Yoga: Provides hopes for Schizophrenia treatment

NIMHANS researchers design a holistic treatment plan combining yoga and medicines that could help to trigger the brain's self-healing mechanisms in brain disorders.

- Poornima U S

Many years ago, Amrit Bakshy, a Pune-based businessman, noticed drastic changes in his daughter's behaviour: she kept to herself, skipped eating and ignored personal hygiene. She even had a few panic attacks and seizures.

A psychiatrist brushed aside his concerns saying the behaviour would pass. However, when things did not change, Bakshy consulted another psychiatrist, who helped him realise the seriousness of her condition. "We were ignorant. It has been 31 years since she was first diagnosed with schizophrenia," Bakshy tells Happiest Health.

A scope for self-healing

Schizophrenia is one of the many brain anomalies that experts find challenging to treat, primarily because we know little about the brain's structure and functions. Additionally, the blood-brain barrier restricts most of the drug treatment. Only a few drugs can pass through this barrier efficiently in the right amounts and with minimal side effects. Another reason is the ageing neurons that lose their ability to multiply.

However, scientists are looking for other ways: activating the brain's self-repair mechanisms via triggering neural stem cells(NSCs). These special cells located in the brain's hippocampus region have the ability of neurogenesis; that is, they can generate neurons and other brain cells.

However, as one ages, most NSCs enter a quiescent stage: they are alive but do not multiply into mature neurons. Neurologists are actively investigating different ways to trigger neurogenesis in NSCs to treat neuropsychiatric conditions.

The benefit of exercise

Exercise increases blood flow to the brain, prevents age-associated disorders, protects against the progression of various neurodegenerative diseases and improves mental health. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/096382 88.2020.1768599)