Fact Check: Can Yoga and Breathing Techniques Cure Chronic Illnesses?
Half True
While these practices benefit physical and mental health, learn why they are not standalone cures for conditions like diabetes or cancer, as medical intervention and specific treatments are necessary for managing chronic illnesses.
In a video circulating on Whatsapp and Youtube, a grandmother lectures her granddaughter about the importance of eating non-processed foods and emphasizes yoga and breathing techniques as the most effective ways of staying healthy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasize the importance of regular physical activity to reduce the likelihood of certain cardiovascular diseases, assist with weight management, and improve mental health. Yoga, a form of physical activity, can be used as a tool to better an individual’s physical and mental health.
Regarding chronic illnesses such as diabetes or various forms of cancer, neither breathing techniques nor yoga will act as a cure. These illnesses require medical intervention, routine testing, and specific medications prescribed and monitored by a primary care doctor or a specialist.
However, the benefits of yoga and breathing techniques shouldn’t be dismissed entirely. They may reduce stress, help with pain management, and even create healthier sleep habits, essential to an individual’s overall health.
The National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) claims that 1 in every 5 adults in the United States experiences mental illness. There are a variety of treatments to the recovery process, including medication, therapy, brain stimulation treatments, and many others. There is no one-stop cure for treating mental illness, and intervention will vary from person to person. Yoga and breathing exercises cannot cure mental illness. Still, these exercises alongside other treatment options may prove to be beneficial.
While yoga and breathing exercises can positively impact a person's physical and mental health, the claim that they can be used as a standalone cure for chronic illness is False.
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References and Further Reading:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Benefits of Physical Activity | Physical Activity.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Yoga for Health: What the Science Says.
National Alliance on Mental Illness. Mental Health Conditions.
National Alliance on Mental Illness. Health Treatments.
