Tobacco addiction is still one of the most preventable deaths worldwide and millions of people are still unable to quit despite conventional means of treatment. In this study, researchers at the AIIMS (New Delhi) have found that yoga is a valuable complementary therapy to tobacco cessation. Yoga may lead to smokers quitting by 50% and also to mental health, anxiety, depression, stress, and cravings decrease; and meditation practice can help them quit smoking as well.
The systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted by experts from the Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research and the Centre for Community Medicine at AIIMS, New Delhi. The findings have been published in the peer-reviewed journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research. The researchers examined evidence from 7 randomised controlled trials involving 629 participants in India, the United States and Thailand. Five of these studies have been included in the final meta-analysis.
The results showed that people who participated in yoga had significantly better short-term tobacco abstinence rates than those who were receiving tobacco cessation therapy or other non-yoga interventions. Yoga practitioners were more than 50% more likely to achieve tobacco-free status over a seven-day period (7PPA) which is a commonly used measure for cigarette cessation success.
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Yoga can be a moderately effective intervention for tobacco cessation, both for tobacco withdrawal and tobacco addiction in combination with current evidence-based treatments, the authors believe. Instead of pharmaceuticals or behavioural counselling, yoga seems more than just a natural, low cost, and effective means to treat nicotine addiction, it is an accessible and cost effective treatment for nicotine addiction; it’s part of a treatment that can be used in both physical, psychological ways.
One of the main findings of the review was yoga's positive impact on mental health. Many tobacco users have relapsed because of stress, anxiety, depression or emotional triggers during withdrawal. Those who did yoga reported to be less depressed, anxiety-free, have better emotional balance and quality of life. And thus those psychological benefits may be a critical factor in preventing relapse during quitting.
The review covered several forms of yoga, including Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, and yogic breathing exercises known as pranayama. Active yoga styles promoted tobacco abstinence and were associated with less stress and depressive symptoms. Pranayama techniques also helped to reduce nicotine cravings, regulate emotions and improve breathing to reduce withdrawal symptoms which made it easier to manage withdrawal symptoms, the review found.
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Yoga’s combination of physical movement, controlled breathing, mindfulness, and meditation may account for the success of yoga’s effectiveness, some say, according to experts. These techniques activate the body’s relaxation response, decrease stress hormone levels, raise self-awareness and help you have more control over cravings without acting immediately on them.
The research also highlighted the significance of an Indian clinical trial that was included in the review, which looked at smokers and users of smokeless tobacco. As smokeless tobacco is still in common usage in a number of low- and middle-income countries including India, this finding opens the door to yoga alongside cigarette smoking.
The researchers say that more evidence is necessary. These studies included only a handful of large-scale studies with relatively small sample sizes. Large-scale, well-planned clinical trials with diverse populations and longer follow-up periods are needed to see if yoga consistently improves long-term tobacco abstinence rates.
Professor Gautam Sharma, the Chair of Cardiology and the Director and Head of the Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research at AIIMS Delhi, described yoga as a powerful mind-body therapy. Yoga improves stress management, emotional resilience and self-awareness, he said, which are very important skills to overcome addictive behaviours such as tobacco addiction. Yoga also has a positive effect on physical and mental health, therefore being a good complementary therapy to tobacco cessation treatment.
Public health experts have long recognised that quitting tobacco requires more than simply overcoming physical nicotine dependence; emotional health, behaviour patterns, and coping mechanisms are factors in whether someone can stop smoking forever. Yoga seems to be able to deal with all of those interconnected factors and give users some real-time tools to deal with withdrawal symptoms and emotional challenges.
With tobacco use accounting for about 8.7 million deaths worldwide every year, the integration of yoga into tobacco cessation programmes could have huge public health benefits. Yoga should never replace medical advice, counselling, or approved cessation medications but the AIIMS study demonstrated that regular use can lead to significant improvement in quit rates and better mental health in recovery.
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