AIIMS to come up with guidelines on yoga 'asanas'

AIIMS in collaboration with AYUSH ministry would soon come up with guidelines on yoga ‘asanas’ which are beneficial to combat certain ailments, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to focus on treatment of diseases through the ancient Indian spiritual discipline.

Experts from Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana S-VYASA in Bengaluru in partnership with the Centre for Integrative Medicines and Research at AIIMS are conducting evidence-based research to develop a set of protocols for various diseases.

“Not all yoga exercises are effective and suitable for all conditions. So we are doing evidence-based research to issue a detailed standard yoga protocol for prevention and treatment of different kinds of diseases,” said AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria on the eve of the International Day for Yoga (IDY).

Dr Guleria said with practice of yoga, drug requirements in several diseases can be lessened.

He also said that AIIMS has embarked on a randomised study to assess the efficacy of yoga to control migraine attacks which leads to severe headache.

“We hypothesise that yoga can be an add-on therapy to reduce migraine attacks as the relaxation techniques are believed to have a positive impact on certain chemicals in the body and in the brain, which may also help migraine sufferers,” neurologist Dr Rohit Bhatia said.

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There have been previous studies according to which yoga increases the chemical serotonin, which eases the tightening of the brain’s blood vessels thus relieving migraines.

In another study, Dr Guleria said that yoga was found to be as effective as standard pulmonary rehabilitation in improving dyspea, inflammatory markers and quality of life in patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

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