14 DAY TRIAL // In a paper published in the journal Depression and Anxiety this May 1, specialists with the Manchester and Newcastle Universities in the United Kingdom argue that women would have a lot to gain from attending yoga classes while expecting.
This is because, according to evidence at hand, yoga can reduce anxiety and depression risk in pregnant women, the specialists go on to explain. By doing so, it helps keep both the mother and her child healthier.
In their paper, the Manchester and Newcastle Universities researchers detail that, as shown by several previous studies, the stress that women sometimes experience during pregnancy can affect their newborn. Specifically, it has been linked to premature birth and low birth weight.
What's more, there is evidence to suggest that stress during pregnancy need also be linked to developmental and behavioral problems in children and adolescents, and to mental health problems, i.e. depressions, experienced by some mothers a while after delivery.
The good news is that, according to said study in the journal Depression and Anxiety, having pregnant women attend just one yoga class per week for a period of about two months can really make a difference in terms of reducing anxiety.
Thus, while keeping tabs on 59 pregnant women, the Manchester and Newcastle Universities researchers found that, after just one session, those who took yoga classes experienced a one third drop in self-reported anxiety. Besides, their stress hormone levels were reduced by 14%.
“It is surprising this has never been looked at before, we have long believed that it works but no research had been done to back up the theory. We have now gone some way to prove that it can help. It was not a small effect either. This has the potential to really help mothers who are feeling anxious about their pregnancy,” Dr. James Newham commented on these findings.
“There is a growing body of evidence that maternal antenatal anxiety may increase the risk of pre-term delivery and the likelihood of giving birth to a low birth weight child. If we can reduce these risk factors, and perhaps reduce the rate of post-natal mood disorders in mothers and negative health outcomes in their offspring, then that can only be a good thing,” the specialist added.
Interestingly enough, previous studies have shown that yoga can also help pregnant women be prepared for delivery by improving their physical health and boosting strength. Still, the Manchester and Newcastle Universities specialists claim that their work is the first study to focus on how yoga impacts on the emotional health of future mothers.