Thursday 6 October 2022 06:19 PM Yoga and mindfulness can lower diabetics' blood-sugar as effectively as drugs, ... trends now
Trendy mindfulness meditation and yoga are as effective as diabetes drugs at lowering blood-sugar levels, research suggests.
Researchers at the University of Southern California reviewed data from dozens of randomized controlled trials held worldwide for the past 30 years.
The studies included people with type 2 diabetes who also used mind-body wellness techniques along with their medication.
These ranged from meditation, yoga and breathing techniques, as well as qigong, a type of slow moving martial arts similar to tai chi.
Researchers then compared the health outcomes of this group to people who relied solely on drugs to lower their blood-sugar over three months.
They found meditative practices as a whole increased decreased levels by 0.8 per cent — but yoga was even more effective at 1 per cent.
This is comparable to the most popular type of diabetes drug metformin, taken by around 14 million Americans and 850,000 Britons.
Trendy mindfulness meditation and yoga are as effective as diabetes drugs at lowering blood-sugar levels, research suggests (file image)
Dr Fatimata Sanogo from USC’s Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and lead author of the study said, ‘The most surprising finding was the magnitude of the benefit these practices provide.’
‘We expected there to be a benefit, but never anticipated it would be this large,’ she added.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease characterized by the body’s inability to properly use insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas.
