Yoga For Cognition in ECT: New Study From India

Out on PubMed, from investigators in India, is this study:

Can yoga practise prevent electro-convulsive therapy induced neurocognitive deficits? - Findings from a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Sudheer N, Kumar V, Bhide SR, Naik SS, Baliga S, Varambally S, Thirthalli J, Gangadhar BN.Asian J Psychiatr. 2022 Aug 15;76:103244. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2022.103244. Online ahead of print.PMID: 36037698
The abstract is copied below:


Despite decades of experience with ECT, no single agent has emerged as a suitable strategy to mitigate the associated neuro-cognitive deficits. In this first of its kind pilot randomised controlled trial, we sought to demonstrate the effect of yoga on neurocognitive deficits. We found a favourable effect of Yoga in the domain of verbal fluency, however our study did not reveal significant differences in other cognitive domains. Future studies could look to build on this study while addressing the limitations cited.

Keywords: ECT neurocognitive deficits yoga.
The article is here.
And from the text:


Here is a pilot study of a mind-body intervention (yoga) to improve the tolerability of ECT. 
While it is unclear if the finding is replicable, it is hard to argue against yoga as a helpful, risk-free intervention for patients. So, kudos to these authors and to hoping that further investigation leads to answers about whether yoga  should be used more widely before and during ECT.

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