The Effects of a Single Bout of High- or Moderate-Intensity Yoga Exercise on Circulating Inflammatory Mediators: A Pilot Feasibility Study

Dennis Muñoz-Vergara; Kristin L Schreiber; Helene Langevin; Gloria Y Yeh; Yehui Zhu; Pamela Rist; Peter M Wayne

doi:10.1177/2164957X221145876

The Effects of a Single Bout of High- or Moderate-Intensity Yoga Exercise on Circulating Inflammatory Mediators: A Pilot Feasibility Study

Glob Adv Health Med. 2022 Dec 11:11:2164957X221145876. doi: 10.1177/2164957X221145876. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Dennis Muñoz-Vergara^{1

2}, Kristin L Schreiber³, Helene Langevin⁴, Gloria Y Yeh^{1

5}, Yehui Zhu⁶, Pamela Rist^{1

2}, Peter M Wayne^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
² Division of Preventive Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), National Institute of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁵ Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Radiology, A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Background: There is a knowledge gap in the physiological effects of short-term yoga exercise interventions.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) assessing the acute effects of a yoga exercise protocol practiced at 2 intensities (high or moderate) on temporal responses of a battery of systemic circulatory cytokines in healthy yoga-naïve adults.

Methods: This study was a three-arm, pre-post pilot-RCT employing a single bout of yoga exercise intervention. Groups were high-intensity yoga (HY, n = 10), moderate-intensity yoga (MY, n = 10), and a sedentary, no-intervention control group (CON, n = 10). Blood samples were collected at baseline and post-intervention at 6 timepoints (0-, 30-, 60-, 120-, 180-minutes, and 24-hours post-intervention) and were processed with a pre-defined inflammatory panel of 13 cytokines. Heart rate (HR) was assessed with a Polar H10^® device. The PROMIS Pain intensity Questionnaire was used to assess body soreness.

Results: We demonstrate feasibility of recruitment, randomization, and retention of participants based upon predetermined metrics, including: proportion of eligible to enrolled participants (55%); recruitment period (11-months); participant retention (97%); completion rate for questionnaires (99%); completion of physiological measures (98%); and adherence to the yoga exercise protocol (88%). Cytokine levels over time were heterogeneous within and between groups. Responses of a subset of cytokines were positively correlated with 1 another in high- and moderate-intensity yoga exercise groups but not in the control group. Median values for HR were 91 (IQR: 71-95) in the HY, 95 (IQR: 88-100) in the MY, and 73 (IQR: 72-75) in the CON. Pre-post changes in body soreness after the yoga exercise intervention were most evident in the HY group.

Conclusion: Along with observed trends in select cytokines, findings encourage a more definitive trial aimed at understanding the short-term effects of yoga exercise on inflammatory immune markers and pain in sedentary healthy adults. Clinicaltrials.gov ID# NCT04444102.

Keywords: Short-term yoga exercise; cytokines; healthy adults; inflammation.

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT04444102

Abstract

Associated data

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