The effect of eight weeks yoga program on the thyroid function in middle-aged women

Abstract

<em>Introduction:</em> Yoga may have a role in revitalizing thyroid function there are few studies on the effects of yoga on thyroid function. The aim of present study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks yoga program on triiodothyronine (T₃), thyroxine (T₄) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in young sedentary women.<br /> <em>Material & Methods:</em> Twenty sedentary women aged between 20 to 40 years old participated in this study as the subject. The subjects were divided into yoga group (n=10) or control group (n=10) randomly. The subjects in the yoga group underwent 90 min hatha yoga practices daily, 3 times a week for 8 weeks, whereas control group continued their usual routine activities. Basal level of serum T₃, T₄ and TSH were measured before commencement and after 8 weeks of yogic training.<br /> <em>Results:</em> The results indicated that T₃ decreases significantly in the control group (t = ‒ 2.02, P = 0.05); however, there was no significant change in T₄ (t = ‒ 0.3, P = 0.7) or TSH (t = 0.15, P = 0.8) in any of the two groups over the 8 weeks period.<br /> <em>Conclusions:</em> In summary, the results suggest yoga training utilized in this study had not significant effect on thyroid function in sedentary women.