Energy Expenditure in Yoga versus Other Forms of Physical Activity

Abstract

It is currently not clear whether yoga is an activity that meets the requirements for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and how yoga compares in intensity to other forms of physical activity. PURPOSE: This study compared energy expenditure during acute bouts of Vinyasa yoga (YOGA) and two treadmill walking protocols. METHODS: Data from were available on 28 participants (15 males, 13 females) who performed three 60-minute activity bouts on separate days that included: 1) YOGA, 2) treadmill walking at a self-selected brisk pace (SELF), 3) treadmill walking at a pace that matched their HR to that of their yoga session (HR-MATCH). Energy expenditure (kcal and metabolic equivalent of task [MET]) was measured with indirect calorimetry. RESULTS: When examining the entire 60 minute period of activity, energy expenditure was significantly lower in YOGA (285.1±71.6 kcal, 3.7±0.6 MET/min) compared to both HR-MATCH (367.3±93.7 kcal, p<0.001; 4.9±0.8 MET/min, p<0.001) and SELF (329.2±82.1 kcal, p=0.003; 4.4±0.7 MET/min, p<0.002), and in HR-MATCH compared to SELF (p-value for kcal = 0.012; p-value for MET/min = 0.016). Because the final 15 minutes of the YOGA session was restorative in nature, data analysis was repeated using only the initial 45 minutes of each activity session. For these analyses, energy expenditure was significantly lower in YOGA (234.0±57.8 kcal, 4.1±0.6 MET/min) compared to HR-MATCH (306.0±77.6 kcal, p<0.001; 5.4±0.9 MET/min, p<0.001) but not SELF (242.8±60.7 kcal, p=0.393; 4.3±0.7 MET/min, p=0.650), and in HR-MATCH compared to SELF (p-value for kcal <0.001; p-value for MET/min <0.001). Gender did not significantly influence the pattern of the results observed. CONCLUSIONS: Across a 60-minute period, energy expenditure in YOGA is significantly lower than both SELF and HR-Match. When the restorative component of YOGA was removed from the analysis, energy expenditure in YOGA was comparable to SELF. Moreover, YOGA met the energy expenditure requirement (>3 METs) for moderate-intensity physical activity, and therefore is likely to elicit health benefits similar to walking performed at a self-selected brisk walking pace. Interventions to directly compare YOGA to other forms of physical activity are warranted.