTs showing benefits for pain‑associated disability and mental health, though further research is needed to firmly establish these effects.

Abstract

This report summarizes the current evidence on the effects of yoga interventions on various components of mental and physical health, by focussing on the evidence described in review articles. Collectively, these reviews suggest a number of areas where yoga may well be beneficial, but more research is required for virtually all of them to firmly establish such benefits. The heterogeneity among interventions and conditions studied has hampered the use of meta-analysis as an appropriate tool for summarizing the current literature. Nevertheless, there are some meta-analyses which indicate beneficial effects of yoga interventions, and there are several randomized clinical trials (RCT’s) of relatively high quality indicating beneficial effects of yoga for pain-associated disability and mental health. Yoga may well be effective as a supportive adjunct to mitigate some medical conditions, but not yet a proven stand-alone, curative treatment. Larger-scale and more rigorous research with higher methodological quality and adequate control interventions is highly encouraged because yoga may have potential to be implemented as a beneficial supportive/adjunct treatment that is relatively cost-effective, may be practiced at least in part as a self-care behavioral treatment, provides a life-long behavioural skill, enhances self-efficacy and self-confidence and is often associated with additional positive side effects.