A rigorous clinical trial conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital has found that practicing Bikram-style hot yoga twice per week for eight weeks produced a 50 percent reduction in depression symptoms among participants with moderate major depressive disorder. The results, published Tuesday in the American Journal of Psychiatry, represent one of the strongest clinical endorsements for yoga as a mental health intervention.
The study enrolled 280 participants who were randomly assigned to either a hot yoga group practicing in 105-degree rooms or a control group attending room-temperature stretching classes. Both groups showed improvement, but the hot yoga group demonstrated significantly greater reductions in depression scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 scale.
Lead researcher Dr. Maren Nyer said the combination of heat exposure and yoga's mind-body connection likely triggers neurochemical changes that combat depression. She cautioned that hot yoga should complement rather than replace existing treatments, but noted the findings could offer a valuable additional tool for clinicians treating depression.
