http://www.healio.com/…/yoga-improves-quality-of-life-in-pa…

Ulcerative colitis is the most common type of inflammatory bowel disease – about 146,000 people in the UK have it. Most people develop it between the ages of 15 and 25, or when they’re older – between 55 and 65. But you can get ulcerative colitis at any time in your life. And it’s slightly more common in men than women. Symptoms typically follow a relapsing and remitting pattern and can include diarrhoea, which may... have blood or mucus in it, lower abdominal (tummy) pain or cramps, tiredness, loss of appetite, and psychosocial ramifications such as anxiety and/or depression to name a few.

Up to 61% of ulcerative colitis patients “report the use of complementary and alternative medicine due to their condition, one of which is yoga,” Jost Langhorst, MD explains. This high figure is hardly surprising given the unpleasantness of symptoms and the ineffectiveness of some allopathic treatments.

A recent scientific trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a 3-month hatha yoga intervention involving one 90-minute session per week compared with written self-care lifestyle advice in patients with ulcerative colitis who were in clinical remission and had impaired quality of life. Patients were followed up an additional 3 months after the intervention, and outcomes were assessed at weeks 12 and 24 by blinded evaluators. The yoga group had significantly better disease-specific quality of life, physical quality of life, anxiety, depression and self-efficacy at 12 weeks compared with controls, and these measures were maintained through 24 weeks. Disease activity, mental quality of life, positive affect, perceived stress and self-efficacy were also improved in the yoga group vs. placebo at 24 weeks. Despite the study limitations, particularly the fact that this was a single-centre trial, these are very encouraging findings indeed.