Yoga and Probiotics: The dynamic duo for gut health

Hi everyone! Hope you are well and staying healthy and balanced. A patient of mine shared an interesting article about the benefits of yoga on gut health and I went down a fruitful research rabbit hole that I had to share. There are so many articles to support yoga practices that it was hard to narrow down a single one to enrich our minds, but of course, a final selection had to be made. And the article "Interplay of Yoga, Physical Activity, and Probiotics in Irritable Bowel Syndrome Management: A Double-Blind Randomized Study" from the journal Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice was definitely a favorite for this gut health geek. (See link below.)

In the study, researchers split 91 participants into three groups: 1. participants doing yoga and taking probiotics, 2. participants doing yoga and taking placebo probiotics, and 3. participants taking probiotics only.  A standardized and reputable gut health quality of life measure tool showed improved scores in groups 1 and 2. Cardiovascular improvement was noted in group 1. And the change in gut microbiome (tested by stool sample) was really significant, specifically in the yoga and probiotic group. And do you want to know what's really exciting? These changes occurred over 6 weeks. That's a very short period of time to start making some big health changes with very safe and relatively low expense treatment options. 

So what's the link with yoga and the gut? For starters, your guts need to move and slide on each other for those fancy organs to do their best work. The yoga breathwork alone causes that diaphragm to move up and down and squish and un-squish those organs. And then you add the mobility and stretches in the yoga postures, think spinal twists and inversions, and your organs are really getting some good movement in all directions. Yoga is also helpful at upregulating the parasympathetic nervous system, that neural control that helps you "rest and digest."

What is the take home message? If you are struggling with gut health, consider yoga as a primary line of defense and treatment. Also consider talking to your healthcare provider about taking probiotics. If that doesn't get those organs moving and working, come and see me for a little visceral manipulation to help get things in order. ;-)

Sending love, support, and health to all of you!

Article link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1744388124000653