Geeky wellbeing favourites: June 2024
On social connections, plus the usual mind–body science highlights
In March and April, I was overwhelmed by the kindness and support I received from so many people, when it felt like the world was collapsing around me. I was lonely in my grief, but also not, as weird as this sounds.
And maybe that’s a good thing because loneliness can be bad for our health.
Loneliness has been linked with worse health outcomes, including higher risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, neurological disease such as dementia, and even with mortality. It’s also linked with higher levels of inflammation, which potentially might explain some of these worse health outcomes. This means that loneliness affects the function of our immune system too (and on this note, see my older blog post below on the possible effects of a yoga community).
Note that loneliness is not the same as social isolation. You might be surrounded by people but still feel lonely (I personally have wanted to spend time with specific people and avoided people I didn’t know well or at all). Instead, the scientific literature defines loneliness as a discrepancy between the social connections you have vs the quality of social connections you would like to have.
This is a really interesting podcast on the effects of loneliness on our health, exploring the neuroscience behind it, and its link to stress (it’s an audio version of this article, which is strangely behind a paywall). It’s a little jargony, but do have a listen, it’s a fascinating topic.
So here’s to good quality social connections that help us feel a little less lonely and, as a result, keep up a little healthier too.
(Oh and those are not my pets in the photo, they are my mum’s. Sadly mine have not reached the point of social connectedness and love, despite the puppy’s many many many attempts).
News - workshop series!
Speaking of stress and inflammation – interested in learning more about how yoga and other mind–body practices can support your immune system? I’m excited to announce a new series of workshops, in collaboration with my amazing teacher Melanie Cooper, on this topic.
Each workshop will include an accessible science talk by me, followed by a practice led by Melanie, plus Q&A and tips and tricks on how to incorporate into your teaching or personal practice. All workshops will be held online, and a recording will be made available for 2 weeks after the session.
The first workshop is on the 29th of June - join us in a discussion on stress, its effects on the immune system, and where yoga can help.
Follow the link for more information and to grab a spot.
Mind–body science highlights
Yoga improves sleep quality in the elderly
This systematic review and meta-analysis focuses specifically on studies that were either controlled or controlled AND randomised (ie higher quality studies). I also like that they excluded practices that resemble yoga (this did mean, however, that they only included 5 studies in their analysis). They conclude that in the over-60s, yoga has a beneficial effect on sleep quality. Also, I’m sorry over-60s but the authors do describe your age group as ‘geriatric’, which I thought was a bit harsh!
Yoga and inflammation – mixed evidence
I’m sharing this review in the spirit of avoiding confirmation bias and ignoring evidence against what I believe to be true. Looking at the studies on the effects of yoga on inflammatory markers (ie molecules that promote inflammation), the authors conclude that there is some evidence but it’s not convincing. The issues are, as usual, the mediocre-to-poor study designs, including heterogeneity in the type of yoga tested, small sample sizes and lack of control.
Tai chi better than CBT at improving insomnia-led inflammation in breast cancer
I love including other mind–body practices when they come up so here’s one for Tai chi fans. Here the authors compared Tai chi with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) as treatments for insomnia in patients with breast cancer. Participants (90 in total, split equally between the two conditions) either practiced Tai chi or CBT for 3 months, and were followed up after 15 months. Both interventions were effective at reducing insomnia, but Tai chi led to greater reduction of inflammation. The reasons to look at inflammation in this population is that it is linked with worse outcomes, but I believe that there are studies on the wider population too.
From the blog
A post from this month plus some additional, older, relevant content for you to enjoy.
Is yoga community good for our immunity? Speaking of loneliness and its effects on inflammation (and the immune system) – could being part of a yoga community explain some of the positive effects on inflammation?
It’s mental health awareness week – This year’s theme was movement; could reframing movement/exercise be the key to encouraging more people to be active?
Is it time for some megastudy thinking in yoga research? The authors of the second study I highlight this month highlight the bad quality of yoga studies in their analysis, could megastudies be the answer?
Until next month!