Asthmatics can breathe freely with yoga

Asthmatics, you may want to breathe a sigh of relief as a recent study has revealed how yoga can come to your rescue.

The Cochrane Review suggested that yoga may have a beneficial effect on symptoms and quality of life in people with asthma, but effects on lung function and medication use are uncertain.

The review summarized the results of randomised trials and found evidence that practicing yoga might be able to improve asthma quality of life and symptoms to some extent.

However, researchers also warned that higher-quality studies with more participants would be needed to draw any firm conclusions about the effects of yoga.

Lead author Dr Zuyao Yang from the Chinese University of Hong Kong commented that the findings suggest that yoga exercise may lead to small improvements in asthma quality of life and symptoms.

However, Yang added that it is unclear whether yoga has a consistent impact on lung function and we don't yet know if yoga can reduce people's medication usage, or if there are any side-effects of yoga for people with asthma.

Deputy Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Airways Group, Rebecca Normansell, added, "The findings of this Cochrane Review will help people make more informed choices about their future treatment options."

The review is published in the Cochrane Library today.