The ancient exercise system of yoga and the controlled breathing technique known as pranayama are popular around the world as verifiable, although controversial, methods of maintaining health naturally. The May 2010 edition of the Indian Journal of Medical Research reports the latest information about using these techniques in Type 2 diabetes.
One of the most common but least treated problems in Type 2 diabetes is a kind of "brain fog". When blood sugar levels are uncontrolled, the biochemical control mechanisms that keep blood vessels open don't work well. The brain, in particular, is affected by poor circulation.
Many long-term Type 2 diabetics develop a slowing of evoked potential, which is a technical way of saying their thought processes take longer because their brain has difficulty obtaining the right amount of oxygen to use all the sugar delivered by their bloodstreams. Researchers at the University College of Medical Sciences and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in Dehli set out to see if 45 days of yoga might help Type 2 diabetics recover normal cognitive function.
The Indian doctors didn't ask diabetics to become yogis in 45 days. They only asked the participants in the study to do simple poses for a few minutes a day, and to add 15 seconds of a more difficult pose once a week. They also learned pranayama, a simple technique of controlling inhalation and exhalation of breath.
The study volunteers became increasingly proficient in yoga, but they were not expected to become masters. After 5 days of training, the diabetics in the study were allowed to practice on their own schedule, meeting their yoga teacher once a week.
At the end of 45 days these diabetics were invited into the lab for measurements of how fast their brains responded to various kinds of sensory information. The volunteers were given a test to measure how fast and how strong the neurons in their brains reacted to an "oddball" or unexpected stimulus. As the researchers expected, brainpower was uniformly increased after yoga practice. The diabetics who practiced yoga, even beginning yoga, had faster and stronger responses to electrical stimuli. But that wasn't all.
The Type 2 diabetics at the beginning of this study had blood sugar levels that Type 2 diabetics around the world usually have in real life, an average of about 172 mg/dL (9.5 mmol/L) when fasting and about 260 mg/dL (14.4 mmol/L) after eating a meal. After just six weeks of yoga practice, however, with no change in diet or medication, the average fasting blood sugar had fallen to 133 mg/dL (7.4 mmol/L) and the average post-prandial blood sugar had fallen to 198 mg/dL (11 mmol/L). This is a better result than is obtained by using any diabetes medication except insulin.
The Indian researchers attributed these results to reduction in stress. The daily practice of yoga relaxed both the brain and the central nervous system, lowering the production of cortisol, the stress hormone that stimulates the liver to release sugar. Yoga, the researchers found, works in much the same way as metformin, with the additional benefit of increasing brainpower.
Would you like more information about alternative ways to handle your type 2 diabetes?
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Beverleigh Piepers is a registered nurse who would like to help you understand how to live easily and happily with your type 2 diabetes.
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