Effect of yoga and music therapy with standard diabetes care in Type II Diabetes Mellitus- A randomized control Study

There is a clear need to study efficacy of alternative therapies like yoga and music therapy because of its holistic nature, cost effectiveness, self administered and free of side effects. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) Position Statement and other major guidelines recommend more clinical trials to improve evidence based practice of Yoga in Type II DM. This study aimed to evaluate effect of including yoga and music therapy intervention along with standard diabetes care over glycemic control, lipid profile, weight, BMI, anxiety, depression, exercise self efficacy and quality of life after 6 months program. A RCT study of parallel design comprising of Type II DM subjects above 20 years and diagnosed as per ADA criteria for at least a year and stabilized on OHA for minimum of 3 weeks with no prior exposure to yoga or music therapy or involved in a structured exercise program was conducted. Out of 902 subjects, 112 were recruited in yoga, 110 in music and 115 in control group while others were excluded. This is first study of its kind to have adhered to CONSORT and reports that Yoga shows beneficial effects of clinical importance in glycemic control, reducing anxiety and depression, reducing weight and BMI, and QOL. Interestingly, yoga improves exercise self efficacy by improving subjects’ motivation to engage in exercise based programs. Music shows important benefits in reducing anxiety and depression which are important co-morbidities in diabetics. Yoga can be used as a cost effective adjuvant to standard care in Type II DM without side effects and self administered program which may show promising effects in prevention and management of Type II DM and can be launched as Community based strategy.