Clinical trial NCT03553745: How Body Awareness Promotes Mental Health During Yoga and Physical Exercise
Official title: How Body Awareness Promotes Mental Health During Yoga and Physical Exercise
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Negative Thoughts
Mild Depression
Stress
Lead sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Yoga Science Foundation
name: University of Toronto
First posted: 2018-06-12
Enrollment: 71
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 55
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: The integrity of interoceptive networks is linked to resilience against depressive symptoms, whereas degradation of these networks is linked to apathy and deficits in emotion processing. The goal of this study is to compare two major styles of yoga and cardiovascular exercise through a 10-week training program to promote interoceptive awareness. The researchers hypothesize that improvement in affective symptomatology will be correlated with better interoceptive development. Changes in mood related symptoms and interoception will be assessed at baseline, week 12 and week 14, in a cohort of adults aged 18-55.

Detailed description: A recent annual survey of U.S. college freshman has found consistently declining levels of emotional health over the past 25 years. Exposure to such stress can have profound longitudinal effects on well being, influencing risk for disease later in life. Physical exercise is linked to benefits across a variety of physical and psychological domains. While the affective and physiological consequences of exercise are well-documented, how they work to improve subjective well-being is unclear. It has been suggested that exercise promotes well-being by increasing interoception. The integrity of interoceptive networks is linked to resilience against depressive symptoms, whereas degradation of these networks is linked to apathy and deficits in emotion processing. The goal of this study is to compare two major styles of yoga and cardiovascular exercise through a 10-week training program to promote interoceptive awareness. The researchers hypothesize that improvement in affective symptomatology will be correlated with better interoceptive development. Changes in mood related symptoms and interoception will be assessed at baseline, week 12 and week 14, in a cohort of adults aged 18-55.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* 18-55 years of age
* Have negative mood symptoms (depression, anxiety, stress)
* Is healthy and independent enough in daily life to attend study classes

Exclusion Criteria:

* Pregnant women or women who are planning to become pregnant during the study period
* History of structural brain disease, mass lesion, stroke, epilepsy
* History of addictive disorder or significant substance abuse
* Neurological disorders or reversible causes of dementia
* Suicidality or history of psychosis
* Currently attending regular yoga or aerobic exercise practice, or participated in more than 6 formal meditation, aerobic, or yoga classes in the past 12 months
* Self-reported cognitive impairment and other disorders which may preclude safe participation in the program including acute major depression, bipolar or severe personality disorder

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Interoceptive Acuity
timeFrame: 14 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Peripheral Inflammatory Markers of Stress by collecting Dried Blood Spot (DBS)
timeFrame: 14 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Boston
country: United States
facility: Massachusetts General Hospital
state: Massachusetts
Study officials:
affiliation: Mass. General Hospital
name: Sara Lazar, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: