Diabetes: yoga as effective as drugs?

Yoga, mindfulness meditation, qigong… These practices are on the rise and their benefits for mental health and in particular stress management, are recognized. But their benefits could go further. A new study from the Keck School of Medicine at USC, published in the Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicineindeed reveals that these psychocorporal techniques and especially yoga, would considerably reduce the glycemia of diabetics.

Yoga lowers blood sugar like drugs

The study authors collected data from 28 randomized controlled trials conducted worldwide between 1993 and 2022, in which people with type 2 diabetes began a mind-body practice alongside their treatment. After comparing the health outcomes of this group with those of people who only received drugs to lower their blood sugar levels, they found that yoga was the most common mind-body practice and showed the greatest effects. important.

They observed an average decrease of 1% in hemoglobin A1C, a marker of average blood sugar over the past three months. While 1% may not seem like much, the authors point out that the effects are similar to those of metformin, a popular diabetes drug, which reduces hemoglobin A1C by 1.1%.

Practicing yoga to prevent the risk of diabetes?

These results suggest that mind-body practices could be a good alternative for people who do not want to take medication. They could also have preventive effects in people at risk of developing diabetes and whose number continues to increase in a worrying way worldwide, according to the French Federation of Diabetics.

Type 2 diabetes, the most common type of diabetes (more than 90% of cases) is also on the rise worldwide. This progression is linked to changes in lifestyles, especially diet and physical activity. the Ministry of Health and Prevention.

Diabetes is a chronic illness characterized by the presence of excess sugar in the blood, called hyperglycemia. The prolonged hyperglycemia of diabetes exposes you to many severe complications by blood vessel or degenerative damage: myocardial infarction and heart failure, retinopathy (eyes), renal failure, stroke, arteriopathy and neuropathy of the lower limbs.