Scientists from the University of Duisburg-Essen found yoga is linked to decreased bowel symptoms, disease severity, and anxiety in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
The research is published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology and was conducted by Dania Schumann et al.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a group of symptoms that occur together, including repeated pain in your abdomen and changes in your bowel movements, which may be diarrhea, constipation, or both.
With IBS, you have these symptoms without any visible signs of damage or disease in your digestive tract.
In the study, the team conducted a review to examine the effects of yoga on symptoms of IBS.
Data were analyzed from six studies with 273 patients that compared yoga with usual care, and medical interventions.
The researchers found that there was evidence of a beneficial effect for yogic intervention versus conventional treatment, with strongly decreased bowel symptoms, IBS severity, and anxiety.
Compared with no treatment, after yoga there were significant improvements in quality of life, global improvement, and physical functioning.
In two randomized controlled trials reporting safety data, there were no adverse events noted. The overall risk of bias was unclear for the included studies.
The findings of this review suggest that yoga might be a feasible and safe adjunctive treatment for people with IBS
Nevertheless, no recommendation can be made regarding yoga as a routine intervention for patients with IBS before more research is conducted to confirm the results.
If you care about bowel health, please read studies about diet that may reduce inflammation by boosting gut health, and how gut bacteria may trigger colon cancer.
For more information about bowel diseases, please see recent studies about ultra-processed food linked to higher risk of common bowel diseases, and results showing scientists develop a new way to treat common bowel diseases.
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